Diary of a Poker Diva - Liz Lieu

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.

Cheers!

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)

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!

(photo courtesy of Pokerlistings)

Cheers!