WSOPC Western Regional Championship Won By Ali Eslami

Ali Eslami has triumphed at the 2011 World Series of Poker Circuit Western Regional Championship, after overcoming a field of 98 players over four days to lift the title, as well as collect the $282,242 first place prize.
As the $10,000 buy-in tournament got underway Thursday at Harrah’s Rincon near San Diego, CA, a whole host of pros turned out for a chance to win a share of the $950,600 prize pool.
Amongst the top names entering the competition were such notable players as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Carlos Mortensen, David Williams, Victor Ramdin, Kathy Liebert and Erik Seidel.
However, it was US pro Ali Eslami who finished Day 1 of the tournament as the chip leader of the now 59 player field, and at the end of Day 2 Eslami was still in the top three with just 18 players remaining.
Eventually, the final table was determined on Day 3 with the remaining nine players then returning on Day 4 to battle it out for the title. Leading the chip counts was Tim West with 843k in chips, followed by David Peters (437k), Dwyte Pilgrim  (408k), and Ali Eslami (395k). Also competing were D.J. Blanchard (271k), Steve Brecher (246k), Dana Kellstrom (147k), Miller Dao (99k) and a short-stacked Dylan Wilkerson with 89k in chips.
First to exit the final table was Miller Dao in 9th ($24,235), after pushing his short-stack pre-flop holding A-6 against pocket jacks.
Dylan Wilkerson was then eliminated in 8th ($30,397) after racing with A-K to his opponent’s pocket queens, followed by Dwyte Pilgrim in 7th ($38,808), Dana Kellstrom in 6th ($50,455) and David Peters in 5th ($66,834).
Steve Brecher was then sent to the rail in 4th ($90,223), holding K-8 on a K-9-4 flop to Ali Eslami’s K-Q and after D.J. Blanchard’s Ah-Jh failed to improve in the race against West’s pocket fives, he found himself out in 3rd place for a $124,204 pay-day.
Going into the heads-up phase of the competition, Ali Eslami and Tim West produced a swingy affair which lasted around two hours before the decisive hand was played. West was dealt Ac-Qs but unfortunately for him Eslami was holding Ah-As and as all the chips were pushed to the centre of the table West was in incredibly bad shape.
The 8-6-2-J-7 board then sealed his fate and so Tim West collected $174,443 for his runner-up position, while Ali Eslami was crowned the WSOPC Western Regional Championship winner. With his latest victory, Eslami has now won $656,613 from live tournament cashes.