http://www.lizlieu.net Liz Lieu is considered by her peers to be one of the top big stakes cash game players in the world. She has transcended the game and turned playing poker into a lifestyle. As Liz travels the globe, she brings her high fashion sensibility and card-playing expertise with her, showing fans everywhere that you don't have to sacrifice style and beauty for a career in poker. And with her growing rise to fame and success, Liz donates time and money to various charitable causes that she says, "Has given me the type of personal fulfillment that is priceless." Enjoy the site and get to know the most unique poker pro in the world, maybe you'll catch her one day at the high limit room at Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV. or the Commerce Club in Los Angeles, CA. http://www.lizlieu.net/bio.html Born on August 2, 1974 in Vietnam, her parents brought the family to America a year later. Liz was raised in Colorado with her older sister, where her parents worked hard to provide a good life for their girls... http://www.lizlieu.net/links.html Interview with Craig Cunningham, An Interview with Liz Lieu - 2007 WSOP, Midwest Gaming and Travels - A Day in the Life of Poker Diva Liz Lieu... http://www.lizlieu.net/charities.html Helping out all the unfortunates back in our countries have always been a huge thing for John Phan and myself. Being able to help others has given us the kind of personal fulfillment that we could truly say is priceless... http://www.lizlieu.net/updates.html Schedules - APT Macau, 28 - 31 Aug 2008 Schedules - APPT Macau Main Event, 1 - 6 Sep 2008 Schedules - APPT Macau High Roller Event, 7 - 8 Sep 2008 Blogs - August 6, 2008 - The Best and Worst of Times Videos - APPT Macau High Roller Videos - Madeinpoker Inside WSOP 2008 New wallpapers are now available in "Downloads" page. http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080806.html These are the best of times, these are the worst of times. After a seventeen hour flight, I've finally arrived back in Vietnam on the 29th of July. Eight months have already pass by since my last visit back to my homeland for my father's 100th day praying ceremony, amazing how time flies by so quick. And now I find myself back again. This time is for the one-year anniversary of my beloved father's passing and also I will be spending a few weeks doing my charity work. I spent my first two days in Saigon to spend some time with my father at Lam Te Temple. Then I hopped on a flight to DaNang with my cousin, niece, and nephew for four days to start my charity journey along with my Teacher monk. As soon we got off the plane, I grabbed a taxi and headed straight to my Teacher monk's temple to prepare all the necessities needed for the early trip the next day. We were off and on the road by 6 am, drove five hours on rough bumpy roads to finally reach our destination. By the time we arrived, all the villagers were already at the temple waiting patiently. Before I began passing out the much-needed food to these villagers, a ceremony was conducted by my Teacher Monk to honor me with blessings. I slipped into a blue robe throughout the ceremony which represents my status as his disciple. Being granted Buddhism relics is one of the most precious gift for a temple, and I felt honored when my Teacher Monk showed me the 3 relics that was granted to his temple in DaNang. It was time to distribute the supplies to the villagers when the ceremony ended. There are more than 200 homes in that village so it took us about 2 hours to give out all the supplies. As an appreciation, the villagers prepared a vegetarian feast at the temple for me and my family. This charity journey took over 15 hours on the road, but it was all well worth it! It was my birthday the day after our charity trip. However, it wasn't a good time for celebration because I'm here to mourn for my dad. I decided to go the temple to spend a peaceful birthday, my Teacher Monk conducted a four hour ceremony to pray for both my father and I. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my family, friends, and fans for all the kind birthday wishes. Much love to you all! I spent the rest of that evening and the following day just playing online at Chilipoker. Then took an evening flight back to Saigon. I'm currently still in Saigon right now preparing a big praying ceremony for my dad's anniversary on the 18th of August. I'll be here till the end of the month, then I'm off to Macau. Take care till then. Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080620.html Well, it's been a great couple of weeks for me since I posted here last. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you've followed me on PokerListings as well as everywhere else you find poker news. I've been mixing tournaments with cash games at the Bellagio. I had my first WSOP cash this year (28th in the $2.5k NLHE event). I played really well, but I would have loved to take down that bracelet (the $666,697 for first wouldn't hurt either!). So many pros going deep. The bracelets are staying in the pro ranks, both the old-timers and the young studs. There aren't nearly as many soft spots as there have been in the past. I guess the number of players is still as strong as last year, but the quality seems to be much deeper. It is rare to not recognize someone at your table, unless you take a seat at a $1.5k NLHE donkament! Cash games are going great for me. Seven sessions: one small loss, one break-even, and five winning sessions. That is the plan, to win big and minimize the losing sessions. The games have finally started to get a bit bigger at the Bellagio. I played two sessions of $400/800, one with a $100 ante at Nick Shulman's suggestion. It included Hansu, Greg Mueller, Van Diesel, Jenifer Harman, Eddie Ting, and Minh Ly. That group will definitely keep you on your toes, and it was nice to rack up more chips than I sat down with at a table like that. I also got away from poker a bit. I did some shopping at the Caesar's stores (I miss, miss, miss shopping!). They still remember me there, even though I've been gone basically for a year. I had Zach, my PA, and one of his friends Alvin in town. I think they had a great time—good food, seeing a show. Vegas done right! He and Alvin are sweethearts, and it was great to spend some time with them. I also had my girlfriends in town from LA. Seven hotties out on the town, taking the night by storm! It was a crazy night, one big girls party. I kept drinking Red Bull while they drank whatever they had that looked pretty similar to Red Bull (but with a different kick). One of my girlfriends picked up the tab (we never ever let boys pay for things—GIRL POWER!). Anyways, the girls chose to party at The Bank, one of the hot night clubs at Bellagio in Vegas, and the bill for the seven of us came out to $8600. So my girlfriend asked what we tip. I told her it's up to her, and she left $800 for the waitress and $400 was tipped to the busboys earlier in the night already. So the waitress comes back with a response it's not enough, that we needed to leave at least 10-20%. I really have never had anyone come back with a tip and say it wasn't enough. I thought it was outrageous. We ended up just laughing it off and leaving her $1000. I missed being out with my girlfriends, just laughing and not thinking about anything. This past year has been a year away from that, twelve months of being alone for the most part. I'm not used to it, and I really loved being there with all my friends. I'll be playing a few more events before the Main Event, so keep checking here or PokerListings to see how I'm doing. I'm physically feeling great, so my sickness is behind me. That and my friends are keeping me at my best, and I hope I can get even further at my next WSOP Event. Ciao! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080603.html I have neglected my own site. I admit it. And I am sorry Thanks so much to everyone who has been so kind during my illness. It was over forty days that I was sick, sicker, flown to the US, had an operation, then sat in bed recovering. I've gone through every feeling imaginable: discomfort, pain, anxiousness, fear, misery, sadness, anger, stubbornness, fatigue, graciousness, humility, thankfulness, and anticipation. Now, I'm feeling great, ready to get all of the bad feelings (and bad beats!) behind me. I wasn't sure when I would start playing in the World Series of Poker until I received a call from Fabrice Soulier, my Chilipoker teammate. He's made a five-figure bet with a team from Winamax (a French company). He's betting that he and I can win more cash this WSOP than the Winamax team. Here's who we're up against: The Chilipoker Team: Liz Lieu Fabrice Soulier The Winamax Team: Michel Abecassis Manuel Bevand Guillaume De La Gorce Vikash Dhorasso Davidi Kitai Eric Koskas Ludovic Lacay Antony Lellouche Nicolas Levi Arnaud Mattern Alexia Portal Anthony Roux Almira Skripchenko Game On!! At least he got me fired up and ready to go, so I headed to the Bellagio to play a quick cash game Friday night, just to be sure I would feel up to playing cards. There were no high stakes games going on at the Bellagio, so I played $100/200 LHE for a few hours. I got a bit bored, but I remembered that a flush beat a straight, so I was ready to head to the Rio for my first event. I played Sunday in the second Day 1 of Event 2, a $1.5k NLHE event. These weekend events are going to have huge fields, and I'd recommend anyone who wants to take their shot at a bracelet to try one of these events first. Sure, it takes a bit of luck, but Theo Tran is leading the event as they're down to 18 players, so you have to be able to play to go deep. I won't bore you with how I went out (aces cracked again!!!!), you can read all about it on my PokerListings blog. You might be able to see my photo there (hair color: red!), but I had a friend tell me about a new policy that Harrah's has this year. Photos can only stay up 72 hours online then have to come down. I'm not sure I understand why this is the case, but that's the way it is. Besides that, Harrah's has made some nice improvements to the WSOP. More food (Pizza Hut and Krispy Kreme kiosks!!), not so cold, color-coded table signs. It all seems a little better than the last few years, and I haven't had any problem with the long lines that plagued last year's Series. I'm hoping to play as many hold-em events as possible this year. I promise I'll write more here as well as on PokerListings, so check both of these sites out every day. Thanks again for all of the love. I've really felt it the last few weeks, and I hope I can return the favor with a big score this summer. http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080427.html Don't send the search party! Liz Lieu is in Vegas and doing fine. If you haven't heard, I've been sidetracked by some bad fish! I've had a number of people checking up on me after looking at the live tournament updates wondering where I was. I was sick in bed, in of all places Monaco!! I had such high hopes for the EPT Grand Finale in Monaco last week and for the Five Star World Poker Classic in Vegas this week. These are my two favorite tournaments of the entire year. The only other tournaments that compare are the Five Diamond in December and the WSOP Main Event. I was really looking forward to competing and was really disappointed to get so sick Ironically, I did everything in my control to be prepared for the EPT Grand Finale. I flew into Monte Carlo a day early to get adjusted and properly rested from the travel. I even passed on a great party thrown for the poker players, the evening before Day 1A to make sure I had enough sleep. Then I decided to order a salmon dish before going to bed and woke up the next day feeling very ill. The Hotel is 5 Star in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. I never even considered getting bad room service!! When I woke up the next day, I was feeling dizzy, feint and just awful. Luckily, Alex was able to move my Day 1A start to Day 1B and I went back to bed hoping I could sleep it off. Unfortunately I just felt worse the next day. I had sharp stomach pains and asked my Sponsor Alex to try and get me a refund on my buy-in. Thankfully, they agreed on giving us a full refund and I didn't have to suck it up and play it out. As bad as I felt, there was no way I could've played close to my "A" game. The entire Day 1B was spent in bed and trying to convince room service to deliver me some soup. The only soup the Hotel had was Minestrone and they only gave me this after much struggle. Apparently the poker players were only allowed to order from the poker menu. Soup wasn't on the menu but it was the only food I could keep down and after Alex made a phone call to room service they agreed to send a tiny bowl up. The adventure didn't stop in Monte Carlo. I spent a few more days in my hotel room recovering and then back to Vegas on my scheduled flight to the States. I still felt ill but hoped I could sleep through most of the flight. On the first leg of the flight, I was able to get some sleep but I awoke in a feverish sweat. I felt a little light headed and dizzy as well. The flight attendant noticed I wasn't feeling quite right and made sure I was taken care of on my connecting flight. I was even provided a wheel chair to transport me around on my connection and arrival. I was whisked thru these long security lines and somebody even grabbed my luggage for me. It was actually quite nice! I didn't realize how quickly you could navigate thru an airport when you are in a wheel chair. That was my Monte Carlo experience!! I'm back in Vegas and still not well enough to play in the Five Diamond Event at the Bellagio but it did give me a chance to catch up on some blogging. I immediately went to the doctor after getting back home and I have all kinds of stuff wrong with me!! Low blood pressure, fever, food poisoning. The doctor tells me I'm too stressed out and along with the food poisoning and travelling I just need to chill out for awhile. I know many of you have been emailing me when you noticed I didn't play either of the last two major events and rest assured; besides being quite ill right now from some bad salmon everything is okay. And as soon as I get my strength back, I will probably play some cash games exclusively until the WSOP. Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080415.html Hello from beautiful Monte Carlo, although I hardly feel beautiful today. It's been a crazy few weeks, including my time in Malta with the Chilipoker team, a cash at the EPT San Remo, and a lot of expectations heading into the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. I was so looking forward to getting off to a great start, but I unfortunately I never got out of bed. I spent a lot of time working with the Chilipoker team in Malta. Alex has put together some terrific people, and we're working on many great things for the rest of this year. I'm so glad I chose Chilipoker and Alex as partners, because that's what they are: true partners in every sense of the word. From there, I headed to Italy and EPT San Remo. San Remo is near France and not too easy to reach, as I flew into Milano then rode in a car for almost three hours. It is a beautiful, ancient place, but I had no time to see the sights. It was a great tournament for me, and not due to the fact that I cashed (although that is always welcome). No, it was great because I played great, made good decisions, and made no real mistakes. I was near the chip lead on Day 2 and would have been strong for a deep run had it not been for this tough hand. The blinds were 800/1600 with a 200 ante, and I picked up pocket 4's. I raised to 5k and both blinds called. The rainbow flop came 9-8-6, and I checked behind both blinds. When I saw 4(d) come from the dealer on the turn, I caught my nice bottom set. I bet 9500 after both blinds checked, then one of the guys moved all-in for 49,200. I quickly called and saw him turn over J-10o. If I could avoid a queen or 7, I'd have a great stack. It was one of the queens that spiked on the river, and it crippled me. I went out in 53rd place with 8,000 euro (a little over $12,600). I felt I'd played poorly in Poland, and here I played really well. I even had a little luck, with my dreaded pocket aces holding up five times in a row! After heading back to Malta for a bit, I flew to Monte Carlo for the final event of the EPT season, the EPT Grand Final. I arrived early so I could be really relaxed and prepared for this big event. I even skipped the PokerStars party the evening before Day 1A. I ordered salmon for room service and headed to bed early. When I woke up, I felt horrible. Major headache and drowsiness. I called Alex at Chilipoker to see if he could reschedule me for Day 1B (he could), and I went back to bed after taking some medication from the concierge. The next morning, it was worse. I reached back out to Alex to see if he could get a refund, and I felt relieved when he told me he could. I was able to have a doctor see me, and I didn't really feel better for a couple days. I missed playing in the tournament, but I'd rather not play then not play my best. I owe it to Alex and Chilipoker to only put my best foot forward, and Alex has been great throughout the EPT season. And now, I'll be heading back to the US and Las Vegas. I can't wait to get out of the hotels and back home again. I play in the $25k WPT Championship at the Bellagio this weekend, and I'm hoping I'll feel 100% by then. I'll be staying in Vegas throughout the summer at the World Series, and I have high hopes to have a great few months. Join me at Chilipoker when you have a chance. And if you're somewhere in Asia, you can find me on the cover of Asian Poker Times as well (one of my nicer photos, too!). Keep up all the encouraging comments and thoughts. They really, really help me a lot! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080324.html Well, I made it back to Malta, barely in one piece after the EPT Warsaw event. You can read my recap on PokerListings, but I can tell you that I need some good luck with pocket aces sometime soon! Losing three out of five times in Day 1 will do that to you. I made it through the first day and made a horrible play short-handed on Day 2 that could have put me back in the thick of things. The flight back to Malta was a nightmare. It took me over twelve hours including a layover in Frankfurt. Needless to say, I'm not a very big fan of Air Malta now For the first few days back in Malta, I played a good bit online at Chilipoker after I went to the office for three-four hours. It was really great being with Alex and the team, and it made me feel even more a part of the Chilipoker family. When there are so many people working so hard, it gets you motivated, especially since they've involved me in many things going on there. A highlight for me was meeting Eric, Chilipoker's main web designer. I've been working with him via email for several months, so it's always great to connect in person. Chilipoker is working on some great things to continue to grow the site. One of the most exciting things just popped up, a "cheaproll" tournament that I'll be hosting. Anyone who knocks me out gets a free Wii, and they'll be adding $500 to the prizepool plus giving an Xbox to one player who makes the Final Table. It should be a really fun time, and it will be 26 March at 20:00GMT. It's a $1.10 buy-in, so it should be loads of fun. Alex and Eric took me to see The Other Boleyn Girl, which was really a great movie. I was startled though when they stopped the movie in the middle for a fifteen-minute intermission. They used to do that in the US back in the '60's, but it was really odd to see everyone hustling out to get snacks or take a smoke break. On Saturday, Alex had rented a convertible Mini Cooper and took both Eric and myself on a sight seeing tour around Malta. Some places he took us to had amazing views and scenery. We spent most of the morning to mid afternoon just driving around and stopping at nice places as we go. Fabrice joined us later Saturday, and we had a great time out that night. Easter Sunday we went sightseeing on another island near Malta called Gozo. I was exhausted, but it was great to take some time and see a place I'd been working. Hope to see everyone at my cheaproll at ChiliPoker! I'll be shooting to win it so I can keep the Wii myself! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080310.html After 6 weeks playing cash games at the Commerce and my early exit from the LAPC main event, i'm back on the road again. First stop on this round of my travels was a quick stop in London where I did an interview with Gambling Online Magazine for a front cover feature to come out next month and also to catch up on the progress of the new site I am involved in www.ipokercal.com. The very next day I took a flight to Malta where I will be situated for a few weeks working closely with my sponsor Chilipoker as we prepare for the next stage of my tournaments in Europe and start to discuss future plans. While I was in Malta, which is my second visit to this hotbed of online gaming companies I had chance to spend some quality time with Alex and the Chilipoker team who have just moved into a beautiful large new office which is very impressive. It just shows the quick growth in this amazing company and proves to me that the vision of Alex is coming to reality. Also Alex was kind enough to take me on a quick tour of the island and it was right on the day of the elections and so there were tons of Maltese people voting for either the red or the blue party. While I'm not fully up to date on Maltese politics, the blues winning was a popular signal for the online gaming industry on the island. The driver that took me to the airport the next day said "more power to Chilipoker". So it was an interesting introduction to island life but before I could even unpack my suitcases I was on a plane to Warsaw in Poland for the next stop on the European Poker Tour. However I had to fly via Munich because there are no direct flights from Malta so it was a 7 hour journey just to get here but luckily the hotel laid on a limo pick up for me to bring me to the Mariott Hotel where I am now staying right on the top floor – the views of this beautiful city are just amazing so I couldn't resist going for a bit of sightseeing and of course checking out the local boutiques! :) So let me just say first off that I have a new strategy for this tournament. As you know I normally prefer to play on day 1a if there are two first days. This gives me chance to get straight into my game and if it doesn't work out to travel home. However since my 2 Final tables in Macau APPT, my tournament life has not been as good as I would have liked dropping out early in Melbourne and the LAPC in Los Angeles. Of course the hectic travelling also does not relax me sufficiently well enough. So this time I decided to travel a day early and book my seat in day 1b. This has allowed me to relax in my hotel, catch up on some much needed sleep, get my business affairs in order so that I am fully prepared for the day that I start to play in this event. The EPT Poland is one of the latest additions to the European Poker Tour which seems to be ever expanding and I really enjoy these European events. I hope with my new start time and a couple of other strategic decisions I have made (which i'm keeping quiet about !) that I will go deep into this tournament and hopefully the final table. So if you don't get chance to follow my progress online then I will certainly let you know how I progress. After Poland it's back to Malta for a short while where I will be staying until the next EPT event which is in Saint Remo on the 1st April. So I will write again when I am back in Malta before I'm back on the road again ! Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080301.html For the last few weeks, I've stayed off of planes and spent more time playing cash games than I have in probably a year. Playing high-stakes limit hold-em brought me back to my roots in poker, back to a time where I was constantly working on my game amid marathon sessions at the Commerce. The players were familiar, including Kenny, Cathleen, Max, Lee, Sam, Hansu, Tommy, Shawn, Joe, Jun, Ted Forest, Tony Van, JC Tran, and Jimmy. I booked some nice wins over the first three weeks at the Commerce before we moved to the Bike a few days before the LAPC Main Event started. We were playing $400/800 or $500/1000 LHE most of the time, with players crossbooking each other up to 100%. Unfortunately, I also got sick a few days before the Main Event. Nothing too severe, but it knocked me into bed for several days. I felt better but still a bit fatigued when the Main Event started. I don't think it affected my play at all, but the deck must have caught the same flu bug that I had. After my aces got cracked to send me to the rail vs. K-9, I couldn't do anything much but to laugh about it. These things seem to run in cycles for me, running good in tournaments then running bad. I avoided almost all of the tournaments at the LAPC and did much, much better sticking to cash games. I didn't ignore the Main Event, and it ended with one of the best Final Tables the World Poker Tour has had in quite awhile. One of my good friends in poker, Quinn Do, made the Final Table in 5th chip position with 1.45mil in chips. He was sitting with some very tough players, including Nam Le (1.18mil), Phil Hellmuth (2.38mil), and Phil Ivey (4.10mil). Ivey has been pretty quiet in tournaments over the last year, with a runner-up finish in the $5k WSOP 7-card stud event his only significant cash in the last eighteen months outside of Poker After Dark on NBC. I was in the crowd cheering on Quinn, who I'd played and worked with a couple years ago. He may not be a household name, but he didn't win his WSOP Bracelet by accident. By the time the dust settled, he sat across from Ivey heads-up to battle for an extra $687k, the difference between the top prize of $1.596mil and the runner-up money of $909k. Quinn was outchipped 10.8mil to 2.5mil, and the first hand quickly got rough. Ivey bet 700k on a spade flop of A-8-6, leaving him with only 1mil behind. The other black ace, A(c), hit the turn, and Ivey moved all-in. Quinn held 9(h)-8(h), and he took about five minutes to decide what to do, and he ultimately put Ivey on a spade draw and made the call. Had he been right, he would have doubled up and been within striking distance of Ivey. It was a bold play with second pair, and it was sick to see Ivey flip over A(h)-8(d) for the full house and the title. We all waited for Quinn to cash out after the tournament was over, and it took him over an hour. Figuring out how to cash out $909k is a good problem to have, believe me! A dozen of us joined him to celebrate at a Chinese restaurant. We were all starving! None of us fought for the check as we stuck Quinn with it. :) So after a month in LA, I'm headed to Malta next week. I'll be working with the ChiliPoker team for about a month as we work on everything from the site to a new DVD series, as well as marketing ideas. I will also be playing three EPT events while I'm in Europe - Polish Open, San Remo, and Grand Final Monte Carlo. I've recently also launched a new project with a business partner of mine, iPokerCal. This new site is a one-stop shop for any and every poker event going. Whether it's an online tourney, big tournaments in poker rooms all over the world, even televised poker, you can have one place to quickly find what's going on in poker any day of the year. It's all a bit strange in some ways. I was happy to head back to LA, glad to stay away from planes for awhile, thankful to be with friends, and really excited to be spending a lot of time at the poker table. And now, I'm ready to leave LA and get to Malta. It will be my second time in Malta, and the team at Chilipoker is just terrific. I'm sure I'll be playing on Chilipoker while I'm on the road, so jump onto the site and sign up to play. Lots of different sign-up bonuses depending on how much you play, up to $600 and even an iPod on top of that. Remember, the only thing better than dead money is free money! Have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you next from Malta. Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20080207.html Happy New Year! For those of you confused, today is Chinese New Year, one of my favorite times of the year. It's been great to be in LA as the New Year approached, spending time with my girlfriends and playing cash games all night long. I've only played one $1k tournament at the LA Poker Classic. Commerce has flattened the payout structure, bumping up the money for those who just cash while lowering the winner's prize. I've just avoided the tournaments and have been playing the regular $400/800 game. It is playing so wild, I love it! The games have really been full of action and big swings for some of the players. Being up or down $75k is fairly standard in this game, and I've come close to some really big nights. Maybe I'm a little greedy, I don't know. I'd get up to nine stacks of $5k each and try to get that tenth before quitting, then I'd leak it down, then build it back up to nine stacks again! These games are so juicy, it's hard to leave. It really has renewed my enthusiasm for poker and cash games, and I'm glad I've spent time in LA. I also got to spend some great time with one of my best friends, Cathleen Tran. It was her birthday this week as well as her son's, and her party has become an annual tradition for us, a truly genuine time just to be together and do the things we love. Fashion, new trends, clubs--all girl things! And if you see me around, you'll probably notice something different about me-my hair color. I went six weeks with purple and now have gone back to brunette. Changing my hair keeps me feeling fresh and alive again, just like a butterfly! Hehe :-) Until next time everyone! Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20071213.html Here's the latest update from Las Vegas. Yes, I'm back home in Vegas again, after spending three weeks in Hong Kong, Macau, and Vietnam. Whew!! That was quite a trip. I flew out of Vietnam and after traveling for almost 24 hours, hopping on and off several flights, I finally arrived back in the states on December 8th. Boy, was I glad to be back home and finally sleep in the comfort of my own bed again. I haven't done much since I've returned to Vegas. I spent the first two days jet lagged and rested as much as I can at home. I think the wear and tear of traveling got me a little sick so I've been staying home mostly trying to get healthy for the Main Event. I did however make it out of the house a few times. I arrived in Vegas on a Saturday and the following Monday I spent a few hours in a photo shoot with my teammate Fabrice Soulier. Fabrice was already doing the photo shoot by himself before I arrived and the last two hours of his session were photos of both of us to be used for our website (www.chilipoker.com). Afterwards I headed to the Bellagio to do an interview with a U.K. television crew. The interview was for ITV Series called 'How to become a Poker Millionaire'. They are conducting interviews with top pros from all around the world and the aim of the show is to show the public glimpses of the lives of the worlds poker elite, and how they've succeeded and stayed at the top. So, if you're in the U.K. keep an eye out for that show sometime in 2008. After the photo shoot and interview with the U.K. television crew, I decided to go play some poker since I was already at the Bellagio. My normal game wasn't going so I jumped into a 100/200 Limit game and luckily I was playing lower because I wasn't running very well and ended up with a losing session and after 2 hours, I decided to cut my losses and go home. I probably needed to rest up anyways and get better for Wednesday's Day 1A start for the Main Event at the Five Diamond. I was still feeling a little under the weather at this point. I didn't do much on Tuesday, except go back to the Bellagio to register for the Main Event and meet up with my good friend Jennifer Newell. We went to dinner at Fix Restaurant and that was pretty much my night. Wednesday was the first day of Event 13, the Main Event and 15k buy-in. I decided to play in Day 1A which is normal for me. I usually compete on the first day of the tournament if there are multiple starting days. I want to get it out of the way and it gives me an extra days worth of rest between days which is sometimes nice since the tournament is potentially 5 days long and each day is pretty long and grueling. I'd have to say I played well the first day. I ended up in 11th place when the day ended with 80,125 chips which was well above the average stack. I was able to accumulate some chips early in a pretty big pot. I picked up some information on one of the players at my table. I noticed he made a big raise from the big blind with pocket tens in the first level. Later, I limped under the gun with pocket nines and watched as it came to the BB with three other callers in between. The BB raised to $750 and from the information I gathered earlier on this player, I felt like he had worse than tens this time around so I re-popped him another $3k and everyone folded back to the BB and he called. The flop came J-5-6 and it was checked down on the flop. The turn came 5 and I felt like I had the best hand and again the BB checked so I bet out $3,650 into the pot. The BB decides to re-raise to $13,200 and after taking a bit of time to analyse the hand - the amount he re-raised was too much to make me believe he's got my 99's beat so, I called. The river brought a non heart 3 and this time the BB checked and I checked behind. He turns over 77's just a bit shy of beating my 99's so I take down a large pot. :-) Another big hand during the first day was towards the end of the day. I got into a big hand with Brian Powell as the day was closing. Brian limped from the cut-off and I raised it up to $1,700 from the small blind. I had A(d) Q(s) and felt confident I had the best hand at this point so I raised. Brian made the call and the flop fell J(h) 10(h) 6(h). We both checked and the 6(d) fell on the turn. I checked again but this time Brian fired out $2,500 into the pot. I still felt like I had the best hand and immediately check raised him to $6,500, Brian thought for a bit then flat called. I didn't want to see a call at this point but then the river brought a Q(d) and now I have top pair. I was pretty sure Brian didn't have a 6 or A-K so I fired $10,000 into the middle and after some thought, Brian made the call. He showed A-10 and turns out my Ace Queen caught up to his Ace Ten and I ended up finishing with the better hand. That's pretty much how my first day ended. I did get involved in a couple of pots where I lost some decent amount of chips but I was able to chip up each time and luckily I finished the day pretty strong and I'm right near the top of the leader board. I'm at home now checking up on Day2 and I notice some very strong players are on top of the leader board. Most notably Phil Ivey, who is the only player with more than 200,000 in chips. Both my friends John Phan and Joe Sebok are also near the top of the leader boards and John Hennigan who finished with the chip lead on Day 1A. There are so many big names near the top of the leader board and I have my work cut out for me. I think once the dust settles, we're going to end up with an extremely tough final table with lots of big name pro's. Hopefully among one of those names will be Liz "The Poker Diva" Lieu. HeHe ;-) Until next time everyone, Take Care! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20071203.html After 3 hours of delay at the airport, I finally arrived in Hong Kong. That was my first time there and I was really excited about it. I heard from friends that Hong Kong is a shopping paradise. I knew my schedules are booked solid for the next few days, but I was hoping I could squeeze a little time in between meetings to go and pamper myself. :). It seem like when work starts, it will never stop. I had an interview with Prestige Magazine as early as 10am, followed by a 30 min recording with Bloomberg TV. During the recording, we discussed about poker and the life of the poker diva. I'm not spoiling it by going into too much detail, so do watch out for that episode! Right after that, I had to do 2 interviews with the local newspapers before I can headed back to my room at JW Marriott Hotel. What the day! The next morning, the crew from Capital, the leading documentary programme of France, joined us in Hong Kong. They would be following us throughout the events in Macau as Alex, Fabrice, and myself will be appearing in their 60-minute documentary. The next morning, we headed to Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia. It was a 45-minute ferry ride from Hong Kong to Macau, and Alex just could not resist snapping pictures along the journey. When we arrived at the Venetian, I was totally surprised it looked almost identical to The Venetian in Vegas. Home sweet home! Haha. This is sure going to be fun. There was Opening Night Party held at The Waldo Casino. I managed to catch up with many of the pros in the poker circuit. Day 1 of the Main Event was a roller-coaster ride for me. My chip stack was moving up and down, but I did manage to go into Day 2 with an average stack. I had a much better run on Day 2 and did not take any big hits. I was below average in chips going into Day 2 but managed to double up my chips the first round with 10 10's against A K. I kept my chips pretty steady the entire night and finished Day 2 with 232,000 and off I go... TO THE FINAL TABLE!! whoohoo :) The chip leader, Dinh Le, played well in the final table. He made very good use of his chips to dominate the table and I was having a cold run of cards. There was one hand where I had A8 suited and raised it to 35k in middle position. Everyone folded and action got to Dinh Le in the small blind. He re-raised up to 90k, and after going into the tank for few minutes, I decided to fold. I later found out he had Aces on that hand. Phew! The cold run continued after that hand and soon I was short stacked. I picked up A6 and pushed all-in from late position. Guillaume Patry called from the big blind, and showed 72 (off)!! The board came 8 3 7 J 7 and I was eliminated in 7th place. Well, I was going to have the 15k High Roller Event the following day, so I wasn't going to think about that bad beat and just go get a good nights rest in my room. Anyway, I would like to congratulate Dinh Le for winning this event. The 15k High Rollers Event featured quite some big names. There was even once where Nick Schulman, Jeff Lisandro, Scotty Nguyen, Guillaume Patry, Vanessa Rousso and John Juanda were all at my table. This was not an easy field of players and I had to battle through to about 4:30am to lock myself a back-to-back final table. However, I was the short stack in the final table and was busted in 8th after my A10 did not hold up against my opponent's AQ. Although I'm quite disappointed for not able to win either event, but I'm satisfied with my overall performance in this APPT Macau. Let's just hope I will win this next year when APPT is back in Macau! :) I'm now in Vietnam, and heading to Danang tomorrow to do more charities. It will be a good break for me as well. After that, I'm flying back to Vegas on the 8th for the Bellagio Five Diamond Event. Till then, take care! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20071111.html Okay, so I am back in Vegas now. Well sort of. I'll tell you more in a bit. For starters, I attended a charity poker event hosted by Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil on November 8th at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The tournament benefits the Skylar Neil Memorial Fund (http://www.skylarneil.org) and the TJ Martell Foundation (http://www.tjmartellfoundation.org). This years "Off The Strip" Poker Event hosted by Vince Neil raised approx $175,000. All proceeds are divided between the two designated charities. The Skylar Neil Memorial Fund was formed in 1995 after the death of Neil's four-year old daughter Skylar. Her battle with stomach cancer inspired Neil to start the foundation that helps fund various organizations for leukemia, cancer and AIDS research. And the T.J. Martell Foundation was founded by T.J. Martell's father who vowed to uphold the wishes of a teenage boy who wanted to raise a million dollars for leukemia research. Upon the boy's death from leukemia, Martell started the organization in 1975 and has since raised more than $225 million for research. I was really honored to be a part of this charity event. An auction kicked off the event. There were lots of great items to purchase and I chipped in by purchasing a poker table signed by all of the poker pro's in attendance. After the auction the tournament began. The tournament itself was a re-buy event with all of the proceeds going to charity so the action was a little wild and loose to say the least. I played a little looser then my normal myself. Hehe. After all, it's for charity right?!? :-) Next on the agenda was a quick trip into L.A. to visit my mom and take care of some errands I was unable to handle while in Europe and Southeast Asia over the past couple of months. Then off to North Carolina to meet up with Dalton Cox who is one of the best photographers around. I flew into North Carolina for a couple of days to participate in a photo shoot which will eventually be posted on my new poker website Chilipoker.com. Dalton and his wife Jill were two of the nicest people and I really enjoyed my photo shoot experience. Dalton was extremely patient and always smiling. The photo shoot took two full days at three different locations. Dalton told me over 2,000 pictures were taken during this photo shoot. Wow!! I also want to say a quick thanks to Dalton's assistant Jenn and Daryl who assisted with Lighting. After spending a couple of days in N.C., I flew back to Las Vegas. So here I am!! J I'm so happy to be back in the States. However, I will only be in LV for another week then I fly out to Macau on November 18. Macau is the next stop on the Pokerstars.net Asia Pacific Tour and will mark the first time a real money no limit hold em poker tournament will be played in China. The event is scheduled for Nov 22-27 at the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino. If you don't already know, Macau is Asia's version of Las Vegas. Many consider it the gambling capital of the world with HUGE hotels and casinos. Even larger then the hotel and casinos you see in Las Vegas. The Macau event is another event I'm really excited to be a part of. I really want to see poker grow in Asia and I think the Macau event is just the beginning of bigger and better things for China and the rest of the region. Hopefully I'll win this one!! Keep your fingers crossed. Afterwards, I will take a short flight into Vietnam and spend a week there to dedicate my father's 100th day. This is a Vietnamese tradition when a loved one passes away and he is still often in my memories. He meant the world to me and I'm still trying to deal with the loss. The past couple of months have been a very difficult time for me and this trip to Vietnam will be another opportunity for me to visit my father and pay my respects to him once again. I will be back in Las Vegas on December 8th and will be competing in the Five Diamond Bellagio Classic in mid December. So look for me there. I hope everyone has a Happy Turkey day and safe Holiday!! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20071028.html Wow!! I've finally managed to take time off from work, and spent the past 3 weeks in Vietnam doing charities. Before my charity journey began, I flew into Saigon and spent a few days visiting my dad at the temple. My first few stops were HaNoi, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong. I had brought 4 tons of rice along with me this time to distribute to the villagers. The people there were really appreciative and nice, and it's great to see how optimistic they were despite their poverty. This really sends out a message that 'money is not everything.' I had great fun there too! It's been years since I last took a ride on a bicycle. There is this sweet little girl who offered me a ride on her bicycle, and I gladly accepted the offer. I almost felt I was on a roller-coaster. Woohoo! Chilipoker.com have been really supportive of my charities, and especially with this trip of mine back to Vietnam to do what means a lot to me. I represented on Chilipoker behalf in donating funds to the village to rebuilt this village's temple. Watch video clip --->> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUsjoklgy6c On day 3, I arrived in DaNang and caught up with my best friend , John. We visited the children's orphanages, elder's orphanages, elder's homeless shelter and mental institution. We visited some of the same shelters that we had been to last year, and it was heart-warming for us to know that some of their health has improved tremendously, but also very sadden to find out that a few of them have left this world. Watch video clip --->> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uezyHk3aQK4 Our next destination was offshore. We went out to sea and bought 4 tons of rice, and 400 boxes of noodles to distribute to the families living out there. Watch video clip --->> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGBOG5UQ34c Lastly, every time I am back in Vietnam I can never miss visiting numerous temple to lend them a helping hand with all the things they need. This year all the temples were in need of posters to hand out to visitors that visit the temple. So we had donated thousands of posters, rice, and also boxes of noodles to help out. I can honestly say, visiting these temples always brings me a lot of peace! Watch video clip --->> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRLWhmIR0Eg After all the charities, I spent the last few days back in Saigon for my dad's 49th Day Prayers. It has been nearly 2 months since he left us, and I still miss him everyday. But I know he is in good care and will be watching us from up above. Just want to say, 'I love you, Dad.' I'm just back in London today after a short business trip in Malta to meet up with Alex (my sponsor) and also had an opportunity to meet all the Chilipoker staff in Malta. They were all very sincere, lovely people. I have to thank them all for the wonderful hospitality! I will be flying back to Las Vegas tomorrow to visit my family and can't wait to sit in a few cash games! I will also be attending Vince Neil (Motley Crew) celebrity charity event held at The Hard Rock Casino on Nov 3rd. Then I'm off to play Foxwoods main event, and shortly afterwards I will be traveling to Macau for a poker tournament from Nov 20th- 28th. That's it for now, until next time everyone.. Take Care! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070921.html First off I'd like to congratulate Annette"Annette_15" for beating 362 players to win the first WSOPE bracelet. Who says women can't play poker huh? I have been hearing great things about her and I couldn't be any happier to see a woman take down a main event. Now I'm gonna go back a bit to the EPT Barcelona event. I arrived in Barcelona two days before the main event started and met Alex Dreyfus (my sponsor at ChiliPoker) for the first time. We sat and spoke for awhile in the hotel lounge, then Alex took me to the casino where the tournament was being held to check out the environment and also to buy me into the event. We then later met up with Fabrice and Jules for dinner at a trendy french restaurant. The next morning I had arrangements to go sight seeing with Alex, Fabrice, and Jules and to also do an video interview for Made In Poker with Fabrice. I had a wonderful time seeing the city of Barcelona and they all made me feel so comfortable to be around them. The next morning I woke up at at 10am, first thing was turn my computer on and check what games were going on ChiliPoker so I could play for awhile and warm up before the tournament started. I played for a couple hours and ended the session on the plus side. The tournament started at 5pm, I didn't start off too well. I flopped a set a couple time but both times got ran down with my opponent catching a straight and flush. There was one particular hand that made me sick to my stomach. I picked up 10 10's under the gun and decided just to limp in with three callers calling behind me. The flop comes A 10 5 (rainbow). I decided to slow play my set so I checked my option and the three callers behind me checked also. Turn comes an 8... (A 10 5 8). I bet out 800- the player behind me calls the bet and everyone else mucks. The river's a 6- The board now is A 10 5 8 6. I bet out 800 again, then my opponent thinks a bit and decides to make a raise to 3500. I was quite shocked as to why he would make such a big raise. I looked at the board again and the only possible hand that could beat my set of 10's is 7 9. I then said to him "either you've got the moral nuts or a total bluff" I finally decided to call and what does he turn over?!? Yep.. 7 9(off). After losing that hand I was down to 4500 in chips. A few rounds later I picked up QQ's. This time I raised and got the small blind to call. Flop comes Q 10 3 (rainbow) SB checks, I bet out 1200, SM calls, turn is a 9 (which gives a possible flush and straight draw on board). I bet out out 2000, my opponent called. river's a 7.. which was almost about the worst card I see, making it a possible straight and flush on board. My opponent announced all-in quickly! I thought to myself.. "Not again"!! I've flopped sets three times already and all three times they've all gotten cracked. I ended up calling anyways cause the pot was to big to lay down a set and also I wouldn't have much chips to play with if I were to fold. So pretty much an easy decision there on my part. My opponent turns over AQ.. phew no straight, no flush.. So I doubled up! My chips were like a yo yo the entire day but I was still in and at about 1am I received a very important family call that needed my attention immediately. I still had a little over 10k on the table. But all those chips were just being blinded away while I was already on the plane flying back to my country Vietnam. I couldn't thank Alex Dreyfus (my sponsor at ChiliPoker) enough for being so understanding and helping me through those moments when I was really in need for support. I could honestly say that I couldn't ask for a better site to represent. I flew back to Vietnam for a couple weeks to pay my last respects to my dad and also got the chance to spend some quality time with my aunt, cousins, and niece. Then on the Sept 8th I flew back to London in time to play the WSOPE. I started the tournament in very good shape. During the second round I happen to bust out John Juanda and was at 43,000. Then when I returned from the second break was when things all started to turn sour. A few starting hands passed and then I happen to pick up AA's and ran into 10 10's.. unlucky for me, my opponent flopped a 10 and I double him up. After another round of cards were dealt out, I had 22's on my big blind. My opponent that was in middle position made a minimum raise so I called. I flopped a set of 22's on the flop and got the original raiser with the K(c) 5 (c).. unlucky for me again.. he hits the flush right on the turn. So within one round of poker, I went from 43,000 in chips to about 7k. I played tight and was holding on to my chips for about an hour, then I picked up A 10. I was in middle position so I raised and the big blind calls. The flop did come an ace (? ?) but my opponent called my bet on the flop and caught a straight on the turn. the river was no help for my hand, so that was it... Out The Door I Go!!! :) I'm currently in London and will be playing the EPT London next week on the 25th of Sept. I hope all is well. Until next time everyone. Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070906.html Chilipoker.com an exponentially growing online poker room and casino is proud to announce the exclusive partnership of Top Professional poker Diva - Liz Lieu. Chilipoker.com has signed an exclusive contract with talented, astute and stylish Poker Star - Liz Lieu. Liz being an icon in the poker world brings card-playing expertise to the Chilipoker tables with style, versatility and flair. According to Alexandre Dreyfus "The partnership between Liz and Chilipoker is the perfect synergy of the aspirational poker lifestyle . Liz fits the concept perfectly. She has a flair for style and has created a unique personal image notwithstanding an aggressive and winning approach at the tables". Liz Lieu has secured her stance in the poker world achieving several limit and no-limit hold'em titles and earning over $600,000 in less than two years. Her most recent victory was in the LA Poker Classic last February, winning nothing less than $148,000 and a pledge to donate 20% to charity. Liz is among one of the few most feared high limit cash game player in the Bellagio and Commerce casinos. Her resume is rich of achievements and is considered to be one of the top 2 female poker players in the world. Founder and CEO, Alexandre Dreyfus states "We are proud to have Liz Lieu as the ambassador of the Chilipoker brand and we are sure that this collaboration will further consolidate our presence in the European and the Asian Markets. We appreciate that Liz has decided to move to London to be closer to our European customer base and we are pleased to communicate to our players that Chilipoker will be organizing regular monthly exclusive tournaments with Liz Lieu. We are flying all the winners to the UK to play with Liz Live in an exclusive tournament that will be broadcasted on various channels" Chilipoker ambassador Liz Lieu confides "was very careful to find a site that I could work with as a true partner and one that had the same aspirations as myself. ChiliPoker is an ambitious site with exciting plans and also offers a "lifestyle" positioning. I was of course approached by other sites but I like the fact that with Chilipoker I will become an important "face" of the site. Chilipoker are also very supportive of my charity work and also a percentage of my winnings will go to my charities, which is very important to me." Liz Lieu will be playing at the WSOPE in London on Monday the 10 th of September. All poker enthusiasts will be able to tune in to follow the poker diva's experience at the WSOP on www.chilipoker.com. "We are very proud to announce such an innovative feature on our site and give both players and guests the chance to experience the WSOP with Liz". Chilipoker Players should keep an eye on the Chilipoker school, as the poker diva will soon be revealing some of her best kept tips and winning secrets. http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070806.html I'm starting to get settled here in London. I'm looking for an flat to rent, and I knew the cost of living over here is more than the U.S., but wow! To rent a flat in areas where I prefer to live, it will cost about 800-1000 pounds per week, which is equal to about $1600-$2000. Per week? Eek! So, I'm still looking for one that I will really like. My agent, Stephen, welcomed me to London last week by taking me to the Cartier Windsor Polo Event, which was a great time. I've never seen a polo match before! I played in the Ladbrokes event that I talked about in my last blog with other players like Tony G and Kirill Gerasimov, coming in fourth place, but it wasn't good enough to move on to the semi-finals. A player from Ladbrokes won that heat, but even though I didn't advance, it was a great tournament. The best part was that I got a chance to see my good friend, Patrik Antonius, who also played in the event. It had been a while since I had seen him, and it was good to catch up on everything in our lives. After the Ladbrokes event, both me and Patrik had alot of meetings and interviews we had to attend to and I also did a photo shoot with Inside Edge Magazine. The PartyPoker Women's World Open begins here in London tomorrow, but I'm scheduled to play in Heat 3 on Wednesday, 8/8. The list of people in my heat are all pros - Michelle Bricknell, Pippa Flanders, Hina Modha, Jackie Vaswani, and me. Here is the most recent press release that PartyPoker had sent out which also includes PartyBets.com betting odds.... COUNTDOWN TO WOMEN'S WORLD OPEN LIZ LIEU FAVOURITE TO WIN BUT HARTREE, TILLY, FLANDERS, ROKACH AND 'BAD GIRL' NOT FAR BEHIND London - August 6, 2007 - The countdown is on to the inaugural PartyPoker Women's World Open in London, which gets underway on Tuesday 7th August and runs until Friday 10th August. The 36 runner field features the strongest line-up ever assembled for a women's poker tournament in Europe and bookmakers www.PartyBets.com make Liz Lieu the 6/1 favourite to win. A PartyBets.com spokesman said: "Liz is one of the most fearsome players in the world and her performances at PartyPoker Premier League poker mean we had to make her favourite. The UK's Katherine Hartree is not far behind. Over the last couple of years Katherine has been one of the most consistent female poker players in Europe and she has the knowledge and experience in this format." Others in the field include Jennifer Tilly (9/1) and Shannon Elizabeth (33/1). Academy Award nominated actress Tilly has won WPT and WSOP titles, while Elizabeth, best known for her role as a beauty in the film American Pie, recently made third in the NBC Heads-Up Championship in the US. The tournament is PartyPoker's first ever all-female event and will be produced by Matchroom Sport. A similar format to the annual PartyPoker World Open will be followed, as 36 players from across the globe battle it out for a share a $108,000 prize-fund. The buy-in for the tournament is set at $3,000, with the eventual winner taking home a cool $50,000. Amongst the European challengers apart from Katherine Hartree will be Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham, former PartyPoker World Open winner Pippa Flanders, European Ladies champion Jackie Meecham, Jackie Vaswani and Deborah Rogers. Others to recently confirm their participation include Lucy Rokach, Beverly Pace, Jen Mason, Maria Demetriou and Kara Scott. The show will be televised in the UK later in the year on Five. Commentary will be provided by Jesse May and Shannon Elizabeth. Feel free to leave me any questions or comments my chat page where you can correspond with me. It's the primary place to message me now-a-days. I check that all the time, even before MySpace! I've put a lot of time and effort into my website (lizlieu.net) and hope that it's the place where everyone will come to find out what I'm up to and to chat with me. And keep checking back here often because I plan to blog quite a bit from now on. I want to keep everyone up-to-date on what I'm doing over here in London! Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070730.html Big changes, my friends… Big changes in my life! After a long period of thinking, I've finally decided to move to Europe. I still have my condo in Vegas, but I've secured an apartment here in London, and I'm in the process of having my clothes and other items shipped over. I arrived here yesterday morning, and I'm trying to get settled in. Why, London? Sure, I've always been in love with Europe, but I have several business opportunities here that will allow me to move my career further into the mainstream world market. The U.S. has so limited with its possibilities since the UIGEA, but poker is booming in Europe and Asia. I'm very excited about everything that is happening in my life, and it's been awhile since I've felt so positive. It's a little scary to move to an entirely new country, but I've spent enough time in London over the past years to know that I'll love it here. Let me back up a little. After the WSOP ended, I spent a few weeks preparing for this move. The most important thing on my list was to visit with both of my parents, spend some time with them, and make sure that they're going to be okay while I'm so far away. Now that I know they're secure for awhile, I feel better about going across the ocean. In order to better keep in touch with my friends and fans, I've started a new chat page on my website. From my home page (www.lizlieu.net), click on "chat" where you can send messages or comments directly to me, and I monitor it and respond back personally myself. My website is where my blogs are posted, my poker schedules are listed, etc. It's the best place to keep in touch! Speaking of my schedule, I have the Ladbrokes Poker Millions VI coming up on August 1st. It's a $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the Sky Studios in Middlesex. There are 72 invited players, and I'm happy to be one of them because Ladbrokes always knows how to put on a fantastic poker tournament! There is a million dollar first prize with extra prize money that Ladbrokes tosses in. This is their sixth year in a row for this tournament, and it's a good way to kick off more than a month of European events. Next, I'll be playing in the PartyPoker Women's Open tournament with friends like Shannon Elizabeth and Jennifer Tilly. That begins on August 7th and runs through the 10th. It's a $3,000 no-limit event with a top prize of $50,000. Some of Europe's top female pros will be there, so it should be fun! Hopefully, I'll have some great results to post in the coming days, and I'll blog more as I get settled in here in good ol' England. For now, take care of yourselves. Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070710.html With the madness of the WSOP finally ending for me, I wanted to write a quick blog to let you know what's going on with me. Everything started off really well at this year's World Series. I even did a great interview with Craig Cunningham from Pokerworks which was a very different type of article---it was much more personal then many of the other poker articles that have been written about me in the past. Here's where Craig's article titled "Liz Lieu-- A Leak of The Heart" began... www.pokerworks.com/blogs/ccexplore/2007/06/20/liz-lieu I initially planned on playing all the higher-buy-in no-limit and limit events at the start of the WSOP . Unfortunately I had other business demands that I had to attend to and also my father's health problem that needed my immediate attention. My family has always been more important than playing poker. I did cash twice in this year's WSOP but I didn't play in many events at all. I played in a total of six events including the Main Event. I was among the chip leaders in two of the events and went quite deep in both events, however as far as reaching a final table at this year's WSOP it just didn't work out. I was honored to be selected among six high profile professionals to be on the Advisory board for The World Poker Store. The other five Pro's were Patrik Antonius, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Marcel Luske and Hoyt Corkins. Here is a press release from The World Poker Store... www.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=746621 I've officially been eliminated from the Main Event of the WSOP. Arrrrghhhh!!! It's never easy to make the money in this event because the field is so large, but I'm still disappointed that I didn't make it further. As strange as this sounds, I have been playing my "A" game this entire WSOP but I haven't been able to avoid some unlucky breaks. About 2 hours into the tournament, I got moved to the featured televised table with about 27k in chips. When we all took a dinner break, I was sitting at around 50k in chips. After the dinner break.. I took a few bad beats.. all these beats occurred when the antes were 75 blinds 300-600. 1) I limped in with 22's in middle position, my opponent two position behind me made a minimum raise, everyone mucks and I call. Flop comes 6 4 3 (off) I bet out 5k, 9 seat moves all in for another 4300, I'm already pot committed and also I put him on A high so I called. He turns over A 5... turn comes a 9(h) and the river comes an "A" for him to double up. 2) I smooth called with 5(h)6(h).. everyone folds.. gets to the SB, he calls, BB checks the option. Flop comes 5(s)6(s)7(s).. both blinds checked, I bet out 3500 (more then what's in the pot) since that was a scary flop for my hand. SB mucks, BB calls almost instantly, turn comes "A(h), BB checks, I bet out 7k, BB calls, river's an A(s). (the worst card for my hand). BB bets out 12k.. (there's no possible hand I could beat besides a bluffed hand). Considering the pot odds on the flop and him calling both my big bets, he's gotta have a big draw and got there on the river so I mucked. BB then turns over his cards.. He's got 8(c) 3(h). WOW! and I mean WOW!!! (How he could of possibly make that kind of play considering pot odds on the flop with him having only his BB invested in the pot, calling two large bets, risking a large portion of his chips when he could of possibly been drawing dead... Now that I have No Clue!!) 3) The hand I busted out on... I had 9(s)7(s) in the BB, 1 seat makes a minimum raise, 2 players called behind, get's to my option I called. Flop comes 9 6 3 .. I bet out 2200, 4 seat raises to 7200, I pushed all in with not much chips left. 4 seat calls. He turns over 66's a set on the flop. Turn and river were blanks and out the door I go. So now I'm here in my home trying to avoid the hot Vegas weather and writing this blog. I think it was 105 degrees today as I write this. It is HOT!!! out there. I do appreciate all of the support from all of my family, friends and fans. I wish I could have played in more events and given myself more opportunities to place higher but as I mentioned earlier, I had some business opportunities and family related health issues that came up which were more important at the time. At one point I left Vegas for more then a week to get away from the craziness of everything going on and went back to CA to spend some quality time with my loved ones. I definitely needed this peace and quiet time... Thats for sure! So now that the Main Event is over with for me, all I can do is root for my close friends and of course for the other female poker players!! I hope one of the ladies represents this year and brings home the bracelet. I also wish everyone that is still playing in the main event the best of luck! And as for what is next on my agenda... I'm planning on spending the next couple weeks with my family then off I go again, back to London for awhile to play in a couple of invited televised events. Until next time everyone... Take Care! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070617.html It's been awhile since I've blogged, and I think about it often but haven't had the chance to write anything until now. Sometimes, my schedule and work can get a little overwhelming! Well, the World Series of Poker has started, and I've played in four events so far. I took 19th place in the $5000 limit hold'em event as the last woman standing in the field, and I finished in 89th place out of 1600 players in the $2000 NLHE tournament. I'm 2 for 4 so far, and I've been feeling pretty good. Obviously, I'm disappointed when I can't reach a final table and win that bracelet, but I feel like I'm on my way! The WSOP has had a great turnout, which not everyone expected. The fields are packed, and the fans are here too. I've been able to spend time with friends who are in town like Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Newell, as well as others from around the world, and I feel like I'm really in a good poker frame of mind. I planned to play all of the no-limit and limit events at the WSOP, but I've had to spend quite a bit of time taking care of business (no surprise there!). I'm trying to get things done, though, so I can play all of the remaining $3000 and higher no-limit and limit hold'em tournaments for the rest of the series. Also, I've been tending to the needs of my father who has been ill and back in the United States for awhile. (Happy Father's Day to my dad and all dads out there!) In other poker news, the Premiere Poker League that I played in with 11 other pros in London is finally being aired in numerous countries - not the U.S. of course! But if you're in the U.S., you can take a look at the promo video here: http://www.matchroompoker.com/promo.php. The tournament was great fun and I hope to be able to do it again next year! Thanks to all of my friends and fans for the kind messages and e-mails since the start of the WSOP. Your support means so much! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070604.html As I mentioned in my last blog, I took some time away from poker to relax before the WSOP. I did some relaxing at home here in Vegas, and I even spent a few days in Los Angeles with my mom and friends. Sometimes, being in touch with the people that matter most puts me in a good frame of mind. Last Thursday, I went to a WIN function, which is the newest charity that I'm going to donate a portion of my winnings to, not to mention time. Part of what WIN does is Mrs. Globe, a pageant for women that is different from regular beauty pageants - it judges women based on who they really are. (More information can be found on the WIN website.) Anyway, there was a training weekend here in Vegas for the 2007 Mrs. Globe delegates - they had pageant workshops, style consulting, etc. I met up with the delegates at the Heart Bar inside Planet Hollywood on that first night that they arrived in town, where I met Mrs. Globe 2006 Janette Goins from Nevada and Mrs. North America 2006 Reyna Rahman from Hawaii along with all the other beautiful Mrs. Globe(s) from all across the world. We did a lot of catching up about WIN Foundation, poker, and each other's hometowns. The evening started with cocktails at the Heart Bar and after a few hours, all the ladies headed over to the Tao Nightclub to get their groove going. And let me tell ya… they ALL can dance! I didn't stay out too late, though, because Friday was the first day of the WSOP. I played in the first event - $5000 Mixed Hold'em (limit and no limit). I started out slow but started catching cards in the middle of the day. Just before the dinner break, I was the chip leader, and I went to dinner in the top three of the whole field. I was feeling good! After dinner, I lost my good run of cards, and by the time midnight rolled around, I had taken some bad beats and lost many of my chips. I finished Day 1 at with 11,500 in chips. Boo! When I came back for Day 2, I knew that I had to make a move very soon. I went for it with my A-7 but ran into an opponent's pocket A's. I was out very early on Day 2. Boo! I ended up sticking around the Rio and doing a bunch of interviews, seeing friends, and planning which WSOP events I'm going to play. Right now, I'm planning to play in most of the limit and no limit hold'em events. Wish me luck! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070517.html I know that my blogs haven't been too regular over the past few months, and for all of you who check in regularly, I'm sorry that I haven't been doing regular updates. Things have been crazy for me this year with both my business and personal life. I can't get into too much detail - It would for sure take days! But I can say that with a lot of travel, the move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, the tournaments and cash games, and tons of business - a lot of it I take care of myself - I've been swamped. In the past month or so, I haven't even been hitting the cash games in Vegas because of my hectic schedule. Between the tournaments in London and everything else, I've been busy. But I've come to the decision that it's a good thing for me to take a break sometimes. And I'm doing a little of that right now. I'm taking this month before the WSOP to wrap up some business deals, get my new condo in order, and try to find a little time to just relax before the craziness of the WSOP begins. I do have a few good things in the works that I will talk about as soon as the deals are done. But right now I want to mention that I've signed on to play in the Ladbrokes Poker Millions in London. I'm really enjoying these recent trips to London, and I'm looking forward to going back, especially for another Ladbrokes tournament. Also, the new issue of Maxim Total Poker, the July issue, is out, and I'm so excited to be on the cover! This magazine accompanies Maxim distributed in Europe. It's only about poker, so there are no racy pics in it - Sorry! But take a look if you get the chance! For now, I'm off to Los Angeles for a one-day business meeting, then back to Vegas. I'm hoping I'll could make it back on time to play in the main event at The Mirage. So much for relaxing, huh? There are still a little more than two weeks left before the WSOP, so I can still try! Take care, everybody! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070501.html I'm off to London today to play in the PartyPoker World Open tournament. There will be 72 players and a prize pool of over $500,000 - the winner should get at least $200,000. My particular heat starts on May 3, and if I win, I go on to play in the semi-finals later that day. Hopefully, I'll be there late into the evening at the final table! Matchroom Sport will be filming the event for television, and I'm looking foward to be participating in another Matchroom/PartyPoker event. After that, I'll be hanging around in London to play the Ladbrokes Ladies Championship Tournament from May 4-6. They are expecting a great turnout, and I'm excited to play! I then come back to Vegas on May 7 to rest up, possibly play in the Mirage Poker Showdown and Mandalay Bay WPT events, then go for that bracelet (maybe more than one!) at the WSOP. I guess it's obvious by now that I didn't win the WPT Championship at Bellagio last week - hee hee. Well, it's not that funny, really. My last blog described Day 1 where I just couldn't catch any cards. Day 2 was the same - grinding all day, staying around average in chips. I didn't have any bad beats but no great cards either. At one point, I made it up to over 100k but lost a hand at the end of the night that put me back down to 75,500. Frustrating, but I was still in. Going into Day 3 with below-average chips wasn't ideal, and the first hand was not a good sign of how the day would go. I was two to the button and looked down at Q-10 of hearts, so I made a raise to 9,000. The button (solid player) called. The flop was K-rag-rag with no hearts. I checked, he bet 23,000, and I had to muck it. With no more playable cards, I was blinded down to about 50k, and the small blind kept trying to steal my big blinds from me by raising to 9k every time. Finally, I took a stand with Q-9 of hearts and raised to 34k. The small blind called. The flop came J-rag-rag, and we both checked. The turn was an Ace, he checked, I moved all in to take the pot, and he called with A-10 offsuit. Bye-bye, WPT Championship! Argh. I must admit I played the hand quite poorly as some of you might be wondering why I didn't just move all in on the flop. Either way whether I moved all in on the flop or the turn, I was getting called down no matter what cause my opponent was already pot committed and I only had about 20k left. I'm hoping to do better in London, especially since I played some really good poker in the last Poker League Premiere event there. Maybe it's because all of the craziness of Vegas and the regular casino scene is across the ocean, and I can simply concentrate on poker. Whatever the reason, I hope I can report some great results from these tournaments. And on a side note, I just recently did a VO session and scanning for Activision for their new video game that's coming out this year - the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. I hope the image on the game looks like me this time! I'll have to borrow someone's video game system to find out - jk.. :) Anyway, life has been quite hectic these past few weeks, and I still have to pack before my flight to London. Wish me luck with packing and poker! Take care, everyone! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070423.html I've been in Vegas for about a month, and the WPT World Championship started on Saturday. It's a $25,000 buy-in event, but I won a satellite the week before to get in for $2500. Now that's the way to enter a big buy-in tournament! Anyway, there were two first days, and I played on Day 1A on Saturday. There were lots of huge names in the field - Phil Ivey, Jamie Gold, Phil Hellmuth, Hoyt Corkins, Harry Demetriou, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, and the list just goes on and on. Everyone started with 50,000 in chips, so it was a nice slow day of play but not without its ups and downs for me. I had some low points, like when my set was run down because I slow-played it. But I had some good points, too. My chip stack varied from 28,000 to 58,000 during the day. I have to mention that I made the best laydown of this tournament in one hand, and it was sick, but it had to be done. I had pocket A's. (That already tells you how sick it was.) The blinds were 100-200, and the player under the gun limped in for 200. I raised to 700, and he smooth called. The flop came 9-9-2, my opponent checked, I bet 2500, then he reraised me 3500 more! I thought for a minute and raised another 12,000, but without any consideration, he moved all-in. Huh? I took a few minutes to think what hands he could possibly have to call my raise and hit that flop. I put him on either A-9 or pocket deuces. I laid down my A's, and he told me that it was a good laydown, showing me the 2-2. Wow. I lost some about 19K on that pot but could've been sent to the rail if I called that all-in, so I saved my tournament life there. Later in the tournament, during the last level of play for the day, I looked down at pocket J's. A player with a sizable chip stack made it 1800 to go, I only called instead on raising because of my position and there were still 5 players behind me that haven't acted, then two other solid players called the 1800 raise as well. The flop came 6 K 5 (rainbow). Everyone checked the flop, the turn came a "8" , the original raiser bet out 5K, now I know he doesn't have a "K" in his hand due to the fact that three solid players called his 1800 raise so it's very unlikely that he'd wanna slow play his hand if he were to have a "K". I then made a raise to 10K and the two players behind me mucked and the orginally better called my raise. River comes an "A". We both checked. My opponent turns over 6 7.. giving him a pair of sixes. I take down the pot with my JJ's I finished the day with 42,750 in chips, and Day 2 starts today at noon. Wish me luck and some good cards! After the first day of the event, since we all had the day off yesterday for Day 1B to play, a group of us went to the karaoke bar at Imperial Palace. It's a little cheesy but so much fun! Among the gathering were Lisa Cripe, Jennifer Newell, Jon Friedberg, Heather, Jay, Joy, Ships, Tiffany, Hollywood Dave, Miri, Lara, Tom, Ryan, Mariealena. I didn't sing but some of my friends did. I also want to mention that WIN, the organization with which I'm now involved and listing as one of my main charities, has sent out a press release from Mrs. Globe announcing my affiliation with them http://www.mrsglobe.com/media_globalupdate.htm. They are such a great group of women, and I received some really nice notes on their forum. I've also gotten some kind messages on MySpace. Thank you everyone for the kind words and support! Cheers! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070415.html I'm very excited about recently becoming involved with WIN Foundation, and I want to tell you a little about it. Most of my charitable contributions will now be going to WIN and organizations that help the poor in Vietnam – those are my two main focuses right now. WIN stands for Women In Need and is a non-profit foundation that helps empower women. They offer classes, programs, and seminars on various topics like recovering from abuse, boosting self-esteem, and something they call Destiny Management, which helps women create their dreams and learn how to fulfill them. Dr. Tracy Kemble started the organization in 1996, and they offer help to women worldwide. Here are some of the goals of WIN: -- They are committed to the emotional health, personal self-esteem, and empowerment of all women. -- They are ommitted to those who find themselves debilitated from past or current pains of abuse and to those who desire to create a life of purpose. -- Believing that abuse is not a disease but a learned behavior, they are committed to educating, inspiring, preventing, and empowering both men and women through high quality counseling programs, conferences, educational messages, fundraisers, and outreach programs. The goal is to offer repair, restoration, and prevention services. -- They believe that by healing women, the family is also healed and the final destination to healing is love and passion of life's purpose. I first heard about the charity from my friend LynnPhuong Frazier- former Miss Virginia Globe 2006, and when I started looking into it, I realized that it is something I want to contribute to and help in any way I can. I know what it's like to go through incredibly tough times and have to basically start life over. This is an organization that helps women do that, and I couldn't be prouder to endorse them. What they do is close to my heart, and after some long conversations with them, I know that this is something I wanted and needed to be involved in. One of my first events with WIN will be the 2007 Mrs. Globe contest, which is an annual fundraiser for the foundation, and I'll be one of the celebrity judges at the event. As other events are announced, I will announce and promote them, and I'm working closely with WIN to learn what other things I can do to help. The first thing I'm going to ask everyone to do is visit their website, http://www.womeninspiration.net – whether you need help, want to help, or just get more familiar with the organization. Thanks for everyone's support, and I really hope to do great things with WIN! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070413.html Sorry that I haven't blogged in a while, but my schedule has been crazy! Late last week, I returned from a trip to Paris and headed straight for Vegas. I haven't had a minute to do much writing over the last few weeks! I was in Vegas this past weekend to participate in the Vegas Grand Prix, which was a huge event that featured a race (obviously) and a charity poker tournament that I was invited to play in. The whole weekend was so much fun! The poker tournament started with a red carpet entrance at Binions, and I was interviewed by several people, including the guy from RawVegas TV. (See attached video) There were lots of TV and movie stars there, as well as poker pros and anyone who bought in to the tournament for $2500. Obviously, there was a prize pool but most of the proceeds went to the Vegas Grand Prix charities via the Jenyon Foundation, Inc. As far as the tournament went, I started out pretty well. The first table was a lot of fun with Hoyt Corkins, Johnny Chan, Mimi Rogers, and Danger Ehren..the actor from Jackass. Then, after the first break, I was moved to the featured table. On my first hand, I picked up A-10 offsuit under the gun. I limped in and got four callers behind me. The flop came Ac10d4c, and I checked so that I could check-raise. A guy in middle position bet out 500, Kenna James raised it to 3000, and I pushed all-in for 4950. Kenna called since he was already committed to the pot, and he showed J-5 of clubs – the club draw that I suspected! The turn was a 9c, and the river was another club. He made his flush, and I was out of the tournament. Overall, the event was run really well, and I had a great time! I got to spend some time with good people and play poker for a good cause. Other than that, I just had two more magazine covers and articles come out – WPT Poker Magazine and Poker Player Magazine. I'm also working with the people who are doing my website, and I'm trying to make sure it gets finished very soon. With all of that, along with business meetings, trying to decorate my new condo in Vegas, and playing poker, I'm hoping to find a few days to relax soon before the World Series starts! Today, I'm heading over to Bellagio for the Five Star World Poker Classic $2500 event. It seems that I'll be sticking around in Vegas through April, playing in some of the events leading up to the big WPT Championship that starts on April 21st. I hope to have some good results to report very soon! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070320.html Well, I'm finally back from San Jose, and it was an interesting trip that developed into more than just a poker tournament! I started out by playing in the WPT Shooting Stars tournament as a bounty player, which means that I'm one of the featured players, but I have a bounty on me. Anyone who knocks me out of the tournament gets $5000 and a t-shirt with my picture on it that I sign for them. But if I knock out another pro, I can get a bounty, too! Bay 101 is awesome because of the tournament and how great they treat the players, but also because of the fans. As soon as I arrived at the casino, there were around 50+ people coming at me for autographs and photos! It was crazy! I stopped and tried to grant everyone's requests, and it took me almost a half hour to get through the crowd and into the casino. I was quite flattered that so many people were excited to see me! I started the tournament with an awesome hand in the first hour. My opponent, Ernie, moved all in after a flop of J-J-8. I called because I was holding J-10 and had flopped trips. He showed his club draw. Guess what came on the river… Another Jack to give me quads! What a way to start the day! A few hours later, I was sitting on a decent stack, and David "Dragon" Pham moved all-in preflop with pocket J's, and I called with A-10. The board came Q-9-7-A-4, and David was out. The kicker was that he was a bounty player, so I got $5000 for the elimination, and David had to sign his shirt for me that said, "I knocked out David "Dragon" Pham. Later, I found out that the WPT Live Updates team reported it as, "Dragon Slayed By The Diva." Hee hee! My solid stacks of chips soon went away slowly, and I was down to $16,000. On the board was 10(h) 9(h) 4(s) A(c), and I moved all-in with K-J – I had a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. My opponent called with A-K for top pair, and the river was a crappy 2 of another suit. Boo! After a day of some great plays, I was gone. Again, let me say BOO! I was ready to catch the first flight out the next day, but onef San Jose's nightclub promoter called me and asked if I'd be interested in doing a special appearance at a local club called Vivid on Thursday night. Once we ironed out the details, the club started sending out flyers with my picture on it – quite cool. I stuck around all week, just spending some quality time with my girlfriends and doing media interviews back at Bay 101. Then, on Thursday night, my friends and I headed over to Vivid, which ended up being a great time! The crowd was awesome, and I did a mini photo shoot. Thanks to Thai, Hailey, Ann, Huyen, and the rest of the crew for a fun night! Now I'm back home in L.A. and back to work – at home and at the poker tables at Commerce Casino. And I have good news about 2 tournaments in May. I've been invited to play as a guest in both PartyPoker.net World Open III and Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship in London! I'm really looking forward to playing in these two televised events, as I have great respect for the folks at PartyGaming and Ladbrokes and can't wait to return to London for more poker with the Brits. J For now, I'm trying to enjoy being at home for a week and deciding if I want to go to Reno for the next WPT event. I have several travel opportunities at the end of this month, so I have to make some decisions… I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll blog more soon. Take care! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070308.html I had a fabulous time in England! As you know from my last blog, I was there playing the Party Poker Premiere League at Maidstone Studios, and I won 6 points on Day 1... Day 2 was a little different. In the key hand of the day, Tony G was to my right and made a raise to about 12k. I picked up AK(h), so I raised to 35k, and Andy Black to my left moved all in. Tony mucked, and I was pot-committed so I called. Andy showed pocket Q's, I got no help from the board, and I was out in 5th place for 1 point. I had a total of 7 points so far. Day 3 was rough because a little incident happened before the tournament that distracted me, and I was off my game. I didn't play well and was the first one eliminated. No points. Boo! Day 4 was different in several ways. For one thing, the interviewer on the previous day had commented that I wore white on the first three days in a row, so I came in on Day 4 in all black. I don't know if that helped or not, but things went well! I'll tell you about a key hand first because it was the best call I made in the whole series. I was up against Roland de Wolfe, who is a great player but ran bad during this series. He was to my left and made a medium raise; I was in the BB with 2-3 of hearts, so I called. The flop came J-3-blank, I checked with my bottom pair, he bet, and I called. The turn was a 7, and we both checked. The river was an Ace of spades, I checked, he bet 16.5k, and I took quite a long time to think about this one, using up almost all my clock time. I put him on a KQ hand . I finally went with my initial read and made the call, and he turned over K-10 for King high, and my pair of 3's won the hand. My instincts were right on that day, and I went on to play heads-up against Kiril Gerasimov. Even though he was a 2-1 chip leader coming into heads-up play, I came back and won the match. That was 8 more points for a total of 15. Day 5 was up and down for me, but I made some key laydowns that stick out in my mind. In one hand, Andy Black was in the SB, Kenna James was in the BB, and I limped in with Q-10. The flop came 10-4-Q, and we all checked. I was last to act and purposely checked the flop to slow play the hand since I did flop top two. The turn was a K, Andy bet 12k, and Kenna moved all in. Once again I took all of my clock time to think, and I felt really confident that Kenna had it, so I finally laid my hand down. I was playing the players during this whole day, and I felt that I read him well. When I was knocked out in 4th place, I went into the green room, and immediately asked about my Q-10 laydown. Kirill and Juha both told me I made a great laydown, Kenna had flopped a set of 4's! Whew!! Even so, I made 2 points that day, putting me up to 17. Day 6 was going to be a challenge. Most players had to get points that day to end up in the playoffs, so it was very intense! In the first match, I got heads-up with Eddy Scharf and came in 2nd place in that heat, picking up 6 points for a total of 23. I was 4th in the rankings going into the finals. Juha Helppi had to make 1st or 2nd in his heat and made it to 2nd, and with his points, I was knocked down to 5th in the rankings. I was going to have to play a heads-up playoff game the following day. Day 7 was interesting because two women made it to the playoffs. I was up against Kenna James, and Vicky Coren was playing Andy Black. The structure was set up for the best 3 out of 5. I lost my first match to Kenna in 6 hands, but I won the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th matches in a row to put me in the finals with 230k. Vicky also went to the finals, so the table consisted of Ian Fraser, Phil Hellmuth, Vicky Coren, Juha Helppi, Eddy Scharf, and me. It lasted about eight hours with everybody starting out playing very tight. The first one out was Ian, then Vicky, and then me! Juha went on to win the final table, and it was also his 30th birthday. Congratulations, Juha! Everybody celebrated that night, then we went to London the next morning to play in a 24-hour live filmed cash game. I was so exhausted that I didn't play except for the last 3 hours. You could read all the updates here.. http://uk.pokernews.com/live-reporting/party-poker-premier-league/no-limit-holdem/blog/ through the eyes of Nicky O'Donnell, who did a fantastic job blogging this entire event. http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070227.html I'm finally in London! I arrived here on the 25th of Feb at about 3:50pm. The London airport was like a zoo. It took me about an hour to get through customs and get my luggages. My agent Stephen Pearson was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and drive me down to Maidstone, Kent where this $20,000 Buy-in Party Poker Premiere League Poker is being filmed. After arriving at my hotel, I attended a press meeting and media kick-off to the event. After chatting with everyone for awhile I decided to call it an early night so I could get some rest and be prepared for tomorrow's match. I was on the scheduled to play my first match with Tony G, Phil Hellmuth, Andy Black, Kirill G., and The Devilfish.. what a line-up eh?!?. From tomorrow on you will be able to track all the action live on the net at www.PokerNews.com As for today's action there is not an Internet connection set up so here's how the first heat was played out..... There was a lot of table chatter and psychological warfare before even the first card was dealt. A lot of good material was left on the greenroom floor when The DevilFish had a go at just about everybody. Telling Kenna why don't I go back to Brokeback Mountain. And something to Andy Black about wearing a sheet (Andy was a monk for 5 years). Let me just say.. there was definitely ALOT of trash talking going on! Anyway, when the competition began the DevilFish continued to mix it up in almost every pot. I caught a number of consecutive great starting hands and during the second level I happened to get tangled in a heads-up pot with DevilFish when he was in the big blind. I picked up A(s)Q(c) I made a medium size raise, everyone mucked except for DevilFish. The flop came A K 6 (all diamonds) the turn comes a 7(c). DevilFish tried to bully me around, by check-raising me all-in on the turn, DevilFish gave just a little too much info away on the hand by making a comment to me "You must have KQ with the Q of diamonds huh?" that comment was enough for me to call his all-in raise. DevilFish turns over A4 (off.. no diamond redraw) and he was crippled and never quite recovered. There was a lot of back and forth early but mostly forth to my stack which continued in a an upward direction all night as I amassed 400,000 of the 600,000 chips in play. Tony G was first out, then it was the DevilFish in 5th, Kirill in 4th with an untimely move in with AQ(c) vs. my AK(h). Andy Black held on for a long time after a real bad beat but ended up getting caught on an all-in move against me with QJ. I made the call, which was about a third of my stack with KQ which held up and found myself heads up with Hellmuth with a 480 to 120 chip lead. About 12 hands into the heads-up match with Phil.. I picked up QQ's on the button, I raised it 40k then Phil moves all-in for about 84k more. I immediately called! Phil turns over KJ(off) against my QQ's.. The flop comes.. J J K, turns a blank, rivers a blank. Phil doubles up... What a flop eh?!?!? I lost about 5 consecutive hands to Phil after that. I made one mistake during my heads-up play with Phil, I picked up KJ(c) on the button, I decided to smooth call instead of raise, Phil checks the big blind. The flop comes Q 9 8.. Phil checks, I bet out 28k, Phil calls my 28k and raised another 40k.. which leaves Phil with about 100k left in chips. I made a bad read and decided to move all-in. Phil calls my all-in and turned over QJ(off) the turn comes a 7(c) which gave me more outs.. any clubs, K, or 10 on the river would end the match, but unfortunately the river came a A(s) and Phil doubles up again which leaves me now short stacked with about 150k in chips. A few hands were played back and forth a few times but I think the hand that broke my spirit was when Phil moved all-in with 44's and I called with KQ(d). The flop fell T/8/8. The turn was a 10 and of course the river had to come an 8. Instead of doubling up.. It had to end in a chopped pot! Phil ended up winning the match, winning $8,000 and more importantly the 8 points that's included with winning the heat. I received $6,000 and 6 points. Andy 3, Kirill 2, DevilFish 1, and Tony G no points. I start my second match again today at 11am.. I'll keep you updated! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070218.html First, I want to let everyone know that my new website has been launched! I'm still working with my new webmaster to add more information and features to the site, but the main part of it is alive and kicking. I arrived in Vegas a few days ago for the Hoopology event and to take care of some personal business. One of the great things about this trip was that my agent, Stephen Pearson, came to Vegas to meet me here (from London) and accompany me to the Hoopology festivities. Though we've been working together for about two months, this was the first time I had the chance to spend time in person with him. We've really built a great friendship, and these past few days showed that even though he's very professional most of the time, he is also generous, funny, and a fun person to be around. The Hoopology event was a great time. The poker tournament at the Hard Rock was fun, and I was put at one of the featured tables with people like Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson, Gus Hansen, and Patrik Antonius. It was a great table, until the Great Dane himself busted me from the tournament! His K-6 (off) won over my A-7 (clubs) when he hit a pair. Anyway, I was glad to be invited to the charity event because Trent Tucker does great things with the money he raises, and he knows how to host a great party! I've spent a lot of time in Vegas this week in meetings and taking care of business, including arranging my furniture to be moved from Colorado to my new condo. But I've found some time to hang out with friends, too. On Friday night, I reserved a VIP section at Pure Nightclub at Caesars, which is somewhere that I love to go when I'm in Vegas. I invited about 15 people to come with me, like Stephen, Nick Geber, Jill, Lisa, Joy, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Cantu, Jimmy, and five of my friends from Colorado, including Matt who I've known for 15 years. (Happy Birthday, Matt!) There was an article written on Vegas Pop that talked about that night at Pure – you can check it out at http://www.vegaspopular.com/category/celebrity. Once my furniture gets delivered on Tuesday, I'm going to head back to L.A. on Wednesday (hopefully), then play in the $1000 no-limit hold'em event at the L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce on Thursday. I really wanted to play in more events, but I've been swamped with business and other commitments. I won't be able to play in the LAPC main event or the WPT Invitational, but I'll be on a plane on February 24th to London! I'm going to play in the PartyPoker.com Premiere League Poker tournament – a party on the 25th and the first round starting on the 26th. It's a $20,000 buy-in, and with $260,000 added to the prize pool by PartyPoker, the winner will take home $500,000! It will be filmed and air on Channel 4 in the U.K., and I'm going to be playing against players like Phil Hellmuth, Devilfish Ulliott, Tony G, Roland de Wolfe, Kenna James, Andy Black, Kiril Gerasimov, Ian Frazer,Eddy Scharf,Juha Helpi, and VickiCoren – 12 pro players in all. There are six qualifying rounds that will lead to heads-up matches after that. It's going to be a great tournament, and I'm excited to be playing! In response to people who've been asking if they can watch the tournament, I've received word that there will be an audience area. The tournament will be played and televised at Maidstone Film Studios, Vinters Park, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 5 NZ. If you are able to come by, please say hi! So, that's my schedule for the coming weeks. I'm very much looking forward to the LAPC event and the London trip. Even though it will be a hectic few weeks, I'm really feeling good about everything that is going on and the events that I'm participating in. I'll keep you updated! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070207.html Didn't I say that this was looking to be a good year? :) When I rounded out 2006 with the Bellagio Five Diamond tournaments and didn't cash, I took some time off from the tournament circuit to focus on family and business. I partnered with my fabulous agent, Stephen, and felt that some great things were in the works for 2007. Those things are still in the negotiation process, and I hope to have some other announcements soon. As for poker, since I've been in L.A. since the holidays, I did spend some time playing cash games at Commerce. I had some good sessions and not-so-good sessions, then the LA Poker Classic came to town. I intended to play some of the events and finally decided on the $1000 No Limit Hold'em tournament earlier this week. On Tuesday evening, I went back as I was one of the final 36 players left in the tournament, and we ended up playing all night. The field was very tough, not many well-known pros but most were very experienced, solid players. The event finally ended at 6:30am on Wednesday, we were all exhausted, and I took home the championship trophy and prize money!!! Woo-hoo!!! I've been playing tournaments for a few years now, and though I did win a Limit Hold'em event at the 2006 LA Poker Classic, I had been working really hard and improving my game in the hopes of winning another event. This win was good for me in so many ways and came at a really great time for me. As I've done in the past and will continue to do, 20% of my prize money will be donated to my charities, and I can't tell you how happy I am to do this. I devote whatever time I can to charities, but I know that money is necessary for these organizations to do their research and really help people. Being able to keep my promise to donate a percentage of my winnings is an awesome feeling! I just want to say that I appreciate all of the support from friends, family, and people who understand that poker is a tough game, and most people can't win all the time. So, I love that people support me when my name isn't in first place on the tournament results, and it's nice to get the congratulations messages when my name is there. Thanks for supporting me through everything, and I truly believe that there will be more "firsts" this year! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070126.html I have such great things in the works right now, and I'm feeling more positive than I have in a long time. It's good to feel this way! Do you ever feel sometimes that you've worked so hard for so long with few results, and you just feel like things are never going to get better? That's how I was feeling for awhile! And when things started to turn around over the past month, I almost couldn't believe it! It takes some time to realize that it's okay to feel good and positive, and that things are really looking up. First of all, I did close on my Vegas condo at Panorama Towers, and I can start moving in any day now. I do have to figure out if I'm going to Colorado to oversee the move of my furniture, which I think might be a good idea, as I'm afraid of it getting damaged. I'm quite excited to have four magazine covers coming out in the coming months! I'm going to be on the cover of Woman Poker Player, Total Poker, Pro Poker, and Flush. Wow, huh? I'm very flattered and anxious to see the covers and the articles. Second, I've signed a deal with an international sports agent, Stephen Pearson, to handle my PR and endorsement deals. He is located in London, but we communicate a lot by e-mail and telephone, and things are already moving along very quickly. He has amazing vision for my career, going outside of the poker world and treating poker like the international sport that it is becoming. Our goals are the same, and it's awesome to be working with someone who thinks along the same lines as me. I wish I could mention some of the things that we're working on, but as soon as contracts are signed, I'll be posting the news here first. Stay tuned! On another note, I'm a little concerned about this NETeller news that some former executives from the company have been arrested and charged with money laundering conspiracy. What?! This is getting crazy! All we want to do is play poker, right? Why does the government have to try to take that away from us? I don't understand! I hope to talk with some friends and understand more about what is going on with NETeller, but for now, they've decided not to accept deposits from U.S. customers. It's truly ridiculous that these people have been arrested, but I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. Maybe poker will suck out on the river and send the U.S. government out of the game! Hee hee! Well, I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know what's going on in my life. Take care, and I'll talk to you again soon! http://www.lizlieu.net/journal/20070110.html I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a fun New Year's Eve! And I hope that your 2007 is filled with happiness, health, and everything you wish for. In my absence from my blogs, I've been busy! Some good things, some not so good, but everything is finally starting to work out. Most importantly, I got to spend some time at home in L.A. with my mom, and I was very happy about that. She's feeling better since her recent surgery, and it was nice to be with her during the holidays. I also had a great New Year's Eve in Arizona at a lovely event with some friends. Thanks to Dale for inviting me, and I look forward to great things down the road! Just this past friday I also had a friendly gathering with a bunch of my friends which included Jennifer, Tiffany, Joy, Gloria, and Jeff Madsen. We all met up at The Cabana Club in Hollywood. And boy let me tell ya, I had a BLAST!!! Thanks guys for making it such an awesome night. Part of my time over the past few weeks has been taken up by preparing all the documents needed to close on my new condo in Vegas. Even though it's been a long wait (longer than I thought it would be), it was worth the wait and I finally signed all the paperwork on Jan 8th. I'm about to take a trip to Colorado so I could get my custom-made Italian furniture out of storage because I've been waiting to get my new place before I had it shipped. I can't wait to actually use it! At the same time, I'm looking for a new place in L.A., maybe a house where my mom could live and I could use when I'm in town. I still have to work out the details on that situation, though. Needless to say, this is quite the time-consuming project! Also, as some of you may know, my sponsorship with Martins Poker has ended. I am in the middle of negotiating with several other poker sites, and I hope to have an announcement about that very soon. I also ended my contract with my PR company but am building a great relationship with a international sports agent who has incredible things in the works for me. Both of these transitions have been very tough, as friendships and business relationships are always sensitive to personal feelings, but I already feel that a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and good things are getting ready to happen. Everything happens for a reason, right? I wish I could say more, but I will as soon as I can! I'll be keeping busy during the rest of January with lots of business deals, my Vegas condo and L.A. home, and doing scheduled interviews and things like that. But I will try to post blogs more often, I promise! It's just a time of change for me, and I'm trying to make 2007 the best year ever! I hope it is the same for all of you!