Diary of a Poker Diva - Liz Lieu

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!!

Cheers!

I’m Changing…

My blog to make it more personal. Here I will share with everyone my everyday life, new adventures, random thoughts and feelings. I hope you all will enjoy as I take you along with me on my journey through life. I will try and treat this new blog more like a journal. Making several entries throughout the week. I will keep you posted on the latest and greatest.

Welcome to the Diary of a Poker Diva! Why the change? Because I’ve changed as a person in this past year. So much has happened in my life in 2008, having to encounter some very painful experiences off the felt. In many ways this has been a transforming year for me. A year of growth despite the many personal setbacks. I wanted to share those experiences on a more intimate level with my family, fans, and friends who stuck with me through thick and thin. I hope you enjoy this new format and provide feedback.

10-26-08

Well this is a great starting point for this new blog. It was a very interesting weekend. I was able to get out of my condo in Las Vegas and hang out with so many of my close friends. On Friday, I met up with some good friends for dinner. My girlfriend Lacey Jones called me and told me we were having dinner with Michael Phelps at Simons restaurant at The Palms. Yes, that Michael Phelps. He is in town for the Festa Al Lago Classic (WPT) at the Bellagio. I arrived late but my friends Lacey Jones, Maria Ho, and Jeff Madsen were already there to greet me along with Michael and one of his poker friends Scott Freeman. After meeting Michael I thought he was a cool guy, very laid back and down to earth.

After dinner, we all hopped in a limo and headed over to TAO Night Club where Michael had a table on the dance floor under the catwalk. The MC made an announcement that Michael Phelps was in the house at the beginning of the night and everyone applauded. So many other poker players showed up as well including David Williams, Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth, Roland De Wolfe, and Antonio Esfandiari, to name just a few. It turned out to be a really fun night and since I haven’t gone out to the clubs much at all in 2008, it was a good change of pace for me and everyone was having so much fun.

I had so much fun on Friday I thought I would roll the dice on Saturday too. I met up with Lacey and Maria again. Our plan was to go to the Cathouse at the Luxor but when we arrived, we were waiting around for a few people that we agreed to meet. I’m not a very patient person, hehe, so after awhile I decided lets do something else. Turns out a bunch of poker players had a table at the Bank. So, we decided to go there. We turned around and lost Lacey. We had some other people in our group too so me and Maria decided to head to the Bank and we knew Lacey was safe. When we arrived at The Bank, the club was packed with poker pros partying like rockstars. We partied with them for awhile and eventually I got tired and went home.

All in all it was a pretty eventful weekend. I was glad I came out and I am really excited about what is coming down the road as well.

Cheers!