Championship Warm Up ($600)

The first of three flights for opening highlight, Championship Warm Up, has wrapped up with only 27 players out of the 154-entry field surviving the first fifteen levels of play. Action capped with Finland's Tero Laurila stacking atop the leaderboard with a towering 930,000 (155 BB) stack, setting the bar for the remaining heats.

Laurila was eliminated just before registration closed, and wasted no time in jumping back in the fray for another shot at Day 2. His decision paid off immensely as he surged to the top late in the day, having knocked out both NagaWorld SuperStack champion Johan Lees, and Aleksei Zhukov one after the other. Laurila’s aggressive play set him up with a commanding lead, leaving quite a distance with second in the running Sho Shiroma's 530,000 (88 BB). Rounding up the top three counts is Ireland's Tom Maguire, who caught a last minute double up to end with 520,000 (87 BB).

All Day 1A survivors have a day to rest before they make their way back to the scene on Sunday, February 9th. Two more flights are geared to run this Saturday, finalizing the cast for Day 2's battle. Stay tuned for updates as SMP brings you all the latest directly off the floor!

Championship Warm Up

Date/s: February 7-10, 2025

Buy-in: USD 600

Guarantee: USD 150,000

Day 1A: 154 entries, 27 qualified

Day 1B: Saturday, February 8

Day 1C: Saturday, February 8

Day 2: Sunday, February 9

Day 3/ Final: Monday, February 10

With a pot of 38,000 in the middle across board 7♠ J♥ 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ , Tero Laurila led out 40,000 from the big blind, and was met with two all-ins behind - Tom Maguire (214,500) and Thi Kim (386,500). Laurila opted out, leaving the two to showdown.

Maguire revealed king high flush K♣ 7♣ , crushing Thi Kim's nut straight 9♥ 8♥ for a last minute double up.

Keisuke Tajiri firstly opened 15,000 utg+1 yet folded after Tero Laurila fired a three bet from the big blind.

On the next deal, Tajiri min opened utg and saw Laurila come along from the small blind onto flop 8♥ 2♦ A♦ . Tajiri continued for 12,000, check called by the chip leader. Both checked turn 2♠ through to river 3♥ , where Laurila led 10,000. Tajiri shot out a raise to 40,000, but again surrendered after Laurila clapped back for 200,000 more.

Laurila showed 7♥ as he raked in another boost.

An all-in preflop situation saw Aleksei Zhukov risk his last 20 big blinds with king-ten against chip leader Tero Laurila's ace-king.

Dominated, Zhukov found no help on the runout, sending him to the rails just as the day is about to close.

A preflop back and forth landed Johan Lees's entire 139,000 in the middle up against initial raiser Tero Laurila.

Laurila a huge favorite to win, easily did so on board 9♣ 3♥ 7♦ 7♥ J♥ , earning him the pot to take the overall lead.

Facing a late position open and a call, Ziad Zebib squeezed all-in on the big blind for 108,000, and saw Tero Laurila on the button rise to the challenge.

Flipping for his tournament life, Zebib exited shortly after board T♣ 4♣ 5♣ 8♦ A♦ landed his opponent a set to take him out.

Tero Laurila opened 5,000 utg, and was called by Khayal Abbasov behind, along with Aladin Reskallah on the big blind.

On flop 6♠ J♠ 8♠ , Laurila continued for 6,000, to which both made the call, moving onto turn 5♦ . Action checked to Abbasov, pushing him to fire 23,000.

Neither opponent found a reason to continue, shipping Abbasov the pot.

Tero Laurila fired a 16,600 three bet against Aladin Reskallah's cutoff open and saw the latter defend.

On board K♣ K♥ 7♥ T♦ 9♣ , Laurila triple barreled - 6,000, 7,000, and a final all-in for 38,000, with Reskallah calling him down on all streets.

Laurila showed Q♥ Q♠ , crushed against Reskallah's full house K♦ T♥ for his elimination.

A three way raised pot saw action on flop 2♠ J♥ A♣ check to Aladin Reskallah, prompting him to bet 2,000. Tero Laurila on the big blind, check raised to 6,500, and went on to lead 5,000 on turn 2♦ . Reskallah called behind, and snap called for his remaining 32,800 on river K♥ after Laurila moved all-in.

Laurila showed two pair A♦ T♦ , no match against Reskallah's quad deuces 2♥ 2♣ .

Nuno Correia defended his big blind against Tero Laurila's 2,000 cutoff open, and went on to check call 1,500 on flop 7♥ 9♣ Q♠ . On turn 8♠ , Laurila barreled another 4,500, forcing Correia out of the action entirely.

With 20,000 in the pot on board 8♣ 6♣ K♠ 6♠ , Xinping Liao led out a bet of 6,000 utg, and was met with a raise to 25,000 from Tero Laurila behind. Liao surrendered the battle, shipping Laurila the boost.