Place
3rd
Prize
$48,500
Blind level
Level 31: 100,000 / 200,000 ante: 200,000
Entries
1/9
Total Chips
225,000
Average
225,000

Final Table

SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 7:44:55 AM

Australian Pro William Jia Leaves In Third For $48,500

Level 29: 75,000 / 125,000 ante: 125,000
William Jia - 3rd Place
Xuecong Wu

After three hands went to Xuecong Wu preflop, he now calls a 1,500,000 jam from small blind William Jia and dominates.

PlayerHandChips
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
J7
SB
busted
XW
A7
BB
4,700,000(38 BB)

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.

SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 7:38:40 AM

Weizheng Zhong Marches Further Ahead

Level 29: 75,000 / 125,000 ante: 125,000

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.

PlayerChips
8,100,000(65 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,800,000(14 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 7:37:46 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 29: 75,000 / 125,000 ante: 125,000
PlayerChips
6,500,000(52 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
3,700,000(30 BB)
XW
2,500,000(20 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 7:17:48 AM

William Jia Doubles Up Once More

Level 29: 75,000 / 125,000 ante: 125,000

Under the gun William Jia uses a time bank before putting 900,000 into the middle and calls for a total of 2,100,000 after big blind Fangzhou Zhu declared all-in.

PlayerHandChips
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
KQ
UTG
4,300,000(34 BB)
TT
BB
775,000(6 BB)
Board:QA6A3
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 7:16:02 AM

Short Stack William Jia Spins It Up

Level 29: 75,000 / 125,000 ante: 125,000
William Jia

Button Fangzhou Zhu leads 250,000, small blind William Jia ups it to 725,000 and Zhu fills up to see the flop Q Q T that has Jia put his last 175,000 in the middle and Zhu calls.

PlayerHandChips
JT
D
3,000,000(24 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
AT
SB
2,100,000(17 BB)

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

SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 6:54:24 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 28: 50,000 / 100,000 ante: 100,000
PlayerChips
5,000,000(50 BB)
4,200,000(42 BB)
XW
2,300,000(23 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,200,000(12 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 6:19:12 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 28: 50,000 / 100,000 ante: 100,000
PlayerChips
XW
5,200,000(52 BB)
3,100,000(31 BB)
2,600,000(26 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,800,000(18 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 6:10:27 AM

William Jia Sucks Out To Double

Level 28: 50,000 / 100,000 ante: 100,000

After picking up the blinds with a jam from the small blind, William Jia opens 400,000 from the button and fills up after small blind Xuecong Wu jammed.

PlayerHandChips
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
98
D
1,800,000(18 BB)
XW
A8
SB
5,200,000(52 BB)

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.

SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 5:49:37 AM

Chip Counts Going Into Level 28

Level 27: 40,000 / 80,000 ante: 80,000

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.

PlayerChips
XW
6,300,000(79 BB)
2,600,000(33 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,600,000(20 BB)
1,300,000(16 BB)
YZ
840,000(11 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 5:29:19 AM

Former Chip Leader William Jia Doubles Up

Level 27: 40,000 / 80,000 ante: 80,000
William Jia

William Jia lays out 375,000 on the button and calls after big blind Weizheng Zhong put him all-in for a total of 715,000.

PlayerHandChips
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
AT
D
1,600,000(20 BB)
77
BB
2,800,000(35 BB)
Board:T9J54
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 5:26:53 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 27: 40,000 / 80,000 ante: 80,000
PlayerChips
XW
5,500,000(69 BB)
3,700,000(46 BB)
2,000,000(25 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
755,000(9 BB)
YZ
720,000(9 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 5:02:36 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 26: 30,000 / 60,000 ante: 60,000
PlayerChips
4,200,000(70 BB)
XW
3,600,000(60 BB)
1,800,000(30 BB)
YZ
1,400,000(23 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
905,000(15 BB)
760,000(13 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 4:48:43 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 26: 30,000 / 60,000 ante: 60,000
PlayerChips
4,200,000(70 BB)
2,000,000(33 BB)
XW
1,800,000(30 BB)
SS
Stephen SongUnited States of America [USA]United States of America
1,500,000(25 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,100,000(18 BB)
YZ
1,000,000(17 BB)
970,000(16 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 4:24:56 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 25: 25,000 / 50,000 ante: 50,000
PlayerChips
2,600,000(52 BB)
2,200,000(44 BB)
XW
1,900,000(38 BB)
SS
Stephen SongUnited States of America [USA]United States of America
1,800,000(36 BB)
1,700,000(34 BB)
YZ
1,100,000(22 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,100,000(22 BB)
JZ
230,000(5 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 4:05:04 AM

William Jia's Downward Spiral Continues

Level 25: 25,000 / 50,000 ante: 50,000
William Jia

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.

PlayerChips
2,700,000(54 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
1,200,000(24 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 3:57:59 AM

Weizheng Zhong Takes A Chunk From The Leader's Stack

Level 25: 25,000 / 50,000 ante: 50,000
Weizheng Zhong

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.

PlayerChips
2,300,000(46 BB)
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
2,200,000(44 BB)
SMPSMP
5/16/2025, 3:50:55 AM

Chip Count Update

Level 25: 25,000 / 50,000 ante: 50,000
PlayerChips
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
2,600,000(52 BB)
2,100,000(42 BB)
SS
Stephen SongUnited States of America [USA]United States of America
1,900,000(38 BB)
1,900,000(38 BB)
XW
1,800,000(36 BB)
1,800,000(36 BB)
YZ
560,000(11 BB)
JZ
505,000(10 BB)
SMPSMP
5/15/2025, 1:35:51 PM

The Circuit Main Event Final 9 Will Start At 12:00 Local

Final 9

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.

Final Table Seat Draw

PlayerChipsTableSeat
HW
330,00011
1,595,00012
YZ
560,00013
1,850,00014
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
2,575,00015
XW
1,820,00016
1,350,00017
JZ
605,00018
SS
Stephen SongUnited States of America [USA]United States of America
1,945,00019

Final Table Chip Count

PlayerChips
WJ
William JiaAustralia [AUS]Australia
2,575,000
SS
Stephen SongUnited States of America [USA]United States of America
1,945,000
1,850,000
XW
1,820,000
1,595,000
1,350,000
JZ
605,000
YZ
560,000
HW
330,000
PlacePayout (USD)
1$124,000
2$67,000
3$48,500
4$40,300
5$29,500
6$22,500
7$17,500
8$16,500
9$13,700