Diary of a Poker Diva - Liz Lieu

Since Monte Carlo, I’ve been relaxing in London. The last few tournaments I played were rather frustrating, so I needed to do some meditation and find my happy place again.

The last few weeks in London have been very tranquil. Sure, I took care of some business and put some things in motion with my attorneys, but I made a big effort not to work too much. I spent a lot of time with my cats, did a lot of jogging, bicycling, and other exercising, and I got back to my healthy diet. All of those things do wonders for the mind as well as the body; it’s really true! I’ve been getting in a good mindset for the upcoming WSOP as I will be grinding in quite a number of events this year.

I did return to Las Vegas this week, and though I’m suffering from jet lag, I immediately headed out to the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), a no-kill shelter that houses tons of animals. I was specifically looking at the older cats, as kittens often are the first to get adopted and those cats that are a few years old wait longer for families. As I was sitting in the room with so many cats (wanting to adopt a bunch of them!), one captured my heart right away. He is an ginger/white short-haired tabby, about four years-old, with the most loving and gentle personality.

During the time I spent with him, there was another gray female cat who kept hissing at him, even trying to attack him for no reason, but my loving boy just looked at the other cat, looked away, and went back to resting. What a great disposition! We bonded instantly, which made the decision quite easy. I filled out all the paperwork, then took my adopted handsome boy to his new home.

I gave him a new name, Jace, which means Healer, for several reasons. One is that pets are naturally healing; they’re so calm and unconditionally loving that their presence seems to heal almost anything. Two is that he came to me with an upper respiratory infection/virus, which means I have to nurse him back to health. But he’s a Healer, and I just know he’ll be fine.

As far as poker goes, I’ll be laying low until the World Series of Poker begins in a few weeks. It’s coming up so quickly! I’m not exactly sure which events I’ll be playing as of yet, but I’m going to work that out in the next week or so when I have time to take a closer look at the schedule. But I will be at the Rio… I hear that it’s the “Year of the Woman” so I guess it’s my time to participate in that, right?

Hope to see many of you at the WSOP this summer! And in the meantime, make a visit to your local animal shelter if you can. There are so many loving, incredible animals there that could use homes.

Cheers!

I was running quite well there for awhile, posting blog entries every few days… And then I got to Europe! Yes, we do have internet access over here - LOL - but I’ve been so busy soaking up the atmosphere that I haven’t posted for two weeks. Now that I’ve confessed, let’s move on, shall we. hehe

So, when I left Vegas two weeks ago, I headed straight for London, but that stay was short-lived, as all I had time to do was drop off my luggage and get back to the airport. I took a short flight to Malta for one day. Why such a short time? To surprise a friend!

Feliciana is the finance director for Chilipoker and a good friend. She has been nothing but loyal, honest, kind, and sincere since I first met her, and she is the type of person who will do anything for her friends. Since I’ve been with Chilipoker, she has been a person that I not only respect but look forward to talking to every time I call or visit. She invited me to her birthday party numerous times but I kept telling her that I didn’t think I could make it, though I knew the whole time that I would be surprising her. And I did! It was a blast!

There were about 40 people at the party, mostly Chilipoker staff, which was great because it was an opportunity for the Chilipoker family to bond. The reason I signed with Chilipoker back in 2007 was because I enjoy working with a close-knit group of people, and it had been awhile since we all bonded like we did on the night of Feliciana’s birthday. The entire team was there, catching up on our lives and enjoying the night, which felt wonderful and made me very happy. It was definitely one of the best parties I’ve been to in a very long time, and it was awesome to chill with my Chili teammates in Malta!

As for Feliciana, she had a fabulous time, which was the biggest goal of the night. She wrote some notes on her facebook the next day, thanking several people for their efforts and their friendship. Part of what she wrote, which means so much to me: “A VERY special thanks to LIZ, for having come all the way down to Malta just for me. Thank you LIZ for your presence, thank you for the Moet I used to toast with for my birthday, thank you for just being YOU, the party girl who was chatting and dancing with everybody…” And because I’ll do anything for my friends, I also put my Blackberry in my purse and kept it there for the entire evening when Feliciana asked me to. She wrote that it was the “best present ever.” I love that! Anything I did was the least I could do for such an amazing person and friend.

The next morning, I flew back to London. The weather has been horrible here - cold and rainy every day! - but I’ve been taking care of business, doing a lot of shopping and relaxing, and seeing parts of the city I’ve never seen before. Some of my days just involve chilling at home with my cats, too, which has been a refreshing change from the first few busy months of 2010. And I take some time every other day to play online poker on Chilipoker, and I’m using this as a good warm-up for live events on the horizon. What I’ve been doing feels a little like a normal, calm life. Wow! It’s strange but I love it.

I also started my nutrition and workout program, including a healthy eating plan and workout sessions with my personal trainer. The warm-up consisted of three days a week, but we’ll soon be doing five days each week. That is some tough training! But I can already see and feel the difference, so I have to admit that my trainer is frickin’ awesome!

Speaking of poker, I’m looking forward to getting back on the felt to compete in some live events soon. And the big Chilipoker Deepstack Open (DSO) is coming up very quickly! (Is it really almost April already? OMG.) The DSO starts on the 9th of April in Aix-en-Provence at the Partouche Pasino there, and I can’t wait! Not only is it going to be a great mix of amateurs, online qualifiers, and pros, but it will be a sold-out event. How great is that? The event was capped at 500 players and sold out weeks before the tournament is even set to begin. Fantastic!

After the DSO in France, I’ll be heading to San Remo in Northern Italy for the European Poker Tour stop there, and I’ll play in the San Remo Main Event. And then I’ll be traveling just a few miles west of there to Monaco for the EPT Grand Finale in Monte Carlo at the end of April. I’m super excited to play some live poker and start to see all of the positive things in my life come into focus. With the hopes I have for my poker year in 2010 and the work I’m putting into my physical health these days, I feel prepared and ready for the circuit. Let’s go!

Cheers!