Jia Liu Makes His Second Final Table in as Many Borgata WPTs

By Matt Clark

Jia Liu (pictured) has comes into today’s final table already with a great accomplishment under his belt. In January, Liu made the final table of the Season XV WPT Winter Poker Open, where he placed fourth. Liu came from a field of 1,312 to make it to that point and here he came from a field of 1,132 competitors to reach the televised Season XVI WPT Borgata Poker Open final table.

The soft-spoken Liu does nothing at the table to draw attention to himself but his achievement will stick with him for a long time after today’s WPT final table.

Liu does not claim to be a professional poker player but his tournament results of over $1 million in lifetime earnings speak of someone who has been around the block once or twice.

The small business owner from Brooklyn says the difference between this run and his final table appearance in January is this time around, Liu gradually escalated his stack whereas in January, he claims to have been fortunate in big spots.

“This one, I really played solid,” Liu told WPT.com. “I was climbing up steady, didn’t rush any hands. The one I final tabled in January, you can say I got lucky. I got dumped a lot of chips and took advantage. This one was slow and steady, just picking up spots and getting there.”

Liu came into each day of this tournament near or above the chip average and saved his best work for Day 4 when in the first hand off the deck, Liu doubled up through Andy Spears. From that point forward, Liu continued to accumulate chips and seemingly never lost a key showdown.

Regardless of how today nets out, Liu will return to Brooklyn and his family and is comfortable with his status as a non-professional.

“I’ve been playing for a long time, so this is like sealing the deal,” said Liu. “I kind of know the game, but I’m not pressuring myself to play professional.”

Upon being asked what it would mean to win the title, Liu sheepishly grinned and acknowledged that the thought has been on his mind for a while.

“It would be great,” Liu said. “I’ve wanted to do it for a long time and it might be it. I’ll try tomorrow.”

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