TLPT MAIN EVENT 15K (SHR) - 8 HANDED ($15,000)

The Lord Poker Tournament SHR Main Event with a prize pool of a whopping $3,000,000 has attracted a total of 191 players that all ponied up the $15,000 buy-in and now has 15 hopefuls left standing that will compete for the $750,000 top prize, the trophy and bragging rights for making history as the inaugural champion.

All of the remaining players had to go through a star studded field with bracelet winners Daniel "Jungleman" Cates, Dominik Nitsche, Yinan Zhou, Mao Renji, Lei Yu, Calvin Lee, Ami Barer, Dong Chen and a flurry of high stakes players from all around the globe.

Topping the leaderboard with a huge gap to the rest of the field is German Marius Gierse who is famous for his online accomplishments, but racked up several million dollars in live earnings over the past decade as well. He was one of the people that took a starting stack from Ivan Zhang when he tried to spin up a stack during the closing levels of late registration that got him to a 62BB stack at the end of level 14. From then on he consistently chipped up, becoming chip leader of his table and then took the overall lead during level 20 and never looked back. Busting Raffaele Sorrentino in 17th on the buzzer to put a 20BB cherry on top of his 7,545,000 (94BB) stack.

Second in chips is Martin Sedlak - another German who has several final tables to his name in 2025 already - who came back from the brink in level 20 and finished the day with the elimination of Calvin Lee for 20BB and shortly after Yunkyu Song in 16th for another 7BB that concluded Day 2. He will unbag 4,755,000 (59BB) tomorrow.

AAPoker Ambassadors Ivan Zhang - 3,550,000 (44BB) and Quan Zhou - 2,140,000 (27BB) are also still in the stacked Top 15.

Day 3 will start at 13:00 local on Sunday the 18th with 16 minutes left in level 22 and finish when a champion is determined.

The SMP Live Updates will cover the action from start to finish.

Digging for two outs, Song can't find any of them when the board completes A♠ 2♦ , sending the American home in 16th, because Raffaele Sorrentino busted in 17th on the feature table just a few seconds earlier.

The Italian needs major help, but misses completely on K♥ 3♠ 5♦ 7♦ 6♦ , sending him home in 17th for $33,000.

First to act Mauricio Sanches lays out 160,000 and big blind Jiaming Zhao defends to see the flop 4♦ 2♦ 8♥ that gets checked to the T♥ turn. With the board favoring the big blind's range, Jiaming Zhao tests the waters with a 200,000 lead, Sanches raises to 500,000 and Zhao lets it go, losing two time banks in the process.

Bracelet holder and yesterday's Circuit Main Event finalist Stephen Song min opens from the button, but surrenders after Ivan Zhang jammed his massive stack from the small blind. Zhang shows A♣ Q♣ before scooping the pot.

No miracle eight on T♦ A♠ J♥ 5♦ J♠ sees the Hungarian exit and Action Ivan sits on quite a decent stack.

Jiaming Zhao min-raises yet another hand from +1, cutoff Yunkyu Song ups it to 270,000, but lets it go after Zhao put in a 470,000 four-bet.

Button Jiaming Zhao opens 120,000 and big blind Quan Zhou defends to see the flop 7♥ A♣ J♠ where Zhao continues for 100,000. Zhou check-raises to 375,000, Zhao calls and fires another 525,000 on the turn A♠ with Zhou check-folding.

No help for the underdog on 4♥ 8♥ 4♦ 3♠ 6♦ which brings Black's roller coaster journey to an end.

Under the gun Jiaming Zhao ups it to 120,000 and takes cutoff Quan Zhou to the flop 7♦ 9♣ Q♦ where his 120,000 c-bet gets called. The turn K♥ gets rejected for a free river 9♥ and Zhao fires another 225,000. Zhou makes the call before throwing his cards in the muck.

Song gets ahead right away on J♠ T♦ 4♠ 5♠ 8♦ and knocks Yilu Yuan out of the tournament.

With 26 players left and everyone a min cash of $28,000 secured already we have German Marius Gierse in a commanding lead.

Day 2 will conclude when we reach the last two tables with 16 players bagging their chips for tomorrow.

The odds stay in Huang's favor when the dealer flips over 3♣ 5♦ Q♠ 7♦ before going to zero on the river 3♦ , giving Birizdo a flush.

Both players hit on K♠ T♣ A♦ 8♠ 7♠ , but Sorrentino's set comes out on top.

Song evades the two-outer on K♣ 9♥ 5♣ 8♣ 6♥ for a double up and some breathing room.

With the bust of bracelet winner Yinan Zhou on the feature table we are now on the bubble.

Marius Gierse opens 100,000 from +2 and takes two customers to the flop Q♠ K♠ Q♣ where his 75,000 c-bet keeps only big blind Quang Minh Nguyen around for the turn 5♥ that gets checked to the 5♠ river. Nguyen forks out a 130,000 lead that pushes Gierse off his hand.

After some of the players requested hand for hand play, because the action slowed down considerably, the floor agreed and we are hand for hand two places away from the money.

With 31 players left, we are two busts away from the $28,000 min cash positions.

Raffaele Sorrentino leads 80,000 from the cutoff, button Martin Nielsen three-bets 180,000, but throws it in the muck after Sorrentino requested the all-in triangle.

Cutoff Yilu Yuan's 80,000 raise takes two interested parties to the flop 6♥ T♥ 6♦ where his 75,000 c-bet keeps only button Marius Gierse around for the 3♦ turn. A second barrel of 200,000 gets the job done.

First to act Boxin Jin makes it 80,000, small blind Istvan Birizdo pumps it to 280,000 before Jin calls with the aid of a time bank. Birizdo's 175,000 c-bet on the flop K♣ 6♠ 6♦ goes unanswered.

Quang Minh Nguyen leads the way with an 80,000 raise and big blind Jiaming Zhao defends to see the flop T♦ K♦ 9♥ where Nguyen's 85,000 c-bet gets called for the turn 7♠ to be revealed.

Zhao takes over the reins with a 190,000 lead and Nguyen needs a time bank before making the call to the river 3♠ . Zhao consumes two time banks before forking out another 550,000 which sends Nguyen deep in the tank. He opts to fold, losing four more time banks in the process.

Ivan Zhang makes it 80,000 from the hijack, button Yilu Yuan declares all-in for 245,000, small blind Marius Gierse cold calls and Zhang fills up as well.

The board 8♦ J♣ 3♣ 4♠ 9♥ gets checked down with everyone missing and Yuan's A♣ 7♣ winning against Zhang's A♠ 5♠ and Gierse's K♠ Q♠ .

Su misses on T♥ 2♣ and exits the field close to the money bubble.

Cutoff Quan Zhou puts 70,000 in the middle and fills up after small blind Junbo Qu increased the fee to 225,000. Qu's 225,000 c-bet gets the job done on 9♣ 7♦ 9♥ .

The dealer flips over Q♠ 3♥ 5♥ 8♣ before giving the short stack a miracle T♠ on the river to crack aces and kings for a triple up.

Before the showdown Xin Tong says aces versus kings and Song is in disbelief saying 'How did you know?' before he gets up and puts on his jacket for the all-in ritual.

The turn T♣ and river J♣ make Dong Chen's elimination official and put Jin back over 2M.

Yilu Yuan opens 60,000 from +2, cutoff Mauricio Sanches ups it to 160,000 and declares all-in after Yuan four-bet to 285,000. Yuan lets it go.

Ivan Zhang makes it 60,000 from +2 and small blind Marius Gierse increases to 190,000. Zhang finds a call with the aid of a time bank and the flop falls 6♣ J♥ T♦ with Gierse slowing down to a check-call of 225,000.

The turn J♠ gets rejected for a free river 9♠ where Gierse lays out 200,000 and Zhang consumes a time bank before declaring all-in for 765,000. Gierse is in the tank for six time banks before letting it go and says 'nice hand' when Action Ivan shows 6♠ 5♠ .

Patrik Demus min-raises from +1, hijack Gary Thompson three-bets to 150,000 and Demus considers his options. After handing a time bank to the dealer he opts to make it 350,000 and Thompson fills up, using a time bank of his own.

The flop 4♦ A♠ A♦ has Demus fire a 175,000 c-bet and Thompson lets it go.

Mendoza is looking for some help that doesn't show up on the turn 4♣ , but the river 8♦ gives him a bigger boat, drowning Pang's hopes of making it into the money.

With a 50,000 open and a 120,000 three-bet in front, small blind Raffaele Sorrentino shoves his remaining 570,000 and finds no takers.

Mendoza immediately jumps ahead when the board runs 2♣ A♣ 7♦ A♥ , leaving Wang with just 5% and bam, 6♦ . Wang slams his time banks on the table with elation.

Martin Nielsen wants 50,000 from +2 and big blind Gary Thompson defends to see the flop J♠ A♣ J♦ where he calls a 25,000 c-bet. The turn 3♠ gets checked to the river K♥ with Nielsen forking out another 115,000 holding A♥ K♣ and Thompson snaps before throwing it in the muck.

Digging for five outs, Lin hits the J♠ to stay alive and breaks into the 7-digits.

Cutoff Yunkyu Song leads 50,000 and fills up after button Quan Zhou pumped it to 175,000. Zhou continues 160,000 on the flop T♦ Q♣ 3♠ , but lets it go when faced with a 320,000 check-raise from Song.