Over a year ago, Qing Liu made the final table of the World Poker Tour Gardens Poker Championship. That final table was meant to be played in Las Vegas last March but the coronavirus pandemic put an extended delay on that event. This week, Liu traveled to Las Vegas to play the WPT Venetian event before finally getting to play the Gardens Championship final table on Wednesday.
Now he’s suddenly in position to win two WPT titles – and more than $1.3 million – in a 24 hour span. On Tuesday night Liu beat 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe McKeehen heads up to win the WPT Venetian event for more than $750,000.
Before the final table began there was some drama surrounding the player second in chips, Roland Rokita. Fedor Holz, who has worked with Rokita, tweeted that the young Austrian was in medical distress and might not be able to play the final table.
Roland Rokita is WPT final table 2/6 and just got to hospital with a severe emergency operation. Do you know who is in charge for the tournament? Can someone help? It’s supposed to start in two hours.
— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) March 9, 2021
Despite Holz subsequently tweeting that he believed Rokita would require surgery, Rokita made it to the Venetian in time to play the final table.
It took 36 hands for the first elimination to happen. With blinds at 75,000/150,000, Liu raised to 300,000 with 
on the button. Trace Henderson moved all in from the small blind for 1,525,000 with 
and Liu called. The 
flop changed nothing but Liu connected on the 
turn to make top pair. Henderson was unable to catch either one of the two remaining nines as the 
river and was eliminated in sixth place.
That hand moved Liu up the chip counts, but McKeehen did most of the heavy lifting the rest of the way. From the cutoff, McKeehen min-raised to 400,000 with 
. Kou Vang shoved from the big blind for 4,250,000 with 
. The flop came 
gave McKeehen middle set and left Vang needing runner-runner help. The 
turn made Vang’s fifth place elimination all but official as the 
river completed the board.
McKeehen found another victim just 15 minutes later in a blind against blind spot. Action folded to McKeehen in the small blind and he moved all in with and Jack Hardcastle called all in from the big blind with 
. The board ran out 
to completed miss Hardcastle and the 2021 WPT Montreal Online champion was eliminated in fourth. That pot gave McKeehen 63% of the chips in play.
It took nearly two hours to go from three-handed to heads-up and once again it was McKeehen taking charge and adding to his chip lead. McKeehen moved all in from the small blind with 
and Rokita called from the big blind putting his tournament at risk with 
. McKeehen picked up a gunshot straight draw on the 
flop and then made that draw on the 
turn. The river was the meanings and Rokita was done in third place.
Heads-up play began with McKeehen holding a nearly 2-1 lead over Liu. It took Liu just five hands to wrestle that lead away from McKeehen. With the board showing 
and 12,500,000 in the pot, Liu moved all in for 10,100,000 forcing McKeehen to fold. Liu took a 3-2 chip lead thanks to that pot. Just 30 minutes later, Liu collected every last chip. Down to just 11 big blinds, McKeehen moved all in with 
and Liu called with . Liu made second pair on the 
flop and McKeehen was unable to improve as the and 
completed the board to give Liu his first WPT title and a $752,880 payday.
Liu, who has had his last 20 cashes come at the Venetian dating back to last September, will spend Tuesday night resting up before making his way to the PokerGO Studio at Aria to play the final table of the Gardens Poker Championship where is fifth in chips.
WPT Venetian Final Table Payouts
- Qing Liu – $752,880
- Joe McKeehen – $491,960
- Roland Rokita – $363,235
- Jack Hardcastle – $271,050
- Kou Vang – $204,430
- Trace Henderson – $155,865
