Liz Lieu – The Poker Diva
Feb 17, 2012 PokerStars Women Poker Players
Liz Lieu, “The poker diva” is known for her gorgeous beauty, pretty face and a great sense of fashion style. She is notably a fierce competitor with right strategy at the tables in her Poker game.
Liz lieu was born in Ho Chi Minh City to parents who were from China and Vietnam. Their family later moved to the United States and settled in Colorado. She and her sister Tanya were educated well about the cultural identity and a strong sense of heritage of Vietnamese. They preferred native language while communicating at home.
At the age of 18, she and her friend started playing in local poker rooms and later opened her own pai gow home game in their local town in Colorado. Unfortunately, when her father suffered heart attack, she decided to end up with her business venture and asked her parents to quit the job. Since they followed her happily, she started playing poker for a living as she wanted to provide her parents comfort of old aged-life.
At 13, Liz had a belief of an instant connection to the game and she knew that poker was her life, so she finally moved to Las Vegas to play professionally. Liz started in L.A. and cash games in Vegas, and built on her already-sizable bankroll. Finally, she moved to Sin City and quickly settled there and regularly played in the $80/$160 Limit Hold’em cash games.
Although, having been blessed with an immense amount of natural talent and a lot of achievements, she believes that poker is all about competition and outwitting opponents that makes her keep her feet grounded.
In 2005, when long time friend John Phan recommended her to play in the $1.5K no limit holdem event at the World Series of Poker, she ended up earning $168k in her first live tournament finishing fifth-place. In the same year, she cashed in at three consecutive WSOP events.
Throughout 2006 with her several cashes and her first win in the 2006 LA Poker Classic $1K limit hold ‘em. Where she took the trophy home and donated 20 percent of her winnings to charity as she adopted a policy of donating 20 percent of her tournament earnings to charity through nonprofit organizations she started working with since 2005.
In 2006, she was honored by the WSOP and ESPN as a Final Table Grand Marshall along with Johnny Chan. In an introduction by poker player and writer Nolan Dalla, referred her as the next woman who was likely to win a WSOP bracelet. A few months later, she finished fourth in a $2.5K No Limit Hold’em at the Bellagio Fiesta Al Lago for $24K and followed it up with a fifth place finish at the $5000 World Poker Finals for $53K.
In her first tournament victory, in the year 2007, she won a $1K L.A. Poker Classic event for $148K. She all together cashed thirteen times and has an impressive $650K in live tournament earnings.
She has also dangled the tours like EPT, WPT and APPT events, and has a lot to boast about.
In 2009, she represented ChiliPoker events and in the WSOPE finished in 33rd place and was the last woman standing in the competition.
In the same year, she also appeared in Hong Kong movie Poker King as herself. She has also been featured on the cover of such publications as Deal, American Poker Player, Maxim’s Total Poker, Woman Poker Player, World Poker Tour, Flush, and Pro Poker Europe.
As of 2010, Lieu made over $825,000 in live tournament play all together.
In 2011, Liz was awarded with Maven awards’ Humanitarian award, which has been received by just one woman in poker industry who has always been inspiration to other poker players for her charity work.
Liz currently shares her time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. She now supports her mother in residing and when she’s not playing poker she enjoys dancing, shopping and she does spend her time with family and friends.
Although, her poker results have not been so outstanding, but hopefully, she will make more money this way in the long run. In her whole life, she learnt to keep up with the ups and downs, and she made it quite well.
