Event #2: US$500 Circuit Main Event (US$700,000 GTD)
Day 3 Completed
2025 The Lord Poker Tournament Jeju
Event #2: US$500 Circuit Main Event (US$700,000 GTD)
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
2025 The Lord Poker Tournament Jeju
Buy-in
$500
Prize Pool
$700,000
Entries
505
Level
37
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
200,000
Entries
9
Players Left
1
Level 37
: Blinds 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
Sometimes, the cards just fall your way in both poker and in life.
Weizheng Zhong can typically be found grinding poker tournaments in America, but a spur-of-the-moment invitation changed everything. While traveling through China, a friend reached out and suggested he swing by Jeju. Zhong took the offer, hopped into the TLPT Circuit Main Event, and three days later — that impromptu decision paid off in spades as he was crowned the inaugural champion.
For the victory, Zhou takes home the Circuit Main Event trophy and the US$120,000 first-place prize, which was the biggest slice of the $700,000 prize pool.
"It's pretty surreal," Zhou said shortly after winning the event. "It's my first time playing in Asia. I'm feeling very lucky."
Zhong's impressive victory came after navigating a final table that included poker phenom Stephen Song and a seemingly unstoppable Xuecong Wu, who cruised through the final table after winning nearly every meaningful pot he played. At one point, Wu held an over 2:1 chip lead over Zhong during their heads-up battle, but Zhong stuck to his game plan and was able to edge out the win.
"My stategy [against Wu] was to play as much post flop as I could, so I almost never raised [preflop]." Zhong explained. "I felt I had a little bit of a post-flop edge and I was able to pull it off in the end."
Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (in US$) |
| 1 | Weizheng Zhong | China | $120,000 |
| 2 | Xuecong Wu | China | $65,000 |
| 3 | William Jia | Australia | $47,000 |
| 4 | Fangzhou Zhu | China | $36,300 |
| 5 | Yiyu Zhou | China | $28,000 |
| 6 | Jiaming Zhao | China | $21,000 |
| 7 | Stephen Song | United States | $16,000 |
| 8 | Jin Zeng | China | $12,500 |
| 9 | Huan Wen | China | $9,700 |
Final Table Action
Once players were seated at the final table, an explosive start at the Landing Casino inside the extravagant Shinhwa World Hotel Jeju saw four players eliminated within the first two levels of play.
On the very first hand, Huan Wen took his chances with ace-jack sitting on just seven big blinds and was sent out in ninth after running into Zhong's pocket jacks. Shortly after, Jin Zeng followed Wen out the door after shoving with a dominated ace against Jiaming Zhao's ace-king.
In a shocking turn of events, Song, who entered the final table second in chips, had his aces cracked by Wu in a massive pot to get sent out in an unexpected seventh.
For Wu, the rungood kept coming as he scored another knockout against Zhao just a few hands later to soar into the chip lead five-handed.
Play became notably more reserved at that point as the short-stacked players began making snug folds, seemingly trying to out-ladder each other for pay jumps. Meanwhile, Wu continued making hands and chipping up — at one point accumulating nearly half the chips in play with five remaining.
All eyes shifted to William Jia, who had slipped into short stack by a large margin. However, a pair of fortunate double-ups gave Jia new life and left the last lady standing — Yiyu Zhou — as the short stack. Short on options, Zhou made her stand with jack-ten suited after Zhong shoved holding king-high. The board ran out clean, leaving Zhong’s king best and sending Zhou to the rail in fifth place.
A relatively quiet Fangzhou Zhu managed to pick up kings and score a big double through Wu, only to have Jia double through Zhu twice in quick succession to leave him on the short stack. Wu then paid Zhu back by eliminating him with Big Slick in an all-in preflop confrontation.
Jia's string of double-ups finally came to an end after he shoved with jack-seven into Wu's ace-seven and failed to get lucky — setting up a finale between Wu and Zhong.
Heads-up Action
The heads-up match quickly became a back-and-forth battle that saw the chip lead exchange hands on several occasions. Neither player was interested in raising prelop, which led to an abundance of postflop action that initially favored Wu.
However, Zhong vaulted into the lead in a pivotal hand wherein Zhong flopped two pair against the open-ended straight draw of Wu. Zhong called a couple of semi-bluffs from Wu and then Wu payed off a hefty bet from Zhong after making top pair on the river.
A few hands later, Zhong found himself on the brink of victory after getting Wu all in holding king-queen against Wu's pocket fours. Zhong flopped a king to leave Wu drawing to two outs, but Wu ended up turning a set to get back into the match.
Zhong answered right back after a brutal cooler left both players with a straight using both hole cards. Zhong held the higher straight, however, and he doubled back through Wu.
Now the short stack, Wu moved all in with a king-nine and Zhong snap-called with an ace and the chip lead. The runout changed nothing and with that, Zhong emerged victorious as the inaugural TLPT Circuit Main Event champion following a roller-coaster heads-up duel.
That's a wrap for PokerNews coverage of the event. Be sure to check out our live-reporting hub for ongoing coverage of select TLPT events, including the US$15,000 Main Event, which is already in progress.
Level 37
: Blinds 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
Xuecong Wu shoved for 3,600,000 on the button and Weizheng Zhong called to put Wu at risk.
Xuecong Wu: K♦9♣
Weizheng Zhong: A♦8♣
Zhong had Wu on the ropes again, but this time the 3♥6♣6♦4♣10♦ runout went Zhong's way — eliminating Wu as runner-up and putting an end to the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
13,000,000
3,700,000
|
3,700,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 37
: Blinds 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
Xuecong Wu limped on the button with 5♦4♦ and Weizheng Zhong checked his option with 10♥9♦.
Both players checked on the 6♦J♠8♠ flop and then Zhong led out for 600,000 with his open-ended straight draw on the 3♥ turn. Wu called, having picked up a lower straight draw.
The 7♦ river was a sick one, as it improved both players to a straight.
Zhong fired 2,000,000 into the middle and Wu quickly went all in. Zhong called all in for 1,700,000 on top with the nuts and scored the massive double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
9,300,000
4,600,000
|
4,600,000 |
|
|
3,400,000
4,500,000
|
4,500,000 |
Level 37
: Blinds 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
Weizheng Zhong limped on the button with 9♣7♣ and Xuecong Wu checked his option in the big blind holding J♥9♦.
Wu check-called a 300,000 bet from Zhong on the A♦10♦8♠ flop, but check-folded his straight draw facing a 1,000,000 bet from Zhong on the 3♣ turn to help close the gap.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,900,000
600,000
|
600,000 |
|
|
4,700,000
600,000
|
600,000 |
Level: 37
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Ante: 200,000
Level 36
: Blinds 75,000/150,000, 150,000 ante
Xuecong Wu and Weizheng Zhong have been sent on a 15-minute break.
Level 36
: Blinds 75,000/150,000, 150,000 ante
Xuecong Wu shoved for 4,200,000 on the button and Weizheng Zhong tanked for a while before deciding to stick in a call and put Wu at risk.
Xuecong Wu: 4♠4♦
Weizheng Zhong: K♦Q♥
It was a race for it all, and the 8♦K♣5♥ flop immediately paired Zhong's king to put Wu's tournament life in dire straits.
The Poker Gods had other thoughts, however, as the 4♥ turn improved Wu to an unbeatable set of fours to seal his double up.
An irrelevant 2♥ completed the board and Wu was awarded the double up to take back the lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
8,500,000
5,100,000
|
5,100,000 |
|
|
4,100,000
5,200,000
|
5,200,000 |
Level 36
: Blinds 75,000/150,000, 150,000 ante
Weizheng Zhong limped on the button and Xuecong Wu shoved for his last 3,300,000 in the big blind. Zhong quickly called and a showdown was held.
Xuecong Wu: A♦6♥
Weizheng Zhong: A♥9♥
The 5♦8♦8♥ flop looked bleak for Wu, but the 5♠ turn double paired the board and left both players with the same hand.
The 7♦ failed to pair either player and Wu faded elimination by way of a chopped pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
9,300,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
|
3,400,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
Level 36
: Blinds 75,000/150,000, 150,000 ante
Weizheng Zhong limped on the button with J♠3♦ and Xuecong Wu checked his option with Q♦10♥.
Zhong called a 300,000 bet from Wu on the 3♣J♣9♦ flop and a 400,000 bet from Wu on the 6♠ turn.
The Q♣ improved Wu to top pair and he checked, prompting a 1,300,000 bet from Zhong with his two pair.
Wu used up a couple time banks contemplating his decision, but eventually tossed in a call.
Zhong showed him the bad news and was sent the pot to take a sizable chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
9,100,000
2,300,000
|
2,300,000 |
|
|
3,500,000
2,300,000
|
2,300,000 |
