Red Hot Stephen Song Leads Final 11 in TLPT $20k
A lengthy Day 1 in Event #11 TLPT $20,000 8-Handed saw 32 entrants make their way to the Landing Casino inside the fabulous Shinhwa World Hotel Jeju. A change in structure extended Day 1 by an additional two levels and, by the time the last card was dealt, Stephen Song found himself once again chip leading a tournament after bagging up 1,315,000. Not too far behind, however, are James Mendoza (1,180,000) and Yisha Chen (1,100,000), who made an impressive surge late in the evening after a double knockout holding aces .
Song has had an exceptional showing at The Lord Poker Tournament series so far — first by making the final table of the $500 Circuit Main Event and then flat out winning the $15,000 Main Event. Another cash for Song will push him over $10 million in live-tournament earnings — cementing an already epic poker resume.
Day 2 Seat Draw and Chip Counts
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | Calvin Lee | United States | 470,000 | 31 |
| 2 | 4 | Istvan Birizdo | Hungary | 185,000 | 12 |
| 2 | 5 | James Mendoza | Philippines | 1,180,000 | 79 |
| 2 | 6 | Yisha Chen | China | 1,100,000 | 73 |
| 2 | 7 | Daniel Cates | United States | 400,000 | 27 |
| 2 | 8 | Lei Yu | China | 595,000 | 40 |
| 3 | 1 | Stephen Song | United States | 1,315,000 | 88 |
| 3 | 3 | Taylor Black | United States | 680,000 | 45 |
| 3 | 4 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 155,000 | 10 |
| 3 | 5 | Martin Nielsen | Faroe Islands | 120,000 | 8 |
| 3 | 6 | Gavin | China | 205,000 | 14 |
The 32 entrants generated a prize pool of US$640,000, of which five players will take a share. A min-cash will be worth US$60,000 and the eventual winner will take home US$242,000 for their efforts.
TLPT $20,000 8 Handed Payouts
| Place | Prize ($USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $242,000 |
| 2 | $162,000 |
| 3 | $101,000 |
| 4 | $75,000 |
| 5 | $60,000 |
Day 1 Action
Eleven players sat down at the start, and it took less than a level for action-junkie Ivan Zhang to get all in. Unfortuantely for Zhag, it was against Song, who had Zhang crushed with aces. Song nearly doubled as a result of the clash and took an early chip lead.
Song extended his chip lead after catching a flush to eliminate Dong Chen, but Mendoza began his own ascent after cracking Martin Nielsen's aces with a pair eights.
Meanwhile, more notables filed in as the day went on, including Renji Mao, Dominik Nitsche, Bin Leng, Patrik Demus, and Dan Cates. Of those players, only Nitsche and Cates made it to Day 2.
Cates was in usual form, making light-hearted jokes and unafraid to put chips into the middle. He also got off to a hot start by doubling through Nevan Chang after they both rivered trip aces. Cates held the best kicker with Big Slick to leave Chang short and Chang busted shortly after the hand.
Not long after dinner break, Chen ended up best in a massive pot between her, Song, and Leng wherein they all ended up all-in preflop. Chen held ace-queen against Song's jacks and Leng's ace-nine and ended up flopping an ace to bust Leng and put a sizable dent in Song's stack. However, Song quickly rebounded by knocking out Quan Zhou after spiking a set against him with eights against Zhou's jacks.
More hands became preflop shoves as the blinds escalated, and Chen benefitted from this fact after slowplaying aces against Marius Gierse and Christopher Park to vault into a temporary chip lead.
Toward the end of the night, Mendoza again cracked aces after making a flush against Ami Barer to surge up the ranks. However, Song wouldn't be denied and took down a few smaller pots to reclaim a slight chip lead before play ended for the night.
Day 2 is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. on Tuesday and play down to a winner. Play will resume on Level 13, which features blinds of 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante. Levels will continue to last 45 minutes each.
With an impending massive money bubble and nearly a quarter million on the line for first, the final 11 players are sure to bring their A-game headed into the finale. Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we bring you all the action leading up to the next TLPT champion!