Event #10: $3,250 High Roller

Stephen Song is the champion of the $3,250 Thunder Valley WSOP Circuit High Roller event. He defeated a 74-player field to earn his second career WSOP Circuit ring and the top payout of $75,480. In addition, Song earned 50 Global Casino Championship points and now has a total of 265 on the season, which puts him in first place on the season-long leaderboard.

“I was grinding pretty hard to get a [Global Casino Championship] seat, but at this point I have locked one up,” said Song.

The two-day high roller tournament started Thursday at 4 p.m. with just two tables worth of players. It quickly grew to a 70-player field by the end of the night. Four more players registered before the start of play on Day 2 to bring the final tally to 74 entries and a $222,000 prizepool. It was the largest WSOP Circuit High Roller event ever held at Thunder Valley in terms of both entries and prizepool amount.

Song finished Day 1 second in chips out of 28 survivors, but was well behind chip leader and eventual 3rd place finisher Jeff Tugwell. Song was able to start Day 2 right where he left off on Day 1 and collected a KO in the first orbit of play.

“Things went my way right from the start [of Day 2],” said Song. “I won a flip third hand in for some guy’s starting stack who bought in.”

Song’s stack continued to grow and by the time the unofficial final table of 10 was reached, he was the chip leader.  The top 8 players were set to cash and Song used his big stack to bully the table. Song continued to extend his chip lead as he played the majority of pots on the bubble and applied maximum pressure.

“Pete [Cross] was pretty short. Everyone at the table were pretty good players and everyone understood ICM. So they understand that they are incentivized to wait [Cross] out. All you have to do is raise and that kind of just does the job,” said Song.

Song grew his stack to about twice his nearest competitor on the money bubble and it looked like there would be no stopping him, but eventually had a slip up and doubled up Jordan Cristos right after the money bubble burst. Song was back within striking distance of the rest of the pack and ended up relinquishing his chip lead back to Tugwell a few hands later.

Song stayed composed and didn’t allow the downward trend spiral out of control.  Song got the ball rolling back in his favor right after the return from the dinner break when he eliminated three-time Circuit ring winner Joe Kuether in 6th place.

Song was rolling at this point, but so was Randy Lew. Lew flopped quads and turned it into double up against Jordan Cristos. Song and Lew accounted for the next three eliminations and then found themselves heads up for a WSOP Circuit ring. Song began heads up with a slight chip lead, but never gave it up at any point. In the final hand of the tournament, Song flopped top pair and check-raised Lew all in on the flop. Lew decided to go for it with two overs and gut shot straight draw, but didn’t hit any of his outs and was eliminated in 2nd place for $46,702.

The victory marked Song’s 17th career WSOP cash (12 of which are WSOP Circuit cashes), his seventh final table and second career WSOP Circuit ring. The $75,480 payday is the largest of his WSOP career and pushes his WSOP tournament earnings over the $350,000 mark.

 “These [WSOP Circuit] stops are great, especially ones with high rollers,” said Song. “Small field tournaments are way more fun because you get to make the FT way more often.”

Besides finding Song in a WSOP Circuit High Roller, he said that if this summer is anything like last, he’ll be playing at the World Series of Poker at the Rio on a nearly daily basis. Next up for Song - the Thunder Valley Circuit Main Event.

Final Table Results:

1st: Stephen Song - $75,480
2nd: Randy Lew - $46,702
3rd: Jeffrey Tugwell - $30,743
4th: Jordan Cristos – 21,521
5th: Evan Price - $15,948
6th: Joe Kuether - $12,472
7th: Michael Horchoff - $10,265
8th: Heinz Schluter - $8,869

Randy Lew raises to 70,000 from the button and Stephen Song moves all in. Lew has about 840,000 behind. Lew thinks for a minute before folding and the pot is pushed to Song.

Stephen Song - 2,100,000 (70 bb)
Randy Lew - 840,000 (28 bb)

Jeff Tugwell was eliminated in 3rd place for $30,743.

Stephen Song will begin heads up play against Randy Lew with a slight chip lead.

Evan Price

Evan Price raises to 55,000 from under the gun and action folds to Randy Lew in the small blind. Lew three-bets to 130,000 and Price calls after Jordan Cristos folds his big blind.

The flop comes     and Lew leads for 85,000. Price calls and the turn is the  . Lew leads again, this time for 125,000. Price moves all in for 360,000 and has Lew slightly covered. Lew instantly calls and both players table their hands.

Lew:   
Price:   

The river is the   and Lew's ace hold. Lew doubles up and Price is left with just 17,000. Price is eliminated on the next hand in 5th place.

Randy Lew - 1,116,000 (46 bb)
Evan Price - Eliminated

Jordan Cristos raises to 42,000 from under the gun and Randy Lew calls in the big blind.

The flop comes     and both players checks. The turn is the   and again, both players check. The river comes the   and Lew leads for 75,000. Cristos raises to 200,000 and then Lew moves all in for 321,000. Cristos snap calls and both hands are tabled.

Lew:   
Cristos:   

Lew's quad threes are best and he scores the double up, while Cristos falls to the bottom of the chip counts.

Randy Lew - 672,000 (33 bb)
Jordan Cristos - 190,000 (9 bb)

Joe Kuether

Joe Kuether moves all in from under the gun for 145,000. Action folds to Stephen Song in the small blind and he calls. Both players table their hands.

Song:   
Kuether:   

The board runs out        . Song wins the pot and eliminates Kuether from the tournament.

Stephen Song - 785,000 (39 bb)
Joe Kuether - Eliminated

Heinz Schluter

Jeff Tugwell raises to 35,000 from the cutoff and Heinz Schluter moves all in for 125,000 from the button. The players in the blinds fold and Tugwell calls. Both players table their hands.

Tugwell:   
Schluter:   

The board runs out         and Tugwell's pocket jacks hold to knock out Schluter in 8th place.

Jeff Tugwell - 905,000 (56 bb)
Heinz Schluter - Eliminated

Jordan Cristos raises to 53,000 from the button and Stephen Song moves all in from the big blind. Cristos has about 180,000 behind and calls. Both hands are tabled.

Cristos:   
Song:   

The board runs out        . Cristos doubles up and Song's big stack takes a hit. Song remains the chip leader, despite doubling up Cristos.

Jordan Cristos - 480,000 (40 bb)
Stephen Song - 715,000 (59 bb)