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.

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.

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.

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 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♠ .

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♣ .

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.

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

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.

Bad news for Gierse right away with the window showing a queen on 8♥ J♦ Q♠ 9♥ A♣ and yesterday's SHR Main Event 3rd place finisher for $320,000 is out.

Button Taylor Black lays out 5,500 and big blind Marius Gierse defends to the flop 2♥ 2♣ 3♦ where he check-raises 8,000 and Black fills up his 3,000 c-bet for the turn 4♥ to drop. Gierse continues for 10,000, Black calls and scoops the pot on the Q♦ river with an 11,000 bet after Gierse slowed down to a check.

Taylor Black lays out 5,500 from under the gun and Bin Leng comes along for the ride to the 2♥ 5♣ A♥ flop. Leng calls a 4,500 c-bet and bets 10,000 on the 5♥ turn that gets the job done after Black check-folded.

With a 4,000 open and a 14,000 re-raise in front, Nevan Chang cold four-bets 39,000 from the small blind holding 9♦ 9♣ and takes only hijack Taylor Black with Q♠ Q♦ to the flop 7♠ 2♥ 2♣ . Black calls a 22,000 c-bet before the 6♦ turn gets rejected for a free river Q♥ . The second nuts in hand, Black fires 30,000 for value and Chang needs two time banks before finding a call.

After just losing a pot, Yisha Chen gets involved again with an 8,000 three-bet from the hijack and Taylor Black fills up his 2,500 open from +1 before check calling 6,000 on the flop 6♦ J♠ 3♦ . The turn 6♠ gets rejected for a free river 2♠ where Chen value bets 25,000 with a 7♠ 8♠ flush, Black calls and throws it in the muck.