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

After three days, 29 levels and beating a field of 191, Stephen Song added another trophy and $750,000 to his collection for winning The Lord Poker Tournament SHR $15,000 Main Event with a $3,000,000 prize pool at Jeju Island’s Landing Resort.

Song overcame a star-studded field that included bracelet winners Daniel "Jungleman" Cates, Dominik Nitsche, Yinan Zhou, Renji Mao, Lei Yu, Calvin Lee, Ami Barer, Dong Chen and a flurry of famous high stakes players from all around the globe.

Coming from 7th place in the Circuit Series Main Event earlier in the day, Song entered late then busted on the last level of Day 1 with K♦ K♠ against Xin Tong's 9♥ 9♣ when the board ran Q♥ J♣ 9♠ 2♥ Q♣ .

With registration still open at Day 2, Song signed up and again was axed about an hour before late registration closed. Forking out another bullet, that did the trick, as Song ran it up three-times the starting stack before clashing with Haohui Ma, to score a big double up with bottom set 8♦ 8♥ against Ma's top-two K♠ Q♣ . He ended the day strong by knocking out Pan Wang with jacks against nines that added more to his stack before the day concluded.

At Day 3, Song entered 8th overall and had decent position at the table to hit the ground running. He added another 11 bigs in the first few hands before busting Junbo Qu with K♥ K♦ against Qu's 7♦ 7♠ and took a big chunk from Martin Sedlak. Song reached the final table running second in chips.

Sitting to the left of chip leader Marius Gierse, it didn't take long for Song to regain the lead, knocking out Hua Wei Lin in 7th and Ivan Zhang in 6th, giving him more than double the chips of James Mendoza.

Later, he knocked out Martin Nielsen after the Dane bluffed into Song's trips then followed it up with a flip to boot Gierse. Entering heads-up play as a 6:1 favorite against Mendoza went back and forth until Song jammed his massive 113 bb stack into Mendoza's 8 bb stack with J♥ 3♣ . Mendoza risked with K♠ Q♦ . With the board running 3♦ 7♥ 2♣ 7♦ J♦ , Song locked up the inaugural title, taking home $750,000 - the largest cut of the $3,000,000 prize pool, and his first TLPT trophy.

Bad news for Mendoza after falling behind on the flop 3♦ 7♥ 2♣ and not being able to catch up when the board completes 7♦ J♦ . He still takes home the biggest cash of his career that stood at just over $300K until today for finishing 3rd at the 2023 WSOP Bracelet Event #59.

After some back and forth in the last few hands and James Mendoza down by a little bit, he limps T♦ 6♣ and Stephen Song opts to check again with 5♦ 3♥ . Song check-calls a 500,000 bet to the 3♠ turn that gets rejected and the board completes J♦ . Song forks out a massive 3,000,000 over-bet and Mendoza doesn't buy it, making the call with the aid of a time bank. Some friendly banter between the two contenders follows before they focus on the next hand.

James Mendoza limps 6♥ 2♥ and Stephen Song opts to check for the flop 5♦ 9♦ 2♣ that gets rejected for a free turn 3♣ where Song tries to steal with an 800,000 lead, but Mendoza pays up. The board completes Q♠ with both players checking and Mendoza's bottom pair coming out on top.

Aside from a preflop scoop with a four-bet and a walk for James Mendoza every other hand went to Stephen Song who increased his lead to a 7:1 now.

A limped pot gets checked to the turn 8♣ T♥ 7♣ 2♥ where James Mendoza bets 800,000, Stephen Song check-raises to 2,200,000, but decides to let go of J♦ 2♠ after Mendoza jammed for a total of 6,100,000 with Q♥ 8♠ .

No help for the German online crusher on 3♣ T♦ 2♥ Q♣ 6♥ sees him vacate his seat and the table gets prepared for the very lopsided heads-up.

After two orbits of chips moving back and fourth with not much changing in chip counts, Stephen Song leads 600,000 from the button and Martin Nielsen defends his big blind. Song continues for 400,000 on the T♠ 8♦ 3♣ flop and fills up after Nielsen check-raised to 1,000,000. The turn 8♥ has Nielsen put out another 500,000 that gets called and the board completes 5♠ . Nielsen wagers his last 3,000,000 for a massive bluff with 7♦ 6♦ , but Song snaps with trips K♠ 8♣ to extend his lead even further.

Digging for two outs with his bare hands, Demus improves to a four outer on Q♦ 6♥ 9♦ J♠ but the river Q♠ makes his elimination official, banking the biggest win of his career.

Being ahead, Lin needs to evade six outs and does so on the turn A♠ before the river 9♠ gives Song a pair to knock her out.

First to act Stephen Song makes it 500,000 and takes two players to the flop 5♠ 6♠ T♣ where his 450,000 c-bet gets filled by both to reveal the J♥ turn. He fires a second barrel of 800,000 with A♦ K♠ , hijack James Mendoza raises T♥ T♦ to 2,200,000 after using a time bank, big blind Marius Gierse folds A♥ T♠ and Song follows suit.

After picking up the blinds the hand before, Martin Nielsen defends his big blind against a 500,000 open from under the gun Hua Wei Lin. Nielsen check-calls 350,000 on the flop 3♣ 9♥ K♠ to watch the turn 7♣ hit the felt that gets rejected by both of them for a free 4♥ river. Nielsen decides to lead 300,000 with Q♥ 3♥ and Hua Wei Lin finds a hero call with A♥ Q♦ after using two time banks.

Under the gun Patrik Demus min-raises A♥ T♣ and cutoff Stephen Song comes along for the ride with 6♠ 6♦ to the flop A♠ T♦ 6♣ . Demus goes on to triple barrel for 400,000, 1,300,000 and 1,600,000 to the river 2♦ and K♠ where Song takes a time bank before deciding to raise to 4,800,000. Demus gives it some thought, but makes a strong fold.

A limped blind battle gets checked to the turn A♥ A♣ 8♣ 4♣ where small blind Martin Nielsen puts out a 250,000 feeler and Marius Gierse pays up to see the J♠ river hit the felt. Back to a check, Nielsen faces an 800,000 bet from Gierse and decides to let it go, losing a time bank in the process.

Zhao's live cards can't hit on 4♥ 9♥ 4♠ 2♥ 8♣ ending his second final table after finishing 6th in the Circuit Main Event just a few days ago.

No ace for Lei on J♠ 6♥ 8♦ 8♣ 4♦ spells the end of his run.

The dealer keeps it interesting until the end by flipping over 4♥ 3♠ 5♠ J♣ A♣ and grants Mendoza his third double up in a row.

Nielsen's rockets stay ahead on T♣ 3♥ and Mendoza picks up the tiny side pot to stay alive.

Right the next hand, first to act Jiaming Zhao raises to 450,000 again and finds two customers to share the 9♦ 2♦ 5♣ flop with. He continues for 500,000 and only big blind Stephen Song pays up for the turn 7♠ to be revealed where two checks complete the board J♥ . Zhao fires another 1,100,000 which gets Song to lay it down.

Jiaming Zhao lays out 450,000 from +1 and takes two customers to the flop 7♦ J♣ T♠ that gets checked to button Patrik Demus who tests the waters with a 450,000 bet, Marius Gierse folds his big blind before Zhao check-raises to 1,300,000. Demus needs a time bank and decides to let it go.

First to act Marius Gierse leads 400,000 and takes both blinds to the flop 3♦ 9♥ 3♠ where his 350,000 c-bet takes him heads-up with small blind Patrik Demus. The Hungarian check-calls another 1,200,000 on the Q♥ turn and the board completes J♠ . Both players check with Demus tabling the winner J♦ J♥ against Gierse's Q♦ J♣ top-two.

After losing some chips to Ivan Zhang and Patrik Demus, Marius Gierse is back with a 400,000 open from the lojack and big blind James Mendoza defends to see the flop 8♥ Q♥ A♦ where he check-calls a 300,000 c-bet from Gierse. An 800,000 2nd barrel on the 4♠ turn gets the job done for the German.

After a short break the final table starts with Hua Wei Lin picking up aces in the first hand, but is only able to collect the blinds before Patrik Demus does the same with ace-king

The dealer flips over 2♠ 9♥ 8♥ 2♥ , giving Leng a few more flush outs, but the river J♦ makes his elimination and the Final 9 official.

Leng stays ahead on 9♠ 2♥ for a double up, but is still on life support.

A limped blind battle gets checked to the turn T♠ 7♦ 3♣ 3♥ where small blind James Mendoza leads 225,000 before filling up Ivan Zhang's 525,000 raise. The river Q♥ is checked down with Zhang's T♣ 5♣ granting him another pot against Mendoza with A♥ J♣ .

Sanches misses on J♣ 8♥ 7♥ 4♠ 7♦ and another deep run of his comes to an end.

After just scooping a pot, Patrik Demus open-limps his small blind and fills up after James Mendoza made it 375.000 to see the flop 7♣ 4♣ 3♣ . Mendoza's 175,000 c-bet and a call is the last action before the turn Q♠ and river A♣ get checked down where Demus flips over the winner Q♣ 5♣ and Mendoza mucks.

The turn 4♠ gives Sedlak three outs for a straight, but the river 5♥ ends his journey in 13th.

A min raised pot between under the gun Stephen Song and hijack Patrik Demus gets checked to the turn 9♦ 7♣ 4♦ 4♣ where Song lays out a 275,000 delayed c-bet and Demus calls to see the board completes 4♥ . Another 600,000 from Song gets the job done.

First to act Martin Nielsen puts 250,000 in the middle with Q♣ J♠ , but lets it go after Haitao Lei pumped it to 700,000 from the hijack with A♣ K♥

The board runs J♠ 3♠ J♣ K♥ 3♦ and sends the Irish to the rail.

Mendoza immediately hits a set on Q♦ 2♦ 9♦ K♥ 2♣ for a boat in the end and a massive double up, leaving Sedlak with crumbs after starting the day in 2nd.

A single raised pot between hijack Patrik Demus and big blind Quan Zhou gets checked to the river Q♦ 3♣ 6♦ 3♥ K♠ where Zhou tries to steal with J♥ T♥ for 300,000, but Demus puts on his cape after spending three time banks and makes the call with A♦ 9♠ ace-high.

After winning two hands this orbit already, Marius Gierse defends his big blind against a min-raise from under the gun Mauricio Sanches and both players check to flop 8♣ 2♥ 4♠ for a free turn 7♦ . Gierse takes the lead for 225,000 and scoops another pot.

Martin Nielsen opens 200,000 from +1 and takes two customers to the flop 9♥ J♦ 8♥ where his 300,000 c-bet gets called from Marius Gierse in the hijack to take them to the turn 3♠ heads-up. Slowing down to a check, Martin Nielsen lets it go when faced with a 700,000 bet from Gierse in position.

Under the gun Hua Wei Lin min-raises and takes hijack Stephen Song to the flop T♣ 9♣ 4♠ where she check-raises 700,000 and Song fills up his 200,000 bet. Lin takes a time bank before checking the 4♦ turn and Song follows suit for a free 9♥ river. Lin forks out a 1,000,000 lead that goes unanswered.

James Mendoza kicks off the action with a 200,000 raise from +1, small blind Stephen Song pumps it to 800,000 and Mendoza pays up to see the flop 6♥ 3♦ K♠ where Song's 400,000 c-bet gets called. After using a time bank on the 5♣ turn, Song fires another 900,000 which sends Mendoza in the tank. The Filipino-American uses up three time banks before letting it go.

Digging for six outs, Lei finds one on J♦ 8♠ K♣ 5♣ 9♦ to jump ahead and stay in the tournament.

With a 200,000 open from hijack Patrik Demus and a 520,000 three-bet from cutoff James Mendoza in front, Quan Zhou cold four-bets 1,300,000 from the big blind which is enough to scare his competition away.

Stephen Song limps his small blind before filling up a 350,000 raise from Martin Sedlak. Both players check to the river 8♣ K♣ 2♣ 8♠ 4♥ where Song leads 580,000 with top-pair K♥ T♥ and Sedlak calls, throwing it in the muck after seeing his opponents hand.