MAIN EVENT (CS) - 8 HANDED

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.