Since my last blog post, I’ve been crazy busy with travels and meetings. Someone asked me yesterday where I was at the moment, and I actually had to think about it for a minute! I can never seem to stay in one place too long, but the L.A. Poker Classic will change that soon enough.
The plan is to be in Los Angeles by Wednesday to start playing the tournaments at Commerce. Besides my work schedule, I’ve been waiting for the higher limit buy-in events to begin. I hope to start playing later this week in some preliminary events, then of course play in the WPT Celebrity Invitational and the LAPC Main Event. I usually stay in L.A. longer and play the cash games, but I’m very focused on tournaments right now, and the opportunities at LAPC are too great to pass up. So look for me at either the final tables or the high stakes cash games this year!
The past month was so busy that I unfortunately had to miss the Chilipoker Deepstack Open Dublin 2010 ME, but I will be heading back across the ocean during the second week of March for a fantastic 2 days televised cash game event in France, sponsored by Chilipoker. Any pros interested in playing a 25/50 NL game with 10k min buy-in then give me a shout.
Congratulations to Frederic Brunet on his excellent performance, becoming this years champion in the Chilipoker Deepstack Open Dublin 2010 ME.
Among one thing that came through in the last month for me was the cover story for the February issue of Baller Magazine. I’m pleased with the cover photo, and in the article I was able to discuss my life in poker and my dedication to charity.
As my schedule settles down a bit and I focus on the LAPC, I plan to blog more often and let everyone know what’s going on in my life. 2010 still looks to be a great year, and I’d love for you all to be able to share it with me.
My first blog of 2010!! And I just returned to the United States from the PCA in the Bahamas; the first big tournament of 2010. Let me start off by saying I have a very good feeling for 2010, professionally and personally. I have a premonition this is going to be a very big year for Liz Lieu.
(photo courtesy of Pokerlistings)(photo courtesy of Pokernews)
I have mixed feelings about the 53rd place finish in the Bahamas. In many ways it was a good start to the year. I absolutely played my very best. I couldn’t have played any better in the PCA. I am a little disappointed in the result, but oh well .. that’s the way it goes. You win some, you lose some! Made it to Day 4. Had an opportunity for a big double up on Day 4. I was on the BB with pocket Queens Richard Toth opens for 45k UTG, action gets around to me, I raised another 75k, Toth thinks for a minute then moves all-in, I call. Toth flips over A-K(off). The flop comes 4h 6h 5d. Turn snaps an “ACE”. and river’s 4d. And out I go! Knocked out in 53rd place for $45,000.
(photo courtesy of Pokerlistings)(photo courtesy of Pokerstars)
On the positive side, I played extremely well. If I won that coin flip, I would of had plenty of chips to push around and make moves with for the rest of the tournament and who knows? The other positive, is that my tournament results have been very consistent, playing three consecutive main events and making it to Day 4 in all three tournaments. I keep going deep in these big tournaments so I know it’s just a matter of time!
(photo courtesy of Pokerstars)
Well the PCA is in the past. 2010 is all about keeping everything in front of me and focusing on the present and future. So, I have a couple of things to report that are coming down the pipeline. In February, yours truly will be gracing the cover of Baller Magazine. So keep an eye out for their February issue coming out soon.
And in the past week, my Sponsor Chilipoker has signed another big exclusive partnership deal with premium Irish Broadcaster, Setanta Sports. The joint venture between Chilipoker and Setanta Sports will operate Setanta.com and Chilipoker.com in Ireland. It will open up a market place of 600,000+ homes in a poker mature market place. Chilipoker in partnership with Setanta has plans to set up poker events and poker shows.
In other good news, I have a glamour shoot coming up on the 15th. I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas theme photo shoot in early December. I really enjoyed that one and this photo shoot will be a little more elegant and glamorous. Stay tuned for some behind the scene shots of my upcoming shoot :).
And lastly, I recently heard a very sad news. One of my good friends, Amir Vahedi, passed away of complications from his diabetes on Jan 8th. I want to say Amir is one of the true gentlemen in the game of poker. He was probably the first genuinely good person I met in the poker world. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about Amir. He was always in good spirits and was always there to be supportive. It’s with great sadness that I say farewell to Amir. He was a very good friend to me and will be dearly missed. Rest In Peace Amir!
The holidays have always been a time of reflection for me, a time to look back on what has been and look forward to what may be. This is a special time as we end this first decade of the 21st Century. I’d like to end this present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright new year with this video from my most recent charity journey.
There are many similarities between this year and this decade for me. I started the decade playing my cash games, first in Las Vegas and then eventually in LA. I learned my game playing LHE, long before No-Limit became the game of choice in poker rooms. I moved into tournament play halfway through the decade in 2005, making my first WSOP final table with Allen Cunningham, CK Hua, Devilfish Ulliott, Scott Fischman, and An Tran. I’ve done well since then, making other final tables around the world and taking down a tournament here and there.
As many of you know, the decade also brought personal loss and struggles for me. I lost my father two years ago after his battle with health problems. I’ve worked hard to honor him and persevere, but it has not been easy for me. I’m afraid as hardened as I’ve become over the years, I’m still very much Daddy’s little girl.
I’ve returned to my homeland of Vietnam throughout the decade. Each time brings me great comfort and fulfillment, but each time there also seems to dig a little hole into my heart. I’m not sure what it is. I wish sometimes I could just grind away there like I do at the poker table, but it takes more out of me than that.
This decade has also been a time where finding balance has been hard. Poker, my marketing partners, tournaments, the hardships of glamorous travel, trying to find some way to stay connected to friends. It hasn’t been easy, and it seems to get more difficult with every blurry week.
And now 2009 comes to an end, a year as difficult for most of us as any has ever been. I’ve been fortunate in many ways, but many of my friends and fans continue to face grave hardship. For those of you who don’t get to Las Vegas, you would be amazed at the many houses for sale. People who were out of work used to be looked down upon; now, it is commonplace to find friends who have been unemployed for a year or more.
Even though I’ve weathered this year fairly well, it has caused me to become more serious and more focused. I’ve always been known for my aggression at the tables, and I think it is time for all of us to become more aggressive in how we make it through 2010. That doesn’t mean being rude or obnoxious, but it does mean taking control of our situation whatever that situation may be. I also think it is a time to protect our self interest without becoming self-centered.
My plan for 2010: to spend more time at the tables in cash games, to achieve my goals for the year in poker, to do fewer things away from the table but be sure they are more meaningful, to slow down a little bit, to take care of myself, and to reach out to a few old friends. Don’t let the year get started without setting goals for yourself.
I want to also thank all of my readers and fans here on my blog, on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Chilipoker, and anywhere else you may bump into me. All of the kind words and encouragement are greatly appreciated.
New Year is the time to unfold new horizons & realize new dreams, to rediscover the strength & faith within you, to rejoice in simple pleasures & gear up for new challenges. Wishing everyone a truly fulfilling 2010!
I’ve been excited to get this adventure underway and I may have started it off like I was running a sprint when in fact it is more like a marathon… well at least a 10K (I’m talking about a run people, not a tourney, haha.) I am only half way through this trip and I am exhausted. While I might be having trouble keeping my eyes open as I write this, it is a small price to pay to be able to share a hug, a laugh, or a smile, with the people that I am helping.
It’s very fulfilling yet humbling to be back in the place that I was born, giving to those in need. Most of them are very spiritual and through their Buddhist ways they find happiness in their life in which they have few tangible things. Even though I come to Vietnam a few times a year, every trip makes me reflect on and appreciate the simple things that we all sometimes overlook or take for granted. Even though I am here to help them, they actually have helped me also by showing me how they live such simple yet full and meaningful lives.
One of the reasons this charity journey has made me look inside myself more so than any of my previous is because it is by far the toughest that I have ever done. On all of my other endeavors I was up and on the road by 6am every morning to travel to my destination and I always made it back into the city by the end of that day. Not to say that the past trips were a walk in the park but there was a little more comfort and down time.
This trip, a crew of 20 and I were 15 hours outside the city and we continued to travel deeper into the countryside each day. Once we started nearing our furthest destinations I realized that we were unfortunately going to have to cut the last portion of the trip short; the dirt roads were no longer fit for cars because they were mostly sand and full of holes since the floods came through.
I actually made it to one more destination after the roads got bad because it was only about a half hour walk from where the van had gone as far as it could go. The route we took once we left the city allowed me to make several stops along the way to visit and help a poor village in Que Son- Quang Nam , an orphanage for the blind in Thanh Binh, an orphanage for new-born children in Phu Ninh, a village in Phu Yen where the massive typhoon Ketsana occurred, and a temple in Phu Yen that also suffered severe damages from typhoon Ketsana.
(village in Que-Son, Quang Nam)
(orphanage for the blinds in Thanh Binh)
(orphanage for newborn children in Phu Ninh)
(village in Phu Yen where the massive typhoon Ketsana occurred)
(temple in Phu Yen suffers severe damage due to typhoon Ketsana)
We spent a few hours at the temple before heading back on the road back to DaNang, which took almost 9 hours of driving. By the time I made it back to my hotel, which was around 12am, I was super exhausted but couldn’t fall asleep. I finally got about one hour of sleep until I had to get up again and head over to the children’s cancer hospital, where I had chosen 30 kids that were at their last stage, and granted each one of them their last wish.
My next visit was to the elders orphanage, a place that is always on my list to visit every year. It was sad to hear that a few old ladies had passed away since the last time I was there. But I was delighted to see the rest of the other old ladies happy and in good health. I was able to feed them all a nice meal, gave them a 7 item gift bag, boxes of noodles, and 50lb bags of rice.
The orphanage for the new-born was the most touching for me but each stop was very meaningful. I was told many stories along the way and a couple of them about the abandonment of the young and the old were quite heartbreaking. It’s sad that things like this happen but it is a blessing that there are places and people like the ones that I visited that have taken them in to care for them. The whole trip has been a wonderful experience so far and I am looking forward to a little rest and stage two of this little adventure which has already taken me to Saigon and will lead me to Hanoi for the finale.
I hope everyone had a wonderful and fulfilling Thanksgiving. Now that all of the leftovers are gone and the chaos of Black Friday has passed, I imagine that most of you are getting into the Christmas spirit. I am certainly feeling the holiday cheer as you can see from my latest photo shoot for the chilipoker promotion.
This holiday season I am back in Vietnam for the fifth time this year to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate. It’s 4:30am in the city and in a couple of hours i will be on my way a remote area that I have been to and helped out before. I have arranged for supplies to arrive around the same time I do. I am excited to go back but things will be different this time due to the Typhoon Ketsana that they endured in late September that caused massive flood and wind damage to the area. It turns out that a typhoon is no different than a hurricane. According to Wikipedia: “The terms hurricane and typhoon are regionally specific names for a strong “tropical cyclone” hurricane (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E) typhoon (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)”
No matter what the storm is called or how it is classified it did severe damage to a large area that already had little and now they have even less. I am in high hopes that I can make a difference to some of the people that have never know luxury and have had what they do consider “luxuries” taken away from them by mother nature.
After my seven days in the area affected by the typhoon I will continue to try to brighten the lives of those who do not have much. As promised I am donating 20% of my winnings from the money finishes of the WSOP Europe and the BC poker championship but that is actually not enough to do all that I want to accomplish. My other plans are to visit the countryside and grant 30 kids their Christmas wishes and devote a day to the elders. I am also excited to revisit the Thien Binh Catholic Orphanage where I had my best birthday ever. Those children and elders truly are inspirational. I wrote a blog about that experience and if you have not read it yet you have some catching up to do. It was such an amazing moment in my life.
I did get some time to myself when I first arrived in Vietnam and I spent it at the temple with my dad. Even though he has made his way into the after life I cherish every moment I get to spend with him. It was a peaceful time of reflection that I really needed so I could prepare for the days to come.
“Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting.” This is a quote that I used recently on facebook but I like it and I think it is very fitting for the holidays and it should be observed year round.
I’m thankful for so many things on this American Holiday!! I wanted to share a few things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for my family and I am thankful of good friends. I am thankful for these things everyday but on this special day of thanks, I wanted to share some of those things with you.
I am thankful for the Cold Play song “Fix You.” Right now this is in heavy rotation on my IPod and I’ve been listening to it every day. It’s a beautiful song about love and what I envision in the person that I am looking for.
I am thankful for the Yiruma song “Kiss the Rain”. I also play this song several times a day. It’s by Korean pianist and for some reason it reminds me of past memories in a very beautiful way. This is another song that puts me at peace and makes me smile.
I am thankful for the book, “The Alchemist”. I feel like this book really puts me in touch with reality and inspires me to follow my dreams and listen to my heart. What I like about the book is that it teaches you to live your life well. Live every moment in the moment. Let go of anything that is an encumbrance. Follow your dreams. Have fun and enjoy everything life has to offer, but don’t forget the things that really matter. Let go of things that are not within your control. There is so much wisdom contained within the pages of this book, the most important one, is to enjoy every minute of your life. We all have goals in life, we have dreams to fulfill and successes to achieve. We need to remember to stop once in a while, and smell each rose and count each star in the sky. It is not the destination, but the journey, that counts. There is something to be learnt in everything. It’s definitely worth reading!!
I am thankful for my Mercedes SL550. I absolutely love my ride especially on that deserted drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. My car drives so smoothly and accelerates so fast but most importantly, it’s a convertible which means on my road trips to Los Angeles and back, I can get some sun :).
I am thankful for forgiveness and growth. I’ve learned to become much more patient and accepting of people. I don’t hold any hatred, envy or jealousy of anyone. I’m much better at being patient when things aren’t going in my favor and have a much greater capacity to brush negativity off and move on.
I am thankful for my ability to surround myself with good people and remove myself from conflicts and drama. I am much wiser about how to avoid drama and make decisions that will promote positivity and keep me out of gossip and negativity.
I am thankful for my MAC. I absolutely love it. It is so much better than all of my previous PC’s. I can hold so much more information, especially all of my photos and its very user friendly. I also think my MAC is faster, less prone to viruses and holds more space. I really debated on whether I wanted to get a MAC or not last year and it’s been one of my best decisions of the year.
I am thankful for my Blackberry Bold. It makes my life so much easier. I can do so much work from the road. I can even respond to all my networking sites and catch up on emails when I am not in front of my computer. Otherwise, I would spend a ridiculous amount of hours on my computer each day whereas, I can run errands or go shopping and still get work done from my Blackberry.
And I am extremely thankful of my supporters and fans. I really appreciate all of the comments, emails, messages and tweets. I try to stay connected with everyone as much as my schedule allows and everyone has been so wonderful to me over the past few years. You will never know how much I really appreciate all of the kind words and messages. I really do.
And finally, I am thankful for charity. I am going to fly back to Vietnam next month and do some more charity work. While I love my car, MAC and blackberry, life is really about “people” and nothing is more important to me than connecting with people and helping those out there that are less fortunate than me. And what I receive in return is a sense of happiness, peace and balance in my life. Something truly priceless that money can never buy. I love nice things but as much as I can, I try to give back as well.
I hope everyone has a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and think about what you are thankful for today and ways that you can give back to those around you. Loved ones or complete strangers. It’s our ability to love and give that make us so special. XoXo.
This is the official BC Poker Championship wrap-up. I want to start off by saying; I had a wonderful time at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, British Columbia. I played some really good poker overall. This is my 2nd year coming out to the BC Poker Championships. Lacey Jones talked me into it last year and its beginning to become an annual stop for me on the tournament circuit. A special thanks goes out to Tournament Director, Daryl McCullough. He did a terrific job running this tournament. And the hospitality was just absolutely superb.
Other repeat poker pro’s that showed up to the BC Poker Championships, included Brad Booth, Gavin Smith, Lacey Jones, Maria Ho, and Tiffany Michelle. I was glad to see all the girls again. Unfortunately, Tiffany and Maria didn’t make it pass Day 2 and took an early flights back to Los Angeles. Lacey was also eliminated on Day 1 but she stuck around through the weekend to host and commentate for the final table.
This year, I played a lot better and made it to Day 4. I was eliminated on Day 1 last year. 668 players entered the Main Event and I ended up finishing 24th. I definitely played some really strong poker to get to this point. On Day 1, I finished with $47,775 which was well above the average chip stack at $26,100. I was cruising along and felt really good about my chances of going deep.
On Day 2, I actually chipped up over 280k and was one of the chip leaders. I hit a major setback late in the day, when I played a heads-up pot with the player to my right which I felt I had an excellent read on. He was raising a lot and playing a wide range of hands. Blinds were 1k-2k with 500 ante when I got involved in a hand where he raised on his SB to $5500, and I saw A-4 in the BB. I called. Flop comes 6(s) 8s) A(d). SB bets out $13k, I called. Turn’s 10(c) He immediately moves all-in for 88k, way over betting the pot. I went into the tank for a bit to analyze the different possibilities. I ended up calling and he turned over A-K. I lost 100k on that hand and sunk way below the chip average. I was barely alive. I bagged up $75,200 and ended Day 2, below average chip stack at 96k.
(chip stack before the 100k+ hand)
On Day 3, I really started to make some moves. I even got involved in another big hand with the same player that almost crippled me on Day 2. He continued to play overly aggressive and loose and I was able to get back more than 80k of my chips from him on 1 big hand. I also watched him play out a hand the same exact way he played his AK against me on Day 2 against another player, moving all in with a fairly large amount of chips holding 3(s) 4(s) and was called with pocket 10’s, which only proved my instincts were right to call him the day before. I just happened to run into a situation where he actually picked up a hand the day before. I ended up the day at 372k which was above the average chip stack for Day 3. I believe the average chip stack was 290 or 300k.
(chip stack end of day 3 at 372k)
I went into Day 4 with a lot of confidence!! I felt like I was playing extremely well, making a lot of great reads and had a feeling I was going to make the final table. I really did. Lately, I’ve been getting really far in recent tournaments, but I just can’t seem to get it going on the final day. I felt like this was my opportunity to break the jinx I call it :). Unfortunately, I came up short of a Final table. I didn’t exactly get the easiest table draw. I ended up with 3 of the largest stacks remaining in the field. That sort of minimized the advantage of having an above average chip stack going into the day. To make it worse, I was sandwiched in between the two biggest stacks. But I was determined to play thru it and pick my spots.
Unfortunately, I didn’t last much longer than 4 rounds. The blinds and antes were pretty high at 6k-12k with 1500 ante. Every round, I was losing more than 30k. By the time I got involved in my hand I was down almost 100k from my starting stack. Then I got tangled in a pot that sent me out the door. I was in the SB and a late position player raised it up to 32k. I called out of the SB and so did the BB. I had K(h) Q(h). The flop came; Q(c) 9(s) 6(h). I flop top pair. I checked. So, did the BB and the late position player bets out 60k. I really felt like the late position player could raise with a lot of different hands in his position and the continuation bet on the flop was pretty standard. I felt like my K-Q was probably the best hand here so I raised it up to 140k. BB mucks and the action comes back to the original raiser. He tanks for a moment than pushes all in. At this point, I thought it’s possible I got a little unlucky here and ran into a bigger hand but I was already pot committed and reluctantly called thinking there’s a possibility I could still be ahead considering all of the strange poker I had seen the previous 3 days.
At this point, I had less than 100k behind me. The original raiser had me covered by about 60k. I decided to call his all-in raise. He turned over A-Q. I was pretty much dominated. But I turned a flush teaser, 9(h) and blanked on the river with a 10(c). I finished in 24th place. Even if I just check called the flop, I would have ended up pushing all-in on the turn. I guess in retrospect, I could have played this hand either way but would have lost all my chips in either scenario unless I make an almost impossible fold on the flop.
I cashed over 9k. Not exactly what I hoped for but I’m definitely not complaining :). And I did get to spend some time with good friends. I did go out Friday night to Caprice nightclub in Vancouver. My good friend Saad owns the club and had reserved the best table in the house for me with bottle service and all. I also had my PA and some friends come along and the Hotel/ Casino provided a limo to get to and from the club.
(partying at Caprice Nightclub)
(Happy Liz-Mas on Chilipoker.com)
Overall, it was a really good weekend. I am feeling very good about my poker. I know it’s just a matter of time before I make a Final table and possibly win a major tournament. I am currently back in Las Vegas. I encourage you guys to visit Chilipoker.com. We are featuring a Happy Liz-Mas promotion on the website and I also want to let you know that I will have another blog that will be posted on Thanksgiving Day. I am working on it now and it’s a blog dedicated to all of the things I am currently thankful for in life. So, check back into the website on Thanksgiving. I want to send special thanks for everyone who has taken the time to leave me a comment on my blogs here. I really appreciate the support everyone!!
This blog is going to be a little different than some of my previous entries. I wanted to talk about the Twitter phenomenon and how that has impacted my life but also get some feedback from you as well. So, I hope you guys participate in this and give me some feedback.
If you aren’t already familiar with Twitter, it’s a free social networking and micro blogging web site. Tweets as they are commonly called, are text based posts up to 140 characters long. You can follow somebody else by clicking on their profile and clicking “follow”.
If you follow me at all, you know that I Tweet regularly. (or at least I try to) I also post poker updates when I am playing in a tournament through Twitter. I can update my tweets directly from my blackberry phone, so it’s easy for me to post updates on big hands or chip counts. And occasionally, I snap a photo and post that as well. It’s a way for me to send and receive message.
I was just curious how many of you reading this blog use Twitter and what are your overall thoughts about it. I personally think it’s the single best social networking tool. I chat more with fans and friends via Twitter than I ever have through email, Facebookor MySpace. I don’t know why it’s more conducive to back and forth chatter but it really is. Other people tell me they feel the same way.
I actually came across a YouTube clip of Ashton Kutcher on Larry King Live and he was talking about the benefits of Twitter. If you don’t know the back story. Here it is. Ashton Kutcher was on his Twitter account one day and he realized that CNN only had 25,000 more subscribers or “followers” than he did. He thought that was pretty amazing because never before in the history of mankind did a single person have the type of following as a major news network.
Ashton thought it would be amusing to issue a challenge to CNN and see who could get to a million subscribers first. Subscriptions are “free”. You don’t even need to do a friend request like you do on Facebook or MySpace. You simply find the person you want to keep tabs on and click follow. However, the person on the other side does have the freedom to “block” you. Most people don’t actually block anyone. And celebrities and news organizations almost never do.
Back to the Ashton Kutcher challenge. Well Ashton did beat CNN to 1,000,000 subscribers and Larry King invited him on his show to congratulate him on his victory. The part I found intriguing about the challenge was the significance of Ashton Kutcher having more followers than CNN. In the past, celebrities never really had a way to defend themselves against gossip, rumors, etc. Except for the occasional press release or interview.
Twitter comes along and gives everyone an opportunity to have a bigger voice. Not just celebrities, but really anybody. In the interview with Larry King, Ashton mentioned how much more in touch he was with his fans. He would find himself messaging back and forth with some guy in Iowa that he had never met before in his life. It was a completely different level of connection. And Twitter gave him the ability to say exactly what he wanted to say throughout the day, completely unfiltered. If a media outlet quoted him wrong. He could tell his 1,000,000+ followers instantly that the news story was wrong.
On a lesser scope, I’ve kind of experienced some of the same stuff. I find that I’m much more connected to everyone. I can keep people posted daily on stuff that is happening in my life. I try to avoid the really silly updates like what I am eating or what I am watching on TV. Sometimes I don’t really have anything to post but I still try and keep from boring you guys to death!! I don’t know. Maybe you guys want to know that stuff? LoL. Let me know!! But as much as I can, I try to post interesting or noteworthy stuff on my Twitter. Some of it is just silly or uninteresting and really depends on my mood. But most importantly, it’s my voice. It’s what I want to say and tell everyone that particular moment of that day.
There is a downside to all of this social networking, however. I know people who have become kind of addicted to Twitter. They spend more time on Twitter posting tweets than they do living their life. I was talking to a friend of mine who has a Miley Cyrus crush. Don’t ask!!! Lol. And he mentioned to me that Miley Cyrus had 2,000,000 followers at one point on Twitter and quit recently, because she was getting very addicted to it, posting as many as 40 tweets per day and she was accumulating stalkers and news organizations that were quoting her Twitter account as gossip news stories. Basically using what she posted on Twitter against her. Eventually it became too much for her and she posted a 1 minute Rap on her YouTube account, explaining why she quit Twitter.
Even during the Kanye West and Taylor Swift debacle at the MTV Music awards. Later that night, news organizations were pulling tweets off of Kanye’s twitter account posting his response to what he did earlier that night. I’m not nearly as famous as Kanye or Miley but I kind of understand why Twitter can be a distraction or how it can possibly be used against you. So, I kind of have this love/ hate relationship with Twitter right now. I like keeping in touch with my fans. I like keeping people updated on stuff. But I also have had a couple of negative experiences with some people who might pursue me a little “aggressively” and because of the public nature of Twitter, it’s hard to screen them out.
I also have to be careful about posting too much personal information on my Twitter. I am still a very private person at my core but because of Poker persona and my relationship with my Sponsors, it’s also important that I stay connected with people and stay visible. And I do enjoy it, mostly. So how many of you are using Twitter? How many of you like it? How many of you dislike it? I would love to have this conversation with people if you want to do that. Post your comments below. I want to know what your thoughts are.
I also want to let you guys know I will be in Vancouver, B.C. next week for the BC Poker Championships. I went last year and stayed in a Penthouse Suite with Lacey Jones, Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho. We had a ton of fun and even went out a couple of nights to Vancouver to party with close friends. Daniel Negreanu won that event and we celebrated with him afterwards at a private party. Lots of big names came out to play in the event at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, B.C. in 2008, so I’m hoping a similar field will come out in 2009. And if you follow me on Twitter, I will keep you posted on chip counts and tournament updates. So, stay tuned!!
Quick blog update. Big news out of Chilipoker headquarter’s!!! Breaking new grounds, Chilipoker.com is now the official partner of XL Airways and Go Voyages and its brand new direct flight from Paris, France to Las Vegas.
I am excited there will be a direct flights from to one of the cultural hubs of Europe to Las Vegas and also about being a part of a company that is continuing to push the envelope and get involved in strategic new business partnerships. As you know, Chilipoker.com sponsored the first WPT event to ever take place on the continent of Africa. I recently played in that event held in Marrakech, Morocco. I cannot reveal what other business dealings are in the works but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Expect Chilipoker to continue to grow and become a household name among poker enthusiasts. Read the press release for full details of the Go Voyages partnership.
The Malta-based company, which is celebrating its 3rd birthday, has signed a partnership agreement with GO Voyages to become the official partner for its new direct line from Paris to Las Vegas, operated by XL Airways, which will take off on 23 May 2010.
There will be twice weekly flights departing from Paris Charles de Gaulle, on Thursdays and Sundays, leaving room for short trips of 3 or 4 days as well as stays of a week, 10 days or longer. The departure and arrival timetables mean that travellers from all over Europe can be transported, and Paris will be established as a direct gateway to Las Vegas.
As well as innovating with this exclusive partnership, Chilipoker.com is installing a free VIP counter in Las Vegas for all its European customers. This will offer a dedicated multilingual team in charge of helping tourists and poker players prepare their stays in Las Vegas, especially with reservations for restaurants, shows or limousines, or visits to the surroundings of Vegas, etc.
“Las Vegas is one of those destinations people dream of, but which appear inaccessible. As an online poker site we felt it appropriate to offer an answer to these dreams by offering all non-English speaking Europeans, and in particular the French, a chance to enjoy a unique experience,” states Alexandre Dreyfus, the French founder of Chilipoker.com.
“We hope that with the future regulation of the online gaming market in France, which is set to become effective before 23 May 2010, Chilipoker can occupy a significant place in this new market. From now on, Las Vegas will form an integral part of our marketing strategy in Europe for 2010.”
To celebrate this agreement, Chilipoker will refund 75 Euros to all Chilipoker.com account holders for each ticket* reserved between 15 November and 31 December 2009.
“In this wayChilipoker.com intends to assert itself as a partner for the “poker destination” of Las Vegas and in particular for the French community, as we have already been for 2 years in Marrakesh. It will mean an investment of several hundred thousand dollars for us,” explains the director.
* the full terms of this refund and information about this partnership are already available in on the website:
Launched in 2006 by French Internet entrepreneur Alexandre Dreyfus, today Chilipoker numbers 40 staff of 13 different nationalities distributed across its various offices in Malta, London, Costa Rica and Hungary. Since 2007 Chilipoker.com has also sponsored one of the best women poker players, the AmericanLiz Lieu (The PokerDiva), who is based in Las Vegas. In 2009 the company signed an agreement with the World Poker Tour to organize the WPT Marrakesh for 3 years, the first edition of which was held on 16 October.
I must bid adieu to Marrakech after three amazing weeks in Morocco. I want to start off by saying the WPT Marrakech, sponsored by Chilipoker was a great success. We exceeded the number of expected entrants for every single event. Every event had the maximum number of possible entries and my Chilipoker team was absolutely amazing in the process and did a fabulous job hosting the Event. And a big applause to top international tournament director Matt Savage for his excellent work, running a perfectly smooth and well organized event.
It’s been awhile since I last blogged, but I have been super busy!! I arrived in Marrakech in early October and had a few days to relax at the Es Essadi Gardens & Resort. For starters they put me up in an amazing room. It was a huge suite with a four poster bed, black marble bathroom, walk-in dressing room/ wardrobe room, private terrace, TV area with a flat screen, Berber rugs, antiques and interesting modern paintings by local artists. If you can’t enjoy the comfort of home, well this was the next best thing!!
The first couple of days, I just waited on my Chilipoker team to arrive. I spent a couple of days at the pool, reading books and just relaxing. I went out to dinner with Alex, AH, and Ophelie. And it was really relaxing and peaceful. I wanted to do more sight-seeing but I postponed it in lieu of some peace and relaxation instead. I played a ton of poker in London and it was good to just take a few days off between the WSOPE, the EPT and now the WPT Marrakech.
Because Chilipoker was a big part of this event, I felt really excited to play all the events including some of the smaller events I don’t typically play in. There were a lot of players that qualified for different events thru Chilipoker and it was my opportunity to meet many of them and play with them in a live setting. I’ve probably played some of these guys and girls online before but it’s always good to socialize and meet people in person as well.
Lots of poker professionals came out to play as well. The French were well represented, some of the big French names included Ludovic Lacay, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Nicolas Levi, Arnaud Mattern, Bruno Fitoussi, Fabrice Soulier, Antony Lellouche and one of the November Nine (WSOP ME), Antoine Saout. Other well known player such as Tony G, Antonio Esfandiari, Huck Seed, Annette Obrestad, Ross & Barney Boatman, Sorel Mizzi and one of last year’s November Nine, Scott Montgomery.
I competed in a couple of the smaller events which ironically, I was knocked out of by a Chilipoker qualifiers. I don’t think I played particularly bad. I just ran into some good hands when I also had a strong hand. In the first tournament of the WPT for example, I ran into a situation where I lost a huge pot to Christopher (alias ctofquestla) that ended my tournament when I had pocket Aces. Christopher made a raise under the gun. I smooth called pocket Aces from the cut off. The flop was Queen high and Christopher led out with a pot sized bet. I raised it up to $1600, 2x the original bet and after going in the tank for awhile, Christopher decides to call. The turn came the King and it was checked to me. I was pretty much pot committed so I shoved the rest of my chips in to the pot. Yep, Christopher was holding pocket Kings and caught up to me on the turn. River came a blank and out I go.
The following afternoon I played the Pro/Am Invitational tournament, reserved for 30 player with a mixture of both pros and amateurs. All the pros like Tony G, Fabrice Soulier, Alex Dreyfus, Roger Hairabedian, Severin Rasset (Chilipoker’s poker room manager), and myself had a bounty of $150 which goes to any player that manages to bust out a Pro. During the 4th level of play, both Roger and I got eliminated in a pot against Emanuel Valla from Lyon.
I pretty much played in every event including the High Rollers Event and the Main Event. Sadly, I didn’t make any final tables this time around but I am becoming a pretty good short stack player lately. There were quite a few times, I was really low on chips and I just seemed to make them last for hours and hours. Not that I really want to be a great short stack player but if I can take any positives out of London and Marrakech is that I was really able to manage my game pretty well considering the circumstances.
In poker, you’re going to run into bad beats sometimes or get cold decked and learning how to play short stack poker sometimes can make the difference between losing a lot of tournaments or finding ways to make the money. Nam Le is a great example of a fantastic short stack player. Sometimes, I see him with the smallest stack and 8 hours later he still has the same stack and managed to make the money or even get to the final table simply by learning how to survive.
I felt overwhelmed as I entered the tournament room where I saw life-sized Liz Lieu posters everywhere!! I was both surprised and overwhelmed but I understood it was as an honor to be a part of Chilipoker and representing the poker website’s name so while it was a little weird looking around the room at myself, I was glad to be an ambassador for Chilipoker and extremely grateful to Alex (Boss), and the rest of the Chilipoker Team!!
It wasn’t all poker while we were in Morocco. A large group of us, about 25 people, including other poker pro’s and the Chilipoker team, went to the dunes and rode Quads one day. I’ve had people comment on my Facebook fan page on some of the pictures of me riding a Quad and they found it surprising but believe it or not I’m actually pretty adventurous. The entire time, I tried to get off course and go faster and I had to be called back in by the folks running the facility to slow down and stay on course!! This isn’t my first time on a Quad and this definitely was a memorable experience lol. It was a really hot day however and a few of us were dying of thirst!!!! One of the interesting traditions they have in Morocco is they serve you “hot” green tea even in very warm weather. So, when our Quad riding almost concluded, they served us hot green tea!!! I just wanted some cold water but I guess hot tea is supposed to cool down your body temperature quicker?!?
At 8pm a press conference was held right before the Gala Dinner party with our CEO Alexandre Dreyfus giving a great speech and warm welcome to everyone that had arrived to support the WPT Marrakech event. All journalists, poker pros, and Chilipoker qualified players enjoyed various courses of traditional Moroccan food while belly dancers were moving to the sway of Moroccan music. The best part of the show was watching Tony G. doing his belly dancing hip shaking version along with the belly dancers. Great sport .. Tony G’s awesome!
There were a lot of different activities going on in Morocco while the tournament was going on. One thing I didn’t get a chance to do however was enough sight-seeing. I spent the first few days in Morocco relaxing instead of sight-seeing thinking I would get a chance later but I played in almost every event and spent a lot of time with my Chilipoker team and spending time around the tournament that before you know it, time was up. But I had an absolutely wonderful time in Marrakech and the next time I come back here, I will definitely be doing a lot more sight-seeing. But for now, I have to bid adieu to Marrakech, Morocco and move on to my next destination.
A Big Congrats to Christophe Savary from France, 1st place winner of the WPT Marrakech, who took back home over €350,000, the official Tiffany WPT bracelet and his $25,500 seat to the WPT Wolrd Championship 2010.
P.S. Due to this blog being as long as it is already, I will mention a few interesting hands which I was involved in my next blog so stay tune everyone!
or the high stakes cash games this year!
