20K (SHR) - 8 HANDED ($20,000)

The Lord Poker Tournament $20,000 Super High Roller broke its guaranteed $500K prize pool just before the end of level 10 and added some more until late registration closed which got the total entries to 32, resulting in a $640,000 prize pool with $242,000 going to the champion. Eleven players are left standing that will try to make it into the 5 ITM spots for at least $60,000.

Yesterday's SHR Main Event Winner Stephen Song came out on top with 1,315,000 (110BB) Being one of the 11 early birds, he came out of the gates swinging, delivering the first knockout of the day against Ivan Zhang with A♠ A♦ versus Zhang's Q♦ 8♦ in level 1 and axed Dong Chen in level 3 with a 6♦ 7♦ flush on J♦ 2♦ J♠ 3♦ Q♠ when Chen had top pair with the nut blocker A♦ Q♣ that had him sit on a whopping 442BBs at the time. He gave a great summary of his run in the interview right after.

I mean right from the start, I ran really good. I won a nice pot and was able to stack Ivan with aces, which was really good, so i had like 400K right away and then before i knew it stacked Dong Chen who is a really good player too, that got me to 6-700K instantly and then the rest of day I was kind of just cruising a little bit. I took a little bit of hit when i lost jacks - it was for a pretty big pot - but right after i sucked out with eight's vs jacks, like instantly right after and then i had it back. Once i moved to the feature table I started running really good so yeah it was a pretty easy day overall.

James Mendoza - last night's SHR Main Event runner-up for $450,000 - is chasing Stephen Song once again, bagging 1,180,000 (98BB) in second place.

Carrying the torch for the ladies is Yisha Chen - 2024 Triton Montenegro Main Event 9th place finisher for $478,000 - who ended the day in 3rd with 1,100,000 (92BB).

First to act James Mendoza makes it 30,000, small blind Gavin ups it to 81,000 and big blind Istvan Birizdo calls for his last 58,000 before Mendoza fills up.

A friendly check to the river Q♦ 7♦ 7♠ 4♥ 5♣ has Birizdo come out on top with J♠ J♦ and Mendoza wins the side pot with K♠ 5♠ against Gavin's A♣ 2♥ .

None of Barer's four outs show up on the 3♦ river and we lose another player.

Outflopped and left with two outs on Q♣ 2♣ T♦ 4♦ , Park gets up and ready to leave before the miracle 7♦ hits on the river.

An ace from space for Barer on 5♣ Q♦ 6♦ A♥ J♣ grants him a double up and leaves Cates with a starting stack.

Ami Barer lays out 22,000 and takes small blind Taylor Black to the flop J♦ K♥ 6♥ where Black check-calls a 17,000 c-bet. The turn 9♥ gets checked before Black leads the river 7♠ for 50,000 which gets the job done.

Two hands after, Dominik Nitsche opens 30,000 from the cutoff, James Mendoza ups it to 80,000 with Nitsche snap calling and exposing his hand Q♣ T♠ , because he thought Mendoza was all-in.

Mendoza's 75,000 c-bet gets called on the flop J♠ 5♠ 2♠ before another 75,000 gets Nitsche to make a correct fold with his flush when Mendoza showed K♠ Q♦ for a higher flush.

First to act James Mendoza min-raises and takes two customers to the flop 9♥ Q♣ J♣ that gets checked to the T♠ turn. Mendoza's 40,000 delayed c-bet gets filled by Taylor Black in +2 for a heads-up T♦ river. Back to a check, Mendoza folds to Black's 120,000 bet.

Hijack Yisha Chen puts 21,000 in front and quickly calls after cutoff Chris Park three-bet to 55,000. Park's 40,000 c-bet gets called on the flop Q♦ 8♣ T♥ and the turn 3♠ is checked to the 3♣ river. Chen takes over the reins with a 75,000 lead and Park folds.

With the guaranteed prize pool of $500,000 breached to $640,000 we have 16 out of 32 entries still in the running and late registration is closed. Play will conclude at the end of level 12 today.

A limped blind battle leads big blind Gary Thompson to triple barrel 16,000, 29,000 and 74,000 on the board 5♥ Q♠ 6♥ 7♣ 7♠ with Stephen Song calling until the river where he lets it go.

Yisha Chen limps her small blind, Chris Park raises to 28,000 and calls after Chen pumped it to 100,000. Chen continues for 50,000 on the 7♣ T♣ 2♦ flop, Park calls and both of them check the turn 4♣ and river 7♦ with Chen flipping over A♥ Q♣ which prompts Park to muck.

Button Gary Thompson leads 16,000 and big blind Yisha Chen defends to see the flop K♦ A♥ 2♣ where Gary bets 20,000 before folding to a 56,000 check-raise from Yisha.

A single raised blind battle for 28,000 has small blind James Mendoza triple barrel 16,000, 45,000 and 155,000 on the board 8♥ 6♠ A♦ A♠ T♣ and Taylor Black calls all the way with A♥ 5♠ , losing against Mendoza's A♣ Q♠ .

Under the gun Chris Park puts 16,000 in the middle and big blind Yisha Chen defends to see the flop K♣ 3♣ 3♥ where she check-calls 8,000, but lets it go on the turn 3♦ when faced with another 25,000 bet.

Cates' double up is made official when the dealer completes the board J♠ .

Everything is looking peachy for Zhou when the dealer hits the felt 5♥ 7♠ 3♣ A♣ before turning pear shaped on the river 8♦ , giving Song a set that sends the AAPoker ambassador to the rail.

With a min-raise and a flat in front, cutoff Dan Cates squeezes to 48,000 and only hijack Taylor Black comes along for the ride. The board T♠ J♦ 5♦ 4♦ 9♠ gets checked down with Black showing the winner K♥ T♥ against A♣ ks from Cates.

Cutoff Taylor Black opens 13,000 and takes two interested parties to the flop 2♣ 9♣ K♦ that gets checked to button Dan Cates who makes it 15,000, Dominik Nitsche folds T♣ 9♥ from the big blind and Cates takes it down with a 35,000 check-raise holding A♣ 3♣ .

Yisha Chen wants 13,000 and big blind Stephen Song obliges. The board J♥ 7♣ 6♦ K♦ T♦ gets checked until Song tries to steal and puts out 20,000 with Q♥ 5♣ before surrendering the pot when Chen calls with Q♣ 9♥ , losing a time bank in the process.

Cutoff Daniel Cates min-raises and takes button Patrik Demus to the flop J♥ 2♠ 5♣ that gets checked to the turn A♦ and river Q♦ . Demus bets 25,000 with A♠ 4♠ , Cates check-raises to 65,000 with Q♦ J♥ and scoops the pot after Demus fills up with the aid of a time banks.

Under the gun Dan Cates min-raises with A♣ J♣ and big blind Taylor Black defends 8♥ 6♦ before both of them check to the river T♣ K♣ K♥ 8♦ 3♦ where Black leads 20,000. Cates' laughs and raises to 75,000, Black considers his options, but makes the correct call after using a time bank.

Yisha Chen min-raises from the cutoff and small blind Stephen Song defends to see the flop 9♠ K♥ 4♦ with Song check-raising to 35,000 and Chen fills up her 10,000 c-bet. The T♠ turn gets rejected for a free river 3♦ where Song fires another 150,000 after using a time bank and Chen folds, losing three time banks in the process.

Both Players laugh when they see each others hand before the 7♦ makes Leng's double up official.

The 9♥ ends this setup with Birizdo vacating his seat.

Dominik Nitsche limps from +1 with A♥ 6♥ and fills up after small blind Dan Cates upped it to 20,000 with A♣ J♠ to see the flop 7♣ 7♠ T♥ . Cates' 15,000 c-bet gets called before his 25,000 second barrel gets the job done on the 2♣ turn.

Cutoff Dan Cates makes it 10,000 and takes two customers to the flop 6♦ J♠ 2♣ where he continues for 10,000, button Quan Zhou pays up and Nevan Chang flicks in his last 1,000 for the turn 3♠ to drop. Zhou calls another 16,000 before folding to an 80,000 bet on the 8♦ river. Chang wins the main pot with 8♠ 9♠ and Cates collects a small side pot with A♦ 2♥ .

Cutoff Yisha Chen raises 11,000 and big blind Lei Yu defends to see the flop A♣ A♠ J♠ where Yu check-calls an 8,000 c-bet. The turn J♦ and river 2♣ get checked down with Yu's J♥ 5♥ coming out on top.

Cutoff Dan Cates laid out 8,000 before filling up small blind Nevan Chang's 32,000 three-bet. Cates triple barrels 25,000, 50,000 and 94,000 all-in on 6♣ 9♠ A♥ 7♥ A♣ with Chang check-calling all the way, using up four time banks on the river with A♦ 5♦ but has to surrender the pot to Cates' A♠ K♥ .

With a 9,000 raise and a flat in front, big blind Stephen Song puts his two opponents all-in, but they both let it go.

The board completes 8♦ Q♠ keeping Mendoza ahead for a much needed double up.

Big blind Stephen Song defends against an 8,000 open from Patrik Demus in +1 to lay eyes on the flop 2♦ 9♦ 4♣ where Demus continues for 13,000 before filling up Song's 35,000 check-raise and the J♥ turn drops. Song's 75,000 lead gets met, the board completes 3♣ and Song is back to a check. Demus tries his luck with a 55,000 bet in position, but snap folds after Song put him all-in with the aid of a time bank.

A single raised pot of 9,000 goes to the flop 7♦ 4♦ 7♣ heads up where Quan Zhou c-bets 11,000 from +2 and big blind Yisha Chen pays up. The 3♠ turn gets rejected for a free river T♥ with Zhou's 26,000 bet in position getting the job done.