TLPT AAPOKER (SHR) FINAL ($25,000)

After finishing 6th in Sunday's 191 player TLPT $15k Super High Roller Main Event for $130,000, Ivan Zhang puts a cherry on top by shipping the final event of The Lord Poker Tournament Super High Roller Series at Jeju Island’s Landing Resort for $162,000 and hoists his first TLPT trophy.

"I feel actually very excited, because yesterday when I was sitting at the table, I had some of the most successful poker players in the world sitting on the same table with me. I'm asking them if you guys have WSOP bracelets and everyone says, 'Yeah I do have one. I have two. I have four.' I'm thinking oh you know I am not a professional poker player and I'm sitting with these guys who actually got every poker player's dream."

When we started reporting on Day 1 in level 7, Ivan Zhang was sitting on a starting stack of 200K (50BB at the time) had a few ups and downs and went on a heater in the last two levels where he spun up his 271,000 to a massive lead of 1,066,000 (133 BB) at the end of level 10, adding 21BBs last minute by pressuring two opponents out of a multi raised pot on the turn.

He started Day 2 with Dominik Nitsche - four-time bracelet winner with over $20M in live earnings to his name - on his immediate left and found Renji Mao - 2023 WSOP Bracelet Event #26 Winner for $400K and fresh from his $737K biggest cash ever for finishing 3rd in the Triton Event #5 here in Jeju just two months ago - right behind him after his last minute entry on Day 2.

Finding little action and picking his spots carefully he was cruising through most of the day, always in the lead, but only chipping up slightly until he delivered his first elimination of Renji Mao in 4th with A♦ K♠ against Mao's A♠ Q♥ on a board that ran all blanks. From then on he dominated the game, winning the majority of hands, knocked out Quan Zhou in 3rd with A♣ J♣ versus A♠ T♣ that took him to the heads-up against Lei Yu as a 6:1 favorite. Shortly after that he delivered the final blow with K♥ K♣ against Yu's 6♥ 6♦ to hoist his first TLPT trophy.

"Well, you know I've been waiting and being patient in the beginning, playing only a few hands. This last event is probably the best, because I get a chance to play against all the best players in the world. I'm very happy today to play with them because I feel very excited that I have a chance to win this event and be the best as well."

Being one of the organizers of The Lord Poker Tournament, he had a thank you for everyone that has been a part of this event:

"I'm very thankful for all the players who came to play here, I appreciate all of them. This is the first time the TLPT came to Asia. We had four events in Brisbane last year, but this was our first ever official series. Even though we have had some overlay on our prize pool, because maybe we guaranteed too much, but we just want to provide the experience with lower buy-ins, medium buy-ins and high rollers combined together to bring more fun and exciting memories to people who really love poker. We want everyone to be a star."

A big thank you to everyone from the SMP Team as well and we hope to see you soon at one of the many stops on the Asian poker circuit.

No miracle for Yu on 2♥ 3♥ 3♠ A♣ 8♣ , going home in 2nd for $108,000 - just short of his $126,100 for shipping the RDPT Prestige High Roller here in Jeju two weeks ago.

After some back and forth with no changes in stack sizes, Ivan Zhang leads 85,000 with K♦ 5♦ and Lei Yu defends K♣ 2♥ for the flop 2♣ A♥ 8♣ to drop. Zhang continues for 50,000 with Yu sticking around for the Q♣ turn that gets rejected for a free J♣ river. Yu value bets 115,000 with his flush, but Zhang lets it go.

Losing to Ivan Zhang in the two hands prior, big blind Lei Yu is in a limped blind battle with him again and makes it 25,000 on the 7♥ 3♥ A♥ flop to scoop the pot.

We didn't see a single flop in the last seven hands and no big changes on the leaderboard.

Ivan Zhang opens 40,000 with A♥ 6♥ from the button and big blind Lei Yu defends 6♦ 6♣ to the flop 2♣ Q♦ 6♠ where Zhang c-bets 30,000 before calling Lei Yu's 85,000 check-raise. The T♦ turn gets checked to the 5♣ river and Yu leads another 95,000, scooping the pot after Zhang made the call.

After just bleeding chips without a single win in the past 16 hands, Mao Renji limps his small blind with 8♣ 7♣ and Lei Yu opts to check 9♠ 3♣ to the 6♣ 4♦ A♥ flop where a 20,000 lead grants him the pot and some confidence.

After picking up a single raised pot on the turn, Lei Yu defends his big blind against a 35,000 open from under the gun Quan Zhou. Yu calls a 20,000 c-bet on the 4♣ 4♠ Q♥ flop and the turn Q♠ gets checked to the 5♣ river. Yu switches to a 55,000 lead with Q♣ 9♣ and Zhou pays up holding A♣ K♣ .

The Lord Poker Tournament $25,000 Super High Roller has currently 6 out of 14 entries remaining with the prize pool sitting at $350,000, but late registration will still be open until the start of Day 2 at 13:00 local, giving late entries twenty big blinds to work with.

Ivan Zhang - back to back high roller runner-up at the KPC Jeju last November - leads the field into Day 2 with 1,066,000 (133 BB). He started level 9 with 271,000 in chips and spun it up to over 1M in the last 90 minutes with his usual aggressive play, adding 21BBs last minute by pressuring two opponents out of a multi raised pot on the turn.

Quan Zhou - fresh from a $1,193,000 cash for 2nd place at the $25,000 Triton Super High Roller Event #3 here in Jeju just over two months ago - will start the day in second with 743,000 (93 BB). He already had a big stack when we started live coverage last night and chipped up some more in the last level.

Dominik Nitsche - four-time bracelet winner with over $20M in live earnings to his name - sits in third with 526,000 (66 BB) after a roller coaster finish yesterday.

SMP Live Updates will cover the action until a champion is crowned.