The entrepreneur, poker player and minor celebrity had dominated this tournament from the get go, ending Day One with a massive chip lead, maintaining it through Day Two and starting the final table with that lead still in tact.

But ultimately Gordon couldn’t hold on when it mattered most and despite outlasting five of his final table opponents he fell in fourth place when his A-T failed to improve against Clint Schafer’s A-Q. He received $116,697 for fourth but that will be little consolation to the multi-millionaire Gordon; it was recognition he was after, not money.

Gordon’s conqueror eventually went on to play an epic heads-up duel with Lou Esposito, the eventual winner. The players traded blows for over six hours before Esposito was able to land the knock out blow.

All the money finally went into the pot with the flop showing 8-6-4. Both players held a pair of sixes, but Esposito’s king kicker gave him the edge over Schafer’s 8-7, although Schafer did have a gutshot straight draw to go with his pair. In the end the board blanked out and Esposito took down the pot and the title with his king kicker. He won $516,801 to go with his WSOPC ring while Schafer collected $266,736 for his second place finish.