This year’s WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,400 Main Event is getting closer and closer to crowning its champion. After Day 4 of the tournament was completed several hours ago at the Bellagio Las Vegas, there are just 18 players left to contend for the title and the nearly $2 million first-place payout.

Ajay Chabra from New Jersey finished Day 4 as the chip leader and with considerable advantage over the other 17 survivors. The player bagged and tagged 3.961 million and is more than 1 million in chips ahead of his remaining opponents.

Chabra has only two previous in-the-money finishes in live tournaments and his bankroll currently amounts to nearly $40,000. He will certainly boost his earnings significantly as the money bubble burst yesterday and each of the 18 finishers is guaranteed a minimum cash of $51,984.

Chabra helped himself to the chip lead through a key three-way pot against Brian Okin and Sean Perry. Chabra won the pot, while sending Okin to the rail in 25th place.

As mentioned above, the burst of the money bubble also occurred on Day 4. The day kicked off with 90 survivors and it took just 19 hands of play for the money to be reached. That 19th hand saw Steffen Sontheimer bust Ben Zamani in 82th place and the latter thus became the unfortunate bubble boy.

The 18 finishers are set to return to the poker tables of the host casino today to play down to a six-handed final table. As mentioned above, each of the remaining hopefuls has locked in a $51,984 payout, but there is no doubt that their eyes will be set on the top prize of $1,958,065. Here it is important to note that the runner-up will also receive a seven-figure payout of $1,134,202. And each of the six final tablists is guaranteed a min-cash of $271,736.

There is just one former WPT champion among the 18 survivors. Mike Del Vecchio, who scooped his first WPT title this spring, is currently ranking in the top half of the chip counts chart with a total of 1.358 million. Back in March, the player bested the field of the WPT Rolling Thunder $3,500 Main Event for his largest live cash of $284,638.

Dan Colman is another notable still in contention. The player is best known for winning the $1,000,000 The Big One for ONE DROP back in 2014. He collected a payout of $15,306,668 for taking down the massive high roller. Colman is now vying for his first WPT title.

Ryan Tosoc, who finished runner-up to James Romero in last year’s WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event, is looking to improve this year and grab the title. The player finished fourth in chips on Day 4 of the event with 2.088 million and will enter Day 5 action in a good position to secure a spot among the final six.

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