Jia Leads, Song Lurks as Final Table is Set in TLPT Circuit Main Event
Day 2 of the TLPT Circuit Main Event saw 60 players reconvene inside the fabulous Shinhwa World Hotel Jeju from across four starting flights to compete for a piece of the US$700,000 prize pool. After a brisk 10 levels to get down to a final table — it was Aussie and tournament grinder William Jia who found himself on top of the leaderboard after bagging up 2,575,000 in chips.
No one else managed to end with over two million, but Jia faces stiff competition heading into the finale as poker phenom Stephen Song currently sits second in chips with 1,945,000.
Song is no stranger to final tables and is inarguably the most accomplished player left with over $9 million in live-tournament earnings and several poker titles to his name.
"I fired six bullets in this one, but it finally paid off," Song explained shortly after bagging. "I had a rough trip in [EPT] Monte Carlo, so it's nice.... any final tables are always amazing."
Final Table Seat Draw and Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huan Wen | China | 330,000 | 7 |
| 2 | Jiaming Zhao | China | 1,595,000 | 32 |
| 3 | Yiyu Zhou | China | 560,000 | 11 |
| 4 | Fangzhou Zhu | China | 1,850,000 | 37 |
| 5 | William Jia | Australia | 2,575,000 | 52 |
| 6 | Xuecong Wu | China | 1,820,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Weizheng Zhong | China | 1,350,000 | 27 |
| 8 | Jin Zeng | China | 605,000 | 12 |
| 9 | Stephen Song | United States | 1,945,000 | 39 |
Action of the Day
Just 60 players of the original 505 entrants sat down for Day 2, having already secured a min-cash worth twice the amount they bought in for (depending on which flight was entered). With the blinds being rolled back to 2,500/5,000/5,000 — there was plenty of opportunity for players to navigate their way to a deep run.
Italian pro Raffaele Sorrentino got off to a hot start and more than tripled his stack within the first couple of levels after winning a race against WSOP bracelet winner Dong Chen and then eliminating Zehao Li with a dominating ace.
Meanwhile, Season 22 WPT Player of the Year Yunkyu Song fared less well after losing to a runner-runner straight from Huan Wen. Song hung tough for a while longer, but was eventually sent to the rail after losing a race with ace-king against Xuecong Wu's pocket jacks.
The other Song in the field (Stephen), caught a critical double up after getting feisty with queen-six and immediately put his newfound chips to work. Following the double up, Song stayed active and seemingly had the best of it in most the big pots he played and was even the first player to breach the two million chip mark.
Song looked poised to run away with the lead, but Jia managed to halt Song's momentum by cracking Song's aces and getting paid off.
While Jia and Song continued to battle in pots that went Jia's way, a steady flow of eliminations saw several notables bust, including Calvin Lee (40th - $2,400), Dong Chen (29th - $2,900), Renji Mao (27th - $2,900), Martin Sedlak (20th - $4,300), and Sorrentino (19th - $4,300) — whose stellar run was ended after running pocket queens into Weizheng Zhong's aces.
With two tables remaining, Jia continued his winning ways and took a commanding chip lead after dramatically rivering a set of eights to eliminate Yang Liu.
Shortly after, Song reasserted himself by correctly calling down Nevan Chang with third pair while Chang was bluffing to send him out a few spots shy of the final table.
In the end, however; Jia maintained his lead and was responsible for bursting the final-table bubble after sucking out on TLPT founder Quan Zhou. Jia shoved from the small blind with five-four and Zhou called all in with queen-nine. Zhou was the favorite to double, but the runout paired Jia's four on the river to end play for the day.
The final table will get underway tomorrow (May 16) at noon local time and play down to a winner. The clock will resume with 36:16 minutes left at blinds of 25,000-50,000 with a big blind ante of 50,000. Each player will receive an additional five time bank cards and levels will continue to last 40 minutes each.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize (in US$) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 |
| 2 | $65,000 |
| 3 | $47,000 |
| 4 | $36,300 |
| 5 | $28,000 |
| 6 | $21,000 |
| 7 | $16,000 |
| 8 | $12,500 |
| 9 | $9,700 |
With the finish line now clearly in sight, each of remaining nine players is sure to bring their A-game as they battle for the trophy and $120,000 first-place prize. Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action leading up until the first TLPT Circuit Main Event champion is crowned!