MAIN EVENT (CS) - 8 HANDED

After four days, 31 levels and beating a field of 505 in the $700,000 guaranteed inaugural The Lord Poker Tournament Circuit Main Event - Weizheng Zhong clinches his first poker trophy and more than doubles his all-time earnings of his still young live tournament career.

"I feel very happy and very lucky to win this."

He qualified at the last opening flight on Wednesday, but almost didn't make it, having to navigate a short stack through the last levels of Day 1D.

On Day 1 I almost bubbled. Before late reg I only had 3 or 4BB left. Then I spun it up to 112K in one level and eventually bagged around 70K.

Starting Day 2 with 78,000 (15BB) he was nestled in between big stacks and sharks like Calvin Lee and Gary Thompson on his table, almost ending his day early. After gaining some traction he was involved in a blind battle with Fangzhou Zhu - today's 4th place finisher - where he netted 16bb with K♠ 9♥ on a K♣ 8♥ A♦ 9♠ 4♣ board and a 10BB river bet. In level 21 he knocked out Raffaele Sorrentino with A♠ A♦ against Q♠ Q♦ for another 20BB and coasted to the end, bagging 27BB at the end of level 24 when the Final 9 was determined after AAPoker Ambassador Quan Zhou became the final table bubble.

"It was pretty sweet honestly you know, the first two levels of day 2, I actually didn't get any spots so I was down to like 3BB. Then when I moved I got some pretty good spots and got paid for a cooler."

His final table started with a bang, knocking out Huan Wen in the first hand with J♠ J♦ against Wen's A♦ J♥ and was followed by another huge hand against then chip leader William Jia. Having J♠ J♥ again, Zhong slow played from the button against an open from hijack Jia with Q♦ T♠ and got more than 10BB with the board running K♠ 7♥ 3♠ T♣ K♦ which took him into the lead for one hand. A few orbits later he took over completely by hitting a set against Jiaming Zhao's top pair.

His heads up opponent Xuecong Wu went on a heater after that but entered the heads up as a 2:1 underdog. Those two were battling for about an hour until with the lead changing several times before Zhong took it down with A♦ 8♣ , calling an 18bb shove from Wu who had K♦ 9♠ and both of them missed the board 3♥ 6♣ 6♦ 4♣ T♦ .

"So basically i tried to play as much as possible against him, but still made some tight folds like where i had KQ off suit against him. I could have just played more pots against him and if I didn't get that cooler hand i probably lose the heads up."

Both players miss on 3♥ 6♣ 6♦ 4♣ T♦ that ends this roller coaster heads up with Weizheng Zhong securing his first poker trophy.

Xuecong Wu limps 5♦ 4♦ and Weizheng Zhong opts for a check with T♥ 9♦ to see the flop 6♦ J♠ 8♠ where two more checks reveal the turn 3♥ giving both players an open-ender. Zhong leads 600,000 and Wu quickly calls for the board to complete 7♦ with both players making their straights. Zhong forks out 2,000,000 and snaps for a total of 3,700,000 after Wu put his all-in.

Another limped pot gets checked to the turn 8♠ 9♥ J♥ Q♠ where button Weizheng Zhong tests the waters with a 300,000 bet and Wu calls. The river A♣ gets checked down and Wu tables the winner Q♦ J♣ against Zhong's Q♣ 5♦ .

Zhong is a 90% favorite to win the tournament right here after the flop comes 5♥ K♣ 8♦ , but Wu immediately hits his two-outer on the turn 4♥ which makes the river 2♥ just a formality and puts him back into a massive lead.

After picking up the blinds, Xuecong Wu raises 450,000 into Weizheng Zhong's limp, who fills up to see the flop 7♣ T♦ Q♥ . Wu jams around 3,000,000 with A♦ J♦ and gets Zhong to fold 8♠ 6♦ .

Weizheng Zhong limps J♠ 3♦ and Xuecong Wu opts for a check before double barreling his open ender for 300,000 and 400,000 on 3♣ J♣ 9♦ 6♠ and Zhong just calls with two pair. The river Q♣ gives Wu some showdown value and slows down to a check. Zhong lays out quite a large value bet of 1,300,000, which puts Wu in the tank. After handing two time banks to the dealer, Wu finds the call.

This time it is Xuecong Wu who limps 8♠ 5♠ and Zhong checks 3♣ 2♣ for the flop to hit 2♠ 5♥ 5♦ that gets checked for a free turn J♠ . Zhong check-calls 150,000, the board completes Q♣ and he does so again for 700,000, handing another big pot to Wu.

Weizheng Zhong limps 6♠ 4♦ and Xuecong Wu checks Q♦ 7♦ to see the flop J♥ 7♣ K♥ where Wu check calls a min-bet and the turn falls K♠ which gets checked to the river 8♣ . Zhong tries to steal for 450,000, playing the board, but Wu has his number and calls with the aid of a time bank.

Jia's hopes are crushed right away when the board hits 8♦ A♥ 6♦ A♠ Q♣ , sending the Aussie home with some additional money in his war chest for the high rollers he will certainly play in the coming days.

After picking up the blinds twice in single raised pots, Weizheng Zhong opens his small blind to 375,000 holding Q♣ 9♦ and William Jia defends Q♦ J♣ . Zhong triple barrels 300,000, 700,000 and a jam on the river J♦ 3♥ T♣ 3♠ K♥ with his newly minted straight and Jia called while being ahead, but makes a good lay down on the river.

Live, but behind, Zhu can't find any help on 2♠ T♣ 4♦ A♦ 2♦ and his elimination takes us to the podium places.

After picking up the blinds twice before, Weizheng Zhong opens another 250,000 from under the gun to scoop a 3rd pot in a row.

Jia stays ahead on 2♦ and J♦ for a much needed double up.

Under the gun Fangzhou Zhu makes it 200,000 with J♠ J♣ and big blind Weizheng Zhong defends K♣ 4♣ to see the flop 6♦ 5♠ 2♣ where he donk-bets 150,000 and Zhu just calls. Hitting top-pair on the turn K♥ , Zhu slows down to a check before calling Zhong's 350,000 to see the board complete 9♥ and two checks reveal Zhong as the winner.

An orbit goes by with Weizheng Zhong picking up the blinds once and pushing Xuecong Wu off of king-queen with a three-bet holding queen-ten.

The dealer hits the felt Q♠ 6♥ 4♦ K♣ A♦ to catapult Zhu into the lead that Wu held since just after the day had started.

Zhou picks up a lot of outs when the dealer flips over 8♦ 7♦ Q♠ 5♠ , but none materialize on the river 4♥ .

Jia immediately outflops his opponent on 6♦ Q♣ 9♥ and stays ahead when the board completes 3♦ and 5♦ for a much needed double up.

Xuecong Wu picked up another few pots, taking chips from everyone but William Jia, who was himself able to steal the blinds to stay even.

After winning a min-raised pot against Xuecong Wu that was checked to the river, Yiyu Zhou is at it again, jamming 800,000 from the big blind with A♣ Q♦ against Fangzhou Zhu who opened 160,000 from under the gun with A♦ 9♣ and lets it go.

After almost two orbits with not much happening other than Xuecong Wu bullying, the blinds go up and put two players below 10BB.

Finding no help on 5♠ and 8♦ , Jiaming Zhao has to vacate his seat.

Stephen Song opens 130,000 from +1 with A♥ A♣ and big blind Xuecong Wu defends T♦ 9♦ for the flop K♦ T♠ 2♠ to hit the felt where Song's 90,000 c-bet gets snapped and the turn falls 6♦ , giving Wu a lot more outs. He decides to take over the reins with a 300,000 lead and Song just calls. The river 9♣ gives Wu two pair, who snap-jams to put Song all-in. Song asks for a count, spends some time banks, but cant get away and finally puts his last 985,000 into the middle.

Mood swings when the flop hits 2♦ 8♠ 9♥ , putting the underdog ahead, the turn T♠ increases his chances even more before Zhao takes back the lead when the board completes K♣ .

Right the next hand under the gun Jiaming Zhao min-raises to take three customers to the flop A♥ 6♥ 2♣ where he continues for 230,000 and only button Weizheng Zhong stays along for the ride to the turn 4♦ . Zhao forks out another 460,000 which gets met once more and the board completes Q♣ . Zhao needs two time banks before electing to check with A♦ T♥ , Zhong makes it 1,100,000 with a set 2♠ 2♦ and Zhao finds the call just before his clock ran out, which puts Zhong into a massive lead.

The dealer flips over T♠ 6♠ 2♥ 2♠ , Zhou starts chanting at the board before lifting her arm into a victory pose when the river J♦ makes her double up official.

William Jia opens another hand from +2 for 110,000 with A♥ Q♠ , Weizheng Zhong flats A♣ J♦ from the cutoff and big blind Jiaming Zhao defends Q♥ T♠ and we see the flop 6♣ 8♦ 2♠ that gets checked to the action turn Q♣ . Jia lays out a 200,000 delayed c-bet and only Zhao sticks around to the river T♦ . After using a time bank, Zhao switches to a 700,000 lead and Jia cant find a fold with top pair, dropping him further down the order.

Chip leader William Jia leads 110,000 from the hijack holding Q♦ T♠ and button Weizheng Zhong only calls with J♠ J♥ to see the flop K♠ 7♥ 3♠ where Jia c-bets 100,000 and Zhong pays up. Jia slows down to a check on the turn T♣ and proceeds to call Zhong's 175,000 bet to complete the board K♦ which both players check down. Zhong's jacks are good and take him into a narrow lead.

No help for Wen on T♣ 3♠ 9♠ 9♥ K♠ and we are down to eight players after the first hand.

Shuffle up and deal!

The Lord Poker Tournament Circuit Main Event with a prize pool of $700,000 has reached the Final 9, down from a total of 505 entries over four opening flights and 60 qualifiers that battled it out on Day 2 yesterday. With a $9,700 payday for ninth secured already, the remaining contenders will have their sights set on the $120,000 that go to the inaugural champion and a beautiful trophy alongside with it.

Chip leader William Jia - a young Australian pro who came close to a bracelet at the WSOP last year, finishing 9th out of 965 in the $10k Mystery Bounty for $80K - qualified for Day 2 tenth in chips, but was 2nd on his table yesterday morning with a great position and applied pressure from the get-go. A pivotal hand came in level 22 when he took on then chip leader Stephen Song, defending his big blind with K♠ 2♠ against a button min-raise. He called a 3BB c-bet on the flop K♦ 7♣ 8♦ and switched to a 2BB lead on the turn K♥ that got called by Song and the board completed J♦ . Jia checked, Song forked out 5,5BB and called Jia's 16BB check-raise with A♠ A♣ . Close to the end he knocked out Yang Liu after winning a flip with eights against ace-king and ended the day by eliminating AAPoker Ambassador Quan Zhou on the final table bubble, open-jamming the small blind with 4♠ 5♥ against Zhou's Q♠ 9♣ and the board ran 8♠ T♣ 2♥ 3♠ 4♣ . He will start the day with 2,575,000 (51BB).

Second in chips and the most experienced player at the final table is American Stephen Song who has a bracelet and six rings to his name and won the EPT Barcelona $5K Main Event last September for a whopping $1,425,651. He started Day 2 seventh in chips, but had some heavy hitters on his table with overall chip leader Bin Wang to his immediate left. His break came in level 18 when he four-bet jammed Q♠ 6♠ for 35BB and doubled up against Xuanzhi Zhao with A♥ K♦ when the board ran 7♠ 9♦ 8♥ 5♦ Q♣ and went on a tear after that. Still on the most stacked table of the tournament he knocked out Rui Sun with aces against kings and won massive pots against other greats like Martin Sedlak and Nevan Chang that took him into a massive lead during level 20 before he lost with A♠ A♣ against Jia's K♠ 2♠ in the previously mentioned hand. After a roller coaster ending to his day, he bagged 1,945,000 (39BB) for today's final table.

The Final 9 will take their seats at 12:00 on Friday the 16th of May and the SMP Live Updates will be there to cover the action from start to finish.