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.

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

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.

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

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♣ .

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.

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 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♥ .

Hijack Gary Thompson min-raises an double checks his cards before filling up Dan Cates' 21,000 three-bet from the small blind. The flop 2♣ A♣ Q♦ is checked to reveal the turn Q♣ where Cates check-calls 28,000 for the 6♥ river to drop that gets checked again with Cates missing out on value with his K♣ 5♣ flush.

New entry Daniel Cates takes two interested parties to the flop T♦ 6♣ 4♥ that gets checked to the K♣ turn where Cates' 10,000 delayed c-bet keeps it a three-way. The river K♠ gets checked down again with big blind Taylor Black flipping over the winner K♦ Q♠ trips.