Valley Center, CA -- The World Series of Poker Circuit Western Regional Championship continued at Harrah's Rincon (San Diego) with the play and conclusion of Day Two.
The $10,000 (+300) buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament attracted 98 entries. The total prize pool amounts to $940,800. The top 12 finishers will collect prize money. Turnout was about the same number of players (99) who participated in last year's $5,000 buy-in Main Event Championship, held at Harrah's Rincon. Even though the buy-in for this event doubled from last year, the field size remained constant.
The Western Regional Championship winner will collect $282,242 in prize money. The winner also receives a special gold and diamond ring, which is the ultimate prize for victory at a WSOP Circuit event. The top nine finishers will each earn prepaid seats (valued at $10,000) into the 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be played at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, coming in May. The first tournament of its kind will award a WSOP gold bracelet to the winner.
Day Two of the four-day tournament at Harrah's Rincon began with 61 players out of the starting field of 98. By day's end, only 18 survived. Among those eliminated were former WSOP Main Event champions Phil Hellmuth and Carlos Mortensen.
The end of Day Two chip leader is Kwinsee Khoa Tran, from Orange County, CA. He satellited into the tournament and has a chance to turn a small investment into more than a quarter-million dollar payday. In second place is three-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner and popular up-and-coming star Dwyte Pilgrim. Other well-known players still alive include Daniel Negreanu, Scott Montgomery, and others.
A complete list of players still in contention for the Western Regional Championship can be found by clicking here.
The Harrah's Rincon Resort-Casino is located about 45-minutes from Downtown San Diego. This marks the seventh consecutive season that Harrah's Rincon has hosted a WSOP Circuit stop.
The final table will be nationally-televised on the Versus Network. This is the third of four WSOP Circuit Regional Championships. The first two televised events took place in Chicago (North) and Atlantic City (East). The final Regional Championship will take place at Harrah's New Orleans (South) in mid-May.
Live updates from Harrah's Rincon can be seen here at WSOP.COM starting at noon on Tuesday. Play on Day Three will continue until the final table of nine players is reached. Final table play will begin on Wednesday.