Many people like to play their favourite songs on repeat while Stephen Song likes to win tournaments on repeat, apparently. Two days after winning Event #9: US$15,000 Main Event, the American poker pro won his second tournament of 2025 The Lord Poker Tournament Jeju festival at the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World Hotel and went wire-to-wire on his third final table appearance of the past seven days.
Out of a field of 32 entries in Event #11: US$20,000 8 Handed, Song entered the final day as the chip leader with eleven players still left in contention and had to forfeit the top spot for a short period only to eventual runner-up Calvin Lee. Both players agreed to an ICM deal prior to the heads-up deal to lock up the largest slice of the $640,000 prize pool and left $10,000 as well as the trophy for the eventual winner.
After overcoming a minor chip deficit, Song steamrolled to victory in fewer than 15 minutes from there on and got to pose for the winner shots with two trophies in his hands. The repeat victory came with $204,000 for his efforts to bring his overall tally for the festival to nearly $1 million, while Lee had to settle for a consolation prize of $200,000. Both have, however, another chance to grab a trophy as the late registration for Event #12: US$25,000 8 Handed is still open.
Only the top five spots were paid and Song was responsible for bursting the money bubble with seven-deuce suited against Yisha Chen. He held the lead for the vast majority of the final day and confirmed once again that he is widely considered as one of the rising stars of the international live poker scene. Song now has 16 live poker wins under his belt with more than $10 million in cashes once the results are submitted to The Hendon Mob, already boasting a WSOP gold bracelet and EPT Main Event title on his resume.
Final Result Event #11 $20,000 NLHE
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Song | United States | $204,000 |
| 2 | Calvin Lee | United States | $200,000 |
| 3 | Taylor Black | United States | $101,000 |
| 4 | James Mendoza | Philippines | $75,000 |
| 5 | Lei Yu | China | $60,000 |
Action of the Final Day
While only 11 players returned for the final day, they had ten WSOP bracelets, one EPT Main Event title and two WPT Main Tour stop victories under their belt to showcase the quality of the participants. Stephen Song was leading the way and brought the field down to the nine-handed final table within fewer than half an hour. Dominik Nitsche sent Short Deck specialist Martin Nielsen to the rail but was then knocked out by Song on the outer table soon after.
It took a while for the next all-in showdown to emerge and Dan Cates saw his stack reduced to fumes in a battle of the blinds with Calvin Lee. The first casualty thereafter was then however Istvan Birizdo, who bowed out with king-queen in a three-way all-in against the pocket tens of Gavin and the ace-queen suited of James Mendoza.
Cates doubled a few times when getting short and Lee then won a crucial flip with ace-king against the pocket queens of the last woman in contention, Yisha Chen. Taylor Black was the next player at risk and needed to improve with queen-nine against the ace-seven of Cates, hitting a nine on the flop to send “Jungleman” back onto fumes.
The last few blinds went in soon after with ace-deuce suited and Gavin followed suit holding king-queen, both getting looked up by the pocket fives of run-away chip leader Song. Another five came on the flop and Song rivered a full house for good measure to bring the field to the money bubble with a commanding chip advantage. Song's first attempt to burst the bubble was then not crowned by success as Black doubled through him with ace-ten versus king-queen.
His second try, however, sent the remaining five players into the money. Song jammed out of the small blind with seven-deuce suited and Chen called as one of the three short stacks at the table with the superior queen-nine suited. The flop delivered a deuce and no help came for Chen, as she shared the bad news to the Chinese rail.
Black earned another double soon after that to reach seven figures while Lei Yu was left on fumes, and the WSOP Bracelet winner became the first casualty in the money when his rivered straight had been drawing dead against a turned full house. Mendoza was the shortest stack during four-handed play and the Los Angeles based pro then came up second-best with king-jack against the ace-king of Lee, who joined Song atop the leaderboard.
Despite his double, Black was still the shortest stack and his a gutshot against the second pair of Song who notched up another elimination to enter heads-up against Lee as a slight underdog in chips albeit with an astonishing 58 big blinds. Prior to the restart, both players discussed an ICM deal and left $10,000 on top for the winner.
What followed was 13 minutes of domination by Song, who wrapped up his second consecutive victory at the Landing Casino on his third final table of the festival. In the final hand, his ten-four flopped two pair against the top pair of Lee.
The conclusion of the inaugural standalone 2025 TLPT Jeju festival at Landing Casino is just around the corner on May 21, 2025 and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to find out if Song grabs a third trophy along the way.
