Qing Liu Denied Historic Success In World Poker Tour Event

All of the eyes around the poker world were set on the delayed World Poker Tour Gardens Poker Championship this past weekend, as fans could have potentially seen something that they had never seen before. Qing Liu was looking for a quickfire WPT double after winning the Venetian event earlier in the week.

The star gave it his very best shot, but he ultimately fell just short. But, there were full marks for trying, as he was well in contention for the event as it reached its final stages, and fans were daring to dream that the unlikely double achievement could have been on during the final table play.

Liu Comes Up Just Short

It was an excellent effort by Liu, but in the end, he was unable to go deep on the final table, as he was the first of the players knocked out. He was still able to walk away with prize money of $111,795, and he also received widespread acclaim for his performance when trying to achieve the historic success. In truth, the challenge ahead of him always looked set to be a big one, as he went into the final table play, which was delayed due to COVID, at a massive disadvantage that he was looking to overcome.

Still, he could have taken huge pride from his performance throughout the event. The winner of the competition was crowned in the final stages of the event, as Markus Gonsalves picked up the victory. The win always looked like it was assured, as he was in a dominant position throughout the final table, and just needed to bide his time to claim the big success. He eventually did that after a final heads-up game with eventual runner-up Tuan Phan.

Gonsalves Takes Comfortable Win

The star was pleased with his success when talking about it afterwards, as he revealed that he was nervous that he was never going to get the win, as he had previously finished second and third on a number of occasions. However, this was to be his moment in the sun, as he held on to claim a famous win, and get $554,495 in returns from the event. The final heads-up challenge was mainly about the eventual winner just keeping his cool, as he held a big advantage over Phan, who always looked like finishing second. Meanwhile, the runner-up still claimed $359,650 in returns for his performance.

Jonathan Cohen finished a further place back in third, but walked away with a huge prize total of $263,090. Meanwhile, Chance Kornuth, who led for long periods of the event, needed to settle for a place in fourth. Regardless, he still picked up $195,085 in returns from the event. Straton Wilhelm finished in fifth place, which was a place higher than Liu, who was looking for a second straight WPT success. The player that finished in fifth picked up prize money of $146,655.