Diary of a Poker Diva - Liz Lieu

I think many of you will find this journal entry is pretty topical considering recent economic events. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks playing poker at the Commerce in L.A. and something is definitely up. I’m not sure if it’s the economy or what but all of the high stakes games have temporarily dried up. I’ve been playing 100/200 at the Commerce lately because that’s the biggest game going in the high limit section right now. The few times we’ve been able to kick up the stakes, the game will fall apart within a couple of hours.

Las Vegas has been the same way if not worse in terms of high stakes cash games. I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. I know some of poker players are struggling lately. I’ve heard rumors of different players going broke. I know a ton of players spend a lot of time travelling or playing online. And the live cash games have suffered because of it. But it’s okay because I’m going to adapt and stay the course until better days.

In Nautical terms, staying the course means not altering your path regardless of the obstacles in your way. You weather the storm and reach your destination. In 2008, I ran into a bunch of different storms, personally, spiritually, physically, and professionally. And a few times I was thrown off course and had to find my way again and it’s prepared me for everything to come in 2009. In the past week, I’ve been able to stay pretty even playing the cash games. I ran pretty bad early, losing on some pretty horrific beats. I was able to finish the week strong booking 3 straight winning sessions. I took a lot of personal time in 2008 and now I’m back stronger and better than ever.

After pulling several all nighters grinding the cash games, I was wearied! So what did I do to get away? I took a short break! Last Friday night I went out with my girls to celebrate one of our girlfriend Kayla’s birthday at iLounge Nightclub, one of the new trendy hot spots in Newport Beach. We managed to get the best table in the joint in the Presidential VIP suite, which in my opinion felt like we were trapped in a cell behind bars. HaHa!! Nevertheless, we had a awesome time!

(Birthday girl Kayla)

At the moment, I see clear skies and sunrise. I am really looking forward to this weekend’s tournament at Caesar’s. The Dream Team Poker Event. Quinn Do, Matt Stout and I make up the Pokerlistings team. I know Poker Road has a team in the tournament headed by Joe Sebok. Also, Eric Morris of Bluff Media will have his team there ready to play. My good friends Lacey Jones, Maria Ho, and Tiffany Michelle will make up an all-female team. I believe they are going by the name “Yo Mamma” or something like that. Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Dennis Phillips, Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang are some other players with teams entered into the Dream Team field.

I hope I have more to report after this weekend. I expect good things and even if the cards or chips don’t fall my way, I will stay the course!

Bonjour everyone! So much going on this month, I am not sure where to start. I’ve been playing a fair amount of poker in the last couple of weeks. I spent some time at the Commerce Casino playing in the limit games and I also played some poker online. I plan to play some more this week to warm up for the Dream Team Poker Tournament March 27-29.

The Dream Team Poker Tournament takes place at Caesar’s Palace and is a team format. Every team is made up of three players and a ton of big names have committed to the event. Including Mike Matusow, Phil Helmuth, Jerry Buss, T.J. Cloutier, Tom McEvoy, Dennis Phillips, Todd Brunson, Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold, Kenny Tran, Shawn Sheikhan, Actor Mehki Phifer, Hoyt Corkins, Tiffany Michelle, Quinn Do, NBA Player Chris Mills, Jeff Madsen, Joe Sebok, Maria Ho, Lacey Jones and a ton of other well known players.

More than 100 teams are expected to enter. You can view the format or get more details on dreamteampoker.com. It should be a fun event and I haven’t participated in many “team” formats so this should be pretty interesting. My team is made up of Quinn Do, Matt Stout, and myself.

So, what else is going on with me?? Well I want to report that I am officially a trendsetter!! LoL. Actually my friend Chesty Kemper called me this, because I’ve been trying to get him on Twitter for the past year. He told me this week he saw Twitter being featured on the TV news 2 times and once on MSN.com as the newest craze!! I told him he would be addicted to Twitter because he’s pretty good about keeping up on his facebook account. I tried to get my girlfriend Lisa on Twitter as well. Both of them have refused to participate on Twitter out of stubbornness and Chesty admitted to me last week that it’s becoming tougher because so many people are joining Twitter every day.

Liz Lieu Twitter

I also want everyone to know there has been a Liz Lieu Fan page created on Facebook if you haven’t had a chance to check it out. I approve of the page and I encourage those of you who are not linked to my facebook account to go there. I have had a ton of requests to my Facebook account lately and I am only adding friends. I feel like I need something personal for me. People can get a hold of me on my website and myspace among other places and I want to continue to keep my facebook page for my friends and family. I hope nobody is offended if I turn them away. 

Liz Lieu Fan Page

So what’s going on in this crazy topsy turvy world? Hopefully we’ve hit rock bottom on falling stock prices. It was good to see the stock market go up for a couple of days last week. It was getting pretty depressing. On top of that, AIG is paying out more than $160 million in bonuses to company executives after they received almost 200 billion in bail out money from tax payers!! That was crazy. Congress just passed a bill to tax them at 90% to penalize their greed. It was about time somebody in govt. did the right thing to stop some of this nonsense.

This economy is affecting everything! I’ve noticed the bigger games are starting to slow down and Vegas suffering a little bit in their tourism. I’ve been playing at lower limits than I have in the past just to get a good game. I also spend more time online because the games don’t last as long or run as frequently as they used to 3-4 years ago. I might need to look for another job!! HaHa … JK!

I don’t think I would make a very good employee. I’ve been playing professional poker since I was 18 and have always been self-employed. I don’t know how long I would last taking orders from somebody else. I was going to play in Bay 101 but the week before that tournament, I was running so badly online and live cash games, so I decided to take a break and play in the Caesar’s event instead and prepare for my trip to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Finale. Before that I will also be participating in the Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio right after the Caesar’s event.

Keep an eye out for me on the poker updates. I’ll update everyone soon and hopefully I’ll have some good news to report. And don’t forget to add Twitter!! If you haven’t heard of it yet, you heard it here first. And yes, that includes you, Chesty and Lisa!! You know you want to do it!!

Cheers!

This week I want to cover the subject of patience. Something I have had to use a lot of in the past year. I am sure many people are having their patience tested right now in lieu of the difficult economy. I know many people have lost jobs and trying to persevere the best they can. I really feel for them as they struggle and do the best they can.

Patience is defined as the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. There are many different types of patience. Sitting at a pressure filled final table at the WSOP main event could be considered a test of endurance under difficult circumstances. This is of course the type of “patience” I would gladly welcome.

Most of us have to deal with a different type of patience. The patience to endure truly difficult circumstances. I cannot pretend to have it as bad as many because I’ve been very blessed in my life to have a lot of freedom, to travel a lot and make a lot of money. It does come with its downside however. I am constantly being approached by people with “business” opportunities. Some legit. Others not so legit. I have loaned out my fair share of money. I have not always been paid back.

I have had friends come and go depending on how much they could financially benefit from being around me. It is all a test of patience. “He that can have patience can have what he will.” – Benjamin Franklin.

Regardless, I am thankful for the opportunity to be tested daily. “Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.” – Leonardo De Vinci

In patient times it’s important to remember what you are being patient for. I am being patient for better results this year on the poker table. The APT in Manila was a good start. Final table in my first tourney was pretty good especially since I never really accumulated many chips. I just seemed to be hanging in there the entire tourney and before you knew it I had outlasted most of the field.

I want to be patient enough to continue to surround myself with high value people. I’ve been able to surround myself with more quality people than ever before and I hope that trend continues in 2009. I want to be around people who are independent and charitable. People with good spirit and positive outlook on life.

In patient times, I want to persevere whatever loose ties I have with people in my past who haven’t had my best interest at heart. To endure long enough to put those relationships and failed business transactions completely behind me. To be patient enough to learn from the decisions I made.

Most of all I ask everyone to have patience in their own lives. To be patient with the ones they love. To be patient enough to endure whatever hardships you have and to continue to learn from life’s experiences and have a wonderful 2009. I have the LAPC coming up at the end of the month. Hopefully I will have enough patience to outlast the entire field and make another final table.

Cheers!

Merry almost Christmas everyone! I think I have been a pretty good girl this year so I wrote to Santa and requested a few things. Before I show you my letter to Santa I wanted to talk briefly about this past week.

I haven’t blogged in almost a week now because I was busy playing in the Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. I am not going to talk about it too much here but you can read about it on my Pokerlistings blog which will be posted in a couple days.

Also, it is snowing right now in Vegas! It’s providing me the inspiration to write this blog. I already feel more festive. Although, admittedly, I am not a big fan of snow!! I grew up in Colorado and I have had enough snow for an entire lifetime. But I will make an exception because it’s almost Christmas. The two certainly go hand in hand. Well on to the letter…

Dear Santa,

This is Liz Lieu and I wanted to wish you a happy and festive 2008. I hope this letter reaches you well. I have had quite a year but you already know that. I feel pretty confident I was a good girl this year so here is my wish list and I hope you can make as many of them come true as possible.

(photo courtesy of Phu Vu)

It would be nice if you could arrange for my dad to visit me in my dreams. I’m not sure if you can make that happen or not. Maybe that request should go to God. But just in case, I thought I would ask you as well. I sure do miss him and would love to have him appear in one of my dreams in 2009.

I would love to receive a little puppy. Something small and feisty! Maybe she can scare all of the mean and evil people away. I think a cute little puppy would make my Christmas.

I wish you could deliver a “Secret Santa” who can step up and help me in my Charity efforts in Vietnam. I go back to Vietnam 3x a year and I never have enough to give to help everyone. I get together with Charity organizations and I’d buy staples of supplies and deliver them to the most impoverished areas of Vietnam. I also deliver money and supplies to the Children’s Cancer Hospital, the Elder Orphanages, the Children’s Orphanages, and to numerous Temples. The poverty and suffering is very eye opening.

If you cannot deliver a charitable check, how about passing on some good luck to help me win a Main Event in 2009. Just a little luck is all. If you cannot deliver good luck, why don’t we just eliminate some of the bad luck? I’m getting a little weary of poker players doubling up on me through 2 outers or 5 outers. Thanks, I would appreciate it!! 

Okay this list is getting a little lengthy Santa, I have to apologize. But another great item you could pass along would be the opportunity for my immediate family to spend more time together. All of us. My mother, sister, nieces, nephews and brother-in-law.

I wish for happiness and health for my Mom. She is starting to get a little older and it would put my mind at ease if she could stay healthy for this coming year and is happy with life.

Okay, my last request is a little self indulgent but it would be a terrific gift for the upcoming Vietnam trip. I would love to take some professional quality pictures of everything I encounter on my charity missions. One of those Nikon or Canon professional cameras would be perfect for the job!!

Well Santa, I could keep going but I know you’re awfully busy and this will pretty much take care of it for now. I understand that you might not be able to give me everything I request and honestly I would be happy if you gave me any one of the items I requested. I can work on the rest of the wish list on my own but if you felt it in your heart to deliver me more than one of those gifts, I would be very appreciative. Thanks Santa!! I will leave some cookies and milk for you. If you can just turn the lights off on the way out. Thanks.

The question asked of me the most since I started playing poker has always been about my personal relationships! Who am I dating? What kind of guy am I into? I thought I’d spend some time in this blog discussing relationships and the challenges some of us female poker players face.

Well, I am currently single if that is any indication of how my past relationships have gone! Sometimes, it would be much easier to be a guy!! At least I think it would be less stressful. I can go play poker with the guy’s everyday and party with attractive girls every weekend and nobody would think twice.

Not that I want to live that lifestyle because like most girls I am perfectly content with just finding one good guy! I don’t need a dozen bad boys. I know a few!! I am usually pretty good about not dating the bad boys who date around a lot but I find a different type of bad boy. I will explain more in the blog but I am reminded of this Beyonce video:

I don’t really think all guys are bad but yes, I have had my share of dating some bad ones. I don’t really date cheaters but I have had some guys who were pretty controlling or manipulative. I have had a couple take advantage of my good nature and generous spirit.

Most of the guys I am attracted to are very intelligent. I am naturally attracted to guys who are very confident and smart. Unfortunately, sometimes when you date guys who are really smart they have egos and as a result some of them can be manipulative or controlling as a result.

As far as being a female poker player, it just complicates dating a little more. I have a really hectic schedule. I don’t have a typical 9 to 5 where I can meet a guy in a more normal setting. Most of the guys I meet are indirectly involved with poker somehow or some piece of poker business.

I don’t date poker players however! To me they are like my co-workers and if it doesn’t work out, you have no where to go or hide if it gets ugly. Your personal life gets spilled over to everyone else in the community. As a general rule of thumb, it’s a pretty bad idea to date other poker players.

I have been playing for a living since I was 18 and I learned a long time ago, if you don’t have respect among the guys you play with, it’s going to be a long hard road! As female poker players we are in a difficult spot. You’re not looked upon as favorably if you bounce around dating different guys in the poker community.

I am much better off just playing poker and making a living and not getting into any of the extracurricular drama. It’s not really that big of a community. Many players know each other quite well and you bump into everyone at all of the major events. It’s better if the other guys recognized you as a peer and just keep it at that.

Not to say it’s completely off limits. I haven’t met the right poker player yet, but I know of some really good relationships between players and when it works out like it has for Marco Traniello and Jennifer Harmon-Traniello, it can be a really great thing because it’s difficult to find guys who understand your lifestyle so there is some upside.

Mostly, finding a good partner is just difficult. I don’t think it’s easy for anyone to date because guys and girls are so different but playing poker isn’t really the ideal circumstance either. I am sure it’s complicated my life because I really prefer normal guys and I don’t get a chance to meet them often enough.

As of now, I haven’t met the perfect guy yet. That’s really all I can say about my personal relationships. I hang out with a lot of poker players but those guys are like my peers. I don’t really get involved with them. If you want to send a good guy my way for Christmas, send me his resume!

Right now, I feel like Beyonce. I feel like I’ve had some lost opportunities because a couple of guys I dated in the past didn’t know how to treat a woman and I just look forward to the day I can meet a guy who understands how to be a gentlemen and how to treat women. Most importantly Honesty and Loyalty is on the top of my list!!

Until then, I am going to focus on Poker because you cannot really ever plan to meet a good guy. It just happens by chance and when it comes along you run with it. Good things will come when you least expect it! For now, I have the main event of the Bellagio Five Diamond coming up this weekend. My biggest priority at the moment is to clear my head and get into the best mental state as possible to have a successful tournament.

Until next time… Cheers!

I came up with a great idea for this journal entry. Most bloggers get in the habit of telling you how they feel and explaining what they are going through! I wanted to have a little more fun with this blog!

I thought it would be a great idea to share with you some of the things that makes me smile or laugh instead. So, I have included a few videos that I personally enjoy. I want to share with you some of my experiences in hopes that it reveals a little bit more about who I am.

Before I get into the videos I want to let those of you looking for more poker related journal entries to go to www.pokerlistings.com. I am one of the featured bloggers on the site and you can read more about poker there. I usually post a new blog every Tuesday.

I also want to tell you a little bit about what’s going on this week. Well not much!! I’ve been playing a lot of online poker lately. You can read about it on Pokerlistings tomorrow and I also went out to celebrate one of my girlfriends birthday on Tuesday.

A few of us girls went to the Palazzo on Tuesday and had dinner at Lavo. I really recommend the place and it had some pretty good eye candy too! Several girls got together to help Joy Miller celebrate her birthday. Afterwards some of the girls had a couple of cocktails and we called it a night.

Outside of that it’s just been poker mostly. And of course I always get great feedback from everyone about the blogs. I enjoy reading the feedback and writing back to you whenever I can. On to the videos:

I want to start out with a more touching video first. This is a segment from X Factor which is the UK version of American Idol. I’ve been thinking a lot about having really genuine and authentic people around me lately and I remembered this Amy Connelly video.

“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.”
- Mother Theresa

Speaking of really honest and transparent moments. Check out this video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

While we are on the topic of X Factor. This is one of my favorite shows. I fell in love with it when I first started watching it. I am reminded of another clip I think you should check out. This one made me really laugh hard. These two think they are the next P Diddy and Usher!

The next video is a spoof that a friend of mine in Vancouver recently forwarded to me. It’s a spoof of the T.I. Whatever You Want song. I thought this was pretty clever and it gave me a real good laugh. Thanks Saad!

The last video I want to share with you guys is just a video that makes me think about all my “slick” guy friends lol. It’s a song by Gym Class Heroes. I think everyone can have a good laugh and appreciate this video for what it is. Especially all the women!

Well I hope you enjoyed some of the videos. Sometimes you just have to laugh at life and go with it!! These are all videos that remind me to just keep laughing and continue to have a positive outlook in life. I look forward to sharing more interesting clips in the future.

Cheers!

This is how I feel sometimes!! I wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who left me positive comments about my last blog. A lot of people messaged me or sent comments to me on Twitter and mentioned how much they liked it.

Sometimes it’s difficult to expose yourself to the world in a personal way. There is an extra layer of vulnerability. I know I have had friends in the poker community go through some very tough times in a very public way.

It’s strange to be exposed to people who don’t really know you intimately and than having to hear about the negativity in the news or on a public forum where thousands and thousands of people view the gossip.

I am thinking about ways to improve this blog and share more of myself with you. Bear with me as I continue to work through some of my apprehension and expose more of my personal life with you. The hardest challenge is to find that balance between my public persona and the real me. I am always honest in every blog or interview I have ever done. I am sometimes guarded however with my responses.

I feel like there is this thin line between what is really personal and what I should share with the public. For instance just yesterday I received some very bad news about one of my half sisters in Vietnam. I have been looking for this sister for almost two years now.

This sister was basically missing or lost and I’ve been very worried about her. I go back to Vietnam frequently and nobody knew where she was. I just received some news that she is in a very tough life situation. And it’s something I cannot fix. I also have word of other relatives that are also having much hardship. The news is quite heart breaking.

I know others are going through the same type of life problems so I don’t want anyone to have extra sympathy for me. I just wanted everyone to know sometimes, I go through the exact same range of emotions as you.

I have had some recent events happen to me that are quite negative. Some business relationships and unfortunate news with friends and family. The worst part is that I have had people in my life who are aware of this and they still continue to try and take from me. The most unfortunate part about having any type of success is sometimes you have people who surround you that are strictly users.

I understand this is a part of success and now that I have been able to sustain a certain level of success and gain some wisdom, I am better at selecting the type of people I get into business with. The type of people I surround myself with. The biggest revelation to me this year was how much I distracted myself with poker and work. Instead of facing many of life’s problems, I just played more poker. Or I spent more time working on my other websites.

I understand now that I cannot run away from my problems. I came across a video which almost parallels my life perfectly. For those of you who want to know me on a more personal level, my life, pretty much looks like this:

My Love “The Story of A Diva”
  

Part II

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the videos. It’s pretty powerful. I have gone through many moments and times in my life where I felt the exact same way.

The holidays are a really reflective time for me. Partially because I am going through my first Thanksgiving without my father and I really want to reflect upon life and think back to everything I should be thankful for. All my Dad ever wanted for me was happiness.

I cannot help but think about that as I continue the rest of my life’s journey without him. So, in honoring his unselfish and complete love for me, I am doing my best to be positive and to be happy!

I also want to address all of the past negativity in my life. I am washing my hands of unsuccessful business relationships. I am washing my hands of being around people who are constantly taking and never giving.

At this stage of my life, I just really want to be surrounded by positive people! I want to enjoy life with people I love. And I also want to be a little less vulnerable. I want my public persona to be a little more reflective of my private life. So, this is another step in that direction.

So, lets all be thankful we have each other to share in our lives and to be positive and live out our life the best way we possibly can. And always be aware of how you affect others!!

Be a positive influence not a negative one!

Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving for those of you in the States! For many of us this is a good time to reflect and think about the value of family and the importance of friends and life.

This hasn’t been the easiest year, 2008. I lost my father in late 2007. I was actually at the table playing the Barcelona Main Event when I heard the bad news. I left in the middle of the event and immediately arranged a flight to Vietnam. I spent the first part of 2008 mostly in Vietnam . Paying tribute and respect to my father’s memorial. Doing lots of Charity work in Vietnam, I know my Dad would have wanted it that way.

Poker took a back seat for a while now that I reflect upon the year. I tried to get poker back on track and one calamity after another struck me down in early 2008. It just wasn’t meant to be I guess. For starters, I missed one of my favorite events of the year. The Monte Carlo event in Monaco. I ordered room service the night before Day 1 and came down with food poisoning the next morning. I had to pull out of that event. I flew back to the States a week later and got extremely ill, requiring me to be hospitalized and undergo surgery which took months to fully recover.

All of this occurred, just before this years WSOP. I came into the WSOP on a pretty significant lay off from tournament play but I still managed to play very well in a few events. Ultimately I just went card dead or ran into a bad beat at the wrong times.

Poker has been very choppy for me this year. The high stakes cash games in Las Vegas have dried up. There has been some good action at the Commerce lately. I have had to go to L.A. a few times to find good games. Outside of L.A., the games have been pretty limited.

Because of my heavy travel schedule in 2008 and the lack of juicy cash games, I spent more time online than ever before. I’ve had very mixed results online. I have had some good sessions and some not so good ones. I am a winning player online, overall, but I definitely have less of an edge online than I do live. I think I really need to get back to the Commerce and get back to those cash games. This is a goal of mine in 2009! To play a lot more cash!!

Despite the rough year, I have many things to be thankful for! And I have grown as a person and become stronger. I still have my mother, sister, brothers, nieces, and nephew to enjoy. I have a good support system around me and many reasons to smile. A few very close friends have supported me emotionally and spiritually throughout the year and really helped me through some personal setbacks. Alexandre Dreyfus and Chilipoker have also been wonderful to me.

Life isn’t always perfect but it is always exactly as it was meant to be. A friend of mine just came across a very fitting quote and I like to post it here. I don’t know who to attribute the quote to? If you know make a comment.

“There is nothing for you to go back and live over, or fix, or feel regret about now. Every part of your life has unfolded just right. And so –now — knowing all that you know from where you now stand, now what do you want? The answers are now coming forth to you.”

In that spirit, life is good. I am lucky to have the freedom to travel. I have travelled all over the world and visited some beautiful places. In the past year, I have been to London, France, Poland, Italy, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau and Malta just to name a few.

I have very entertaining friends in the poker community. Love them or hate them, the poker community is like a large dysfunctional family. Some of them party too much. Some of them have unnecessary drama. Some of them just simply gamble too much. No!! I am not naming names. I am very protective of my friends and family. I don’t judge any of my friends for whatever they are going through. Sometimes it’s just a phase. Sometimes they are using it as a distraction for other issues. I love them all regardless!

I’m privileged to belong to such an interesting community of people. Not to say 2008 has been perfect. I have lost a few friends. I have gained new friends. I have drifted further from some and closer to others. That is life. Poker can be a very competitive game and sometimes a few toes are stepped on. Feelings are hurt and drama ensues. But we fight and make up and do it all over again. Just like any big family. We usually make amends and all that begins well should end well.

It is important to keep your sanity at times and I can honestly say I have been keeping it together better and better. This is what I am thankful for. I am thankful for having a positive life perspective. I am thankful of not being envious, jealous and bitter of others.

I am thankful that I don’t judge others and I try not to let those who judge me influence my emotional state of mind. I am thankful for charity and love. So many people showered their sincere feelings with me during some rough times. I know I am loved!

I am also much better at selecting friends and knowing who I can trust and who to keep close. I will reflect on 2008 someday and view it as a year of personal growth! I am about to celebrate Thanksgiving soon and I wanted to share with everyone that it is a way of life.

Thanksgiving shouldn’t be a single day on a calendar that we celebrate with an oversized Turkey. I travel to Vietnam frequently and other parts of the world and America has so much to be thankful for. All of us that are Americans are privileged. For the freedoms, for the democracy, for all of the little luxuries we take for granted.

I just had a funny conversation with a friend last night. We were talking about something as simple as a washer and dryer. I lived in an upscale part of London for part of last year and they don’t have separate washers and dryers?! You dry your clothes in the same machine you wash them in!

It takes about 4 hours to do a load of laundry!! In Italy, they don’t even have dryers! Or at least I didn’t come across one and have shared similar stories with others that travel frequently. Most people in Italy hang dry their clothes. These are modern first world countries. Really, we all have a lot to be thankful for. Even those simple little luxuries.

Don’t forget to appreciate the moment. Don’t forget to absorb all of life’s lessons and don’t forget to apply every bit of wisdom gained and lesson learned to forge an even better future. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! This includes all of my friends and fans around the world!

Cheers!

Quick update. Sorry for the week long delay between updates. I’ve been busy in Vancouver, playing poker, partying and even doing some commercial promos for the River Rock Casino.

Congratulations to Daniel Negreanu for winning the Main Event of the BC Poker Championships. Daniel took home the first place price worth $371,910. A bunch of poker players celebrated with Daniel at Republic on Sunday night.

I will give you more details in the next blog. I am still recovering from the trip. Who says girls cannot get along? Lacey Jones, Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle and I stayed at the same Penthouse Suite Wednesday through Monday. The girls had some great bonding moments in Vancouver this past week! Unfortunately none of us made it deep in the main event tournament.

We arrived at River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia and the Poker staff and Resort were awesome! They went out of there way to make accommodations for us and make us feel welcome. I want to give a special thanks to Alex Lee Behan. Alex handles the PR for all seventeen casinos in B.C. In addition to that, Alex is a close friend of Lacey Jones and she went out of her way to make sure we had the very best experience during our time in BC. Thank you Alex!!

There were many aspects of my trip to BC. My brother Kenny Lieu lives in BC so I spent some time visiting him and his family. As most of you know my dad passed away last year and my brother Kenny looks almost identical to my dad. I cannot help but think of my dad when I visit my brother.

The second part of my trip was the actual poker. I only planned on playing the Main Event and unfortunately for me I didn’t last past the first day. I wasn’t able to pick up any chips and before I knew it I was short stacked and forced to move all in. I ran into a better hand and my tournament was over.

That only freed up more time to play online. This was difficult at first because we only had a cable modem in our Hotel Suite. I had to call the Casino Exec and he was able to coordinate with the resort to get us a wireless modem. Four girls in the penthouse suite all wanting to get internet access and play poker or get work done on our lap tops. We couldn’t do it without the wireless access and the hotel was very accommodating in helping us get wireless internet.

Lots and lots of pros were in town for the tournament. Some of the big names who also tried their luck at the table included Brad “Yukon” Booth, Gavin Smith, Lacey Jones, Mark Napier, Gabe Kaplan, Dennis Philips, Isabelle Mercier, Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle, David Williams, and Steve Sung. The nearly 700 player field had a really good mix of amateur and professional poker players. Many recognizable online players rounded out the field. Once I was knocked out the Resort asked me if I could do some promos for them and light hosting duties.

The third aspect of the trip was just good ole fashioned fun. On Thursday night a large group of us went out to dinner. Some of the other poker players such as Michael Binger, Steve Sung, Todd Bui and all of the ladies went out to dinner. Later that night we just had a chill time in our Hotel Suite. We had drinks and laid low.

The next night, Friday, a large group of us headed into Downtown Vancouver. Lacey, Tiffany, Maria, Gavin, Brad, Steve Sung, Todd, Brian “Devo”, and about 10 other friends headed into a night club called Caprice. Lacey’s good friend Alex Lee Behan booked us a table at Caprice. We had a terrific time.

On Saturday, the girls stayed in for the night. I filmed some cutaways for the River Rock Casino Resort. To promote the Resort and the BC Poker Championships. There was also an autograph session.

On Sunday, we all stuck around the final table area to watch Daniel Negreanu win the BC Poker Championship. Once again, congrats to Daniel!! I’m back in Las Vegas and next on the Horizon is the Five Star Diamond Classic at the Bellagio in December.

I will post another blog very soon. I have some other thoughts and stories to share. But for now I need to get some rest and recover from the busy week in BC!!

Cheers!

Monday morning, I jumped into my Benz and started driving to Los Angeles to visit my Chilipoker Sponsor, Alexandre Dreyfus. I was supposed to meet him at 5am. Don’t ask. Something to do with Alex trying to stay on European time. He tries to sleep at the same time he would if he was in France.

I didn’t leave Vegas until 2:30am. I was struggling to leave at all. Alex has been so supportive of me and has been the absolutely best Sponsor anyone could ask for so there was no way I wasn’t going to drive to L.A. but I was soooo tired!! I arrived in L.A. around 6:30 in the morning and I decided to spend the rest of the week there. Alex and I had some good meetings on Monday and discussed some upcoming projects and pending business.

After joining Alex for breakfast, we decided that I take him on a sightseeing tour. We headed to Beverly Hills and Alex wanted to check out some of the homes in that area. There’s a slight chance he might move to Los Angeles someday, since he loves the weather so much. And then I took him to my favorite spot in L.A. That’s right! Rodeo Drive.

The rest of the time I just played poker online. I am not running well online!! I am actually playing quite well. I played heads up mostly. I ended up down 13k before I called it quits for the week. It was an up and down session. On Thursday I went heads up against a very loose and aggressive player and he hit so many times on the river. I wanted to puke. I would check raise and raise him on the flop and turn. Of course he had air everytime but this didn’t stop him from chasing me down and hitting every over card or draw on the river. It was pretty sick. Oh well, that’s poker right?

Here’s a funny story. It is Friday and I just returned from L.A. I am in Vegas now writing this blog from home and it took me 6 ½ hours to get here. The traffic in LA is an absolute nightmare. I called a friend and they asked me why I was driving back to Vegas on a Friday. That is the worst day to drive. I thought it was Thursday!!

Okay. I think I am going to book my trip to the British Columbia Poker Championships in Vancouver, B.C. next week. I hear it’s a great event at a great venue. I haven’t played this event before but I am looking forward too it.

The event will be held at the River Rock Casino Resort. Rumor is the first prize of the Main Event will be around one million U.S. dollars. I fly out Wednesday. I will report back from Canada and let you know how it goes. Cheers!