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).

Day 2 will commence at 13:00 on Tuesday the 20th in level 13 and finish when a champion has emerged.

The SMP Live Updates will cover the action from start to finish.

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.

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.

Button Yisha Chen min-raises K♣ Q♥ and quickly fills up after small blind Calvin Lee three-bet 21,000 with J♦ T♦ for the flop 9♠ 2♠ Q♣ to drop. Lee check-calls 15,000 before switching to a lead on the A♦ turn. Chen calls and the T♥ river gets checked down, revealing Chen's pair as the winner.

Under the gun Stephen Song opens 5,500 and hijack Chris Park ups it to 18,000 before big blind Calvin Lee's 50,500 cold four-bet takes it down.

Still stacking his chips from winning the hand before, hijack Lei Yu raises to 5,000, Calvin Lee pumps it to 18,000 from the button, but lets it go when faced with a 67,000 four bet from Yu.

Under the gun Stephen Song lays out 4,500 and big blind Calvin Lee defends to see the flop K♥ 4♣ 5♥ where Lee check-calls 8,000 before taking over the reins with a 7,000 lead on the 3♥ turn that goes unanswered.

With a 4,000 raise in front, cutoff Yisha Chen ups it to 12,000 and Calvin Lee's cold call from the button takes them heads-up to the 4♠ Q♥ 3♦ flop where her 9,000 continuation gets called and the turn falls A♣ . Chen slows down to a check, Lee forks out 30,000 and scoops the pot.

Under the gun Calvin Lee leads 4,000 and fills up Patrik Demus' 16,500 increase to see the K♣ 8♥ 5♣ flop where Demus' 10,000 continuation gets the job done.

First to act Calvin Lee raises 3,500 before calling button Lei Yu's 13,000 three-bet to see the 6♦ 6♥ 3♠ flop. Lee calls a first barrel of 10,000, but lets it go on the turn 5♠ when Yu fires another 41,500.

With a 2,500 raise and a call in front, big blind Ivan Zhang pumps it to 15,000 and takes only cutoff Calvin Lee to the flop 6♠ 9♥ J♠ where his 10,000 continuation gets met by Lee. On the turn 3♦ Calvin Lee folds to Zhang's 55,000 second barrel who shows J♣ J♦ .

Fresh from a rebuy, Ivan Zhang makes it 2,000 from under the gun before filling up Calvin Lee's 5,000 reraise from the button. The board gets checked to the river 4♣ A♠ 5♥ 3♣ J♣ where Zhang leads 20,500 with Q♣ J♥ and Lee snaps with A♦ T♣ to scoop the pot.