Halloweekend!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Friday Night!! Just so you know, this is going to be short. It is Halloween weekend in Vegas and one of the most interesting and busiest weekends of the year for the Clubs. Big plans with the girls! Me, Lisa, Lacey and Galina are meeting up and heading over to TAO. I’ve received several text messages from friends throughout the day asking me to swing by TAO to party tonight.

Just to give you a quick update, the rest of the week has been pretty mellow. I stayed at home most of this week. Since my last journal entry, I’ve been busy doing interviews, working on my different blogs and working on a poker article. I did get out one day and went to watch a movie then played some Bingo afterwards at the Hard Rock with some girlfriends. That was a blast!! I love Bingo. Not many people know this about me but I can play that game all day long.

My computer is so hot at the moment, it might explode!! The computer has been on all day and I think it’s about to overheat! I do want to send a special announcement to my Niece and Nephew who both turned 14 yesterday. They are twins. I am extremely lucky to have them in my life. Every year I call them to wish them a Happy Birthday and ask them what they want. This year, they hardly asked for anything at all. My niece in particular specifically requested that the gift be under $40. I told her she could get anything she wanted and I could afford to spend more but she told me she already had, “The greatest aunt in the world for my present.” I was so touched by her sincerity and couldn’t hold back my tears after hearing that. She has no greed or selfishness in her.

Well I’m off to go party with my girlfriends tonight in LV and tomorrow I fly to Los Angeles to attend Shannon Elizabeth’s Scavenger Hunt party she is hosting. That should be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to hanging out with my good friend Shannon and than I am back to Las Vegas in a couple days. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween weekend. I will update my blog and hope to have lots of interesting stories to tell you guys from my weekend adventures.

It’s All Good!

I spent the last two days just chilling at home, recuperating from the long weekend of partying with my friends. Play time’s over, now its back to business again.

I’ve got a couple of shout outs that I would like to share with everyone, it’s all good! Just around the corner in November, CardPlayer Bulgaria’s third issue is expected to hit news stands and casinos and I’m delighted to be gracing the cover of their November issue. So my poker friends and fans in Bulgaria, keep an eye out for it. A big thanks and best wishes to you all!

12-05-2008 – A documentary film entitled “IN THE RED ZONE”
Director Jean-Marie NIZAN along with LABEL-IMAGE a TV production company based in Paris, France will be traveling to Las Vegas to conduct an exclusive interview with me to talk with them about my passion with cards and the relationships between Cinema and Poker.

About the Film
A documentary with Mickey Rourke, Nascar driver + poker players Liz Lieu and a couple others.

The film focuses on 3 domains where characters gamble with their lives on-screen: the boxer in the ring, the player at the card table, and the driver on the asphalt track.

Red like the boxer’s blood. Red like the ace of diamonds. Red like the rev counter’s danger zone.

Three territories, three locations, three sets of rules to define three genres. Working from these archetypes, the directors bring their talent into play, using and purposely transgressing conventional practices.

In his look back at boxing, gambling and automobiles, the documentary’s director Jean-Marie NIZAN reviews some of the greatest moments in cinema over the last forty years: The Cincinnati Kid, Raging Bull, The Sting, Grand-Prix, Rocky, Bobby Deerfield, Casino, Million Dollar Baby, to name just a few …

Wanting to “cross” interviews of cinema people (directors and actors) who already have approach the genre and poker players, car racers and boxers.

Combining three different sports, all having one thing in common – Lives constantly living on the edge! Definitely very interesting and I’m pleased to have been approached and asked to participate in this film!

Cheers!

The Revival of The Poker Diva

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!

Back to Normality

Has it really been two months since I posted here? Bad, bad Liz. I have to make this more of a habit. My posts at PokerListings work out pretty well, but I neglect my own site – not good at all!

A lot has happened in these last two months. I headed to Macau to play in the APT and APPT events there. I was hoping for a return to a Final Table or two but no luck. The APT was definitely the better run of the two events. They really took care of the poker players and made me feel special.

I headed to Hong Kong and had a great time with some of my friends as well as friends of Alex. Hong Kong is a real blast, and I hope I can get back there soon. I got a great new tattoo as well in Thailand. The artist used bamboo, which takes longer but I think is nicer. After my spiritual time in my homeland for my father’s ceremony, I wanted something really special. And it is.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been back in LA. And I’ve decided to spend more time back here in LA and Vegas. I just haven’t liked being so far away from friends and family, and I haven’t been a big fan of all the travel and hotels. I liked London, but I think ultimately I was just too alone there. Maybe I didn’t give it a good chance as I was hopping around all over Europe when I got there.

I’ve been spending time at the Commerce, and the cash games have been very juicy, real action games that play to my strength. Unfortunately, I’ve had a tough run last week. I’m proud of how I handled it, running away to Cabo with my girlfriends rather than getting caught up in the emotion of a big loss. All of the beautiful casinos of Las Vegas are built on that human emotion, the fear and frustration and anger of taking a big hit. I feel those same emotions, but I’ve built a thick skin that keeps me from tilting and lets me get through these sessions.

And what a great weekend it was with my girlfriends in Cabo. Cathleen, Jackie, and Tiffany have been my friends for so long. They are the ones who give me tough love through everything, through poker, through men, through tough family times. They are so close to me that they don’t fear speaking the truth as to what they see. They had planned on going with their families for awhile, and I wasn’t sure if I would make it or not. I’m very glad I did.

I spent lots of time sunning, just relaxing without thinking about too much. Saturday was a day of rough weather, so it was just a lot of lounging around plus a spa visit. I really feel rejuvenated after this trip, and I’m ready to hit the tables hard.

I’m going to be spending most of my time in cash games at Commerce when I’m in LA and at the Bellagio when I’m in Vegas. I’ll probably play the bigger tourneys, but I need to get back into grind mode for awhile.  I haven’t had the stamina to play the twenty and thirty-hour sessions, but I have felt better playing for ten or twelve hours at a time. I want to be sure I’m sharp and at my best, as I think the play has improved at the stakes I’m playing at.

I don’t want to promise that I’ll keep my blog up more here at LizLieu.net, but I promise it won’t be two months again until the next post. In fact, check back here as I hope to have a post up later this week from Vegas. Keep checking out my posts at PokerListings.com. Keep up the comments everywhere. I really love hearing from everyone.

The Best and Worst of Times

After a seventeen hour flight, I’ve finally arrived back in Vietnam on the 29th of July.  Eight months have already pass by since my last visit back to my homeland for my father’s 100th day praying ceremony, amazing how time flies by so quick. And now I find myself back again. This time is for the one-year anniversary of my beloved father’s passing and also I will be spending a few weeks doing my charity work.

I spent my first two days in Saigon to spend some time with my father at Lam Te Temple. Then I hopped on a flight to DaNang with my cousin, niece, and nephew for four days to start my charity journey along with my Teacher monk. As soon we got off the plane, I grabbed a taxi and headed straight to my Teacher monk’s temple to prepare all the necessities needed for the early trip the next day.

We were off and on the road by 6 am, drove five hours on rough bumpy roads to finally reach our destination. By the time we arrived, all the villagers were already at the temple waiting patiently.

Before I began passing out the much-needed food to these villagers, a ceremony was conducted by my Teacher Monk to honor me with blessings. I slipped into a blue robe throughout the ceremony which represents my status as his disciple. Being granted  Buddhism relics is one of the most precious gift for a temple, and I felt honored when my Teacher Monk showed me the 3 relics that was granted to his temple in DaNang.

It was time to distribute the supplies to the villagers when the ceremony ended. There are more than 200 homes in that village so it took us about 2 hours to give out all the supplies. As an appreciation, the villagers prepared a vegetarian feast at the temple for me and my family. This charity journey took over 15 hours on the road, but it was all well worth it!

It was my birthday the day after our charity trip. However, it wasn’t a good time for celebration because I’m here to mourn for my dad. I decided to go the temple to spend a peaceful birthday, my Teacher Monk conducted a four hour ceremony to pray for both my father and I.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my family, friends, and fans for all the kind birthday wishes. Much love to you all!

I spent the rest of that evening and the following day just playing online at Chilipoker. Then took an evening flight back to Saigon. I’m currently still in Saigon right now preparing a big praying ceremony for my dad’s anniversary on the 18th of August. I’ll be here till the end of the month, then I’m off to Macau. Take care till then.

Cheers!

Balancing Time During WSOP!

Well, it’s been a great couple of weeks for me since I posted here last.  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’ve followed me on PokerListings as well as everywhere else you find poker news.

I’ve been mixing tournaments with cash games at the Bellagio.  I had my first WSOP cash this year (28th in the $2.5k NLHE event).  I played really well, but I would have loved to take down that bracelet (the $666,697 for first wouldn’t hurt either!).  So many pros going deep.  The bracelets are staying in the pro ranks, both the old-timers and the young studs.  There aren’t nearly as many soft spots as there have been in the past.  I guess the number of players is still as strong as last year, but the quality seems to be much deeper.  It is rare to not recognize someone at your table, unless you take a seat at a $1.5k NLHE donkament!

Cash games are going great for me.  Seven sessions:  one small loss, one break-even, and five winning sessions.  That is the plan, to win big and minimize the losing sessions.  The games have finally started to get a bit bigger at the Bellagio.  I played two sessions of $400/800, one with a $100 ante at Nick Shulman’s suggestion.  It included Hansu, Greg Mueller, Van Diesel, Jenifer Harman, Eddie Ting, and Minh Ly.  That group will definitely keep you on your toes, and it was nice to rack up more chips than I sat down with at a table like that.

I also got away from poker a bit.  I did some shopping at the Caesar’s stores (I miss, miss, miss shopping!).  They still remember me there, even though I’ve been gone basically for a year.  I had Zach, my PA, and one of his friends Alvin in town.  I think they had a great time—good food, seeing a show.  Vegas done right!  He and Alvin are sweethearts, and it was great to spend some time with them.

I also had my girlfriends in town from LA.  Seven hotties out on the town, taking the night by storm!  It was a crazy night, one big girls party.  I kept drinking Red Bull while they drank whatever they had that looked pretty similar to Red Bull (but with a different kick).  One of my girlfriends picked up the tab (we never ever let boys pay for things—GIRL POWER!).  Anyways, the girls chose to party at The Bank, one of the hot night clubs at Bellagio in Vegas, and the bill for the seven of us came out to $8600.  So my girlfriend asked what we tip. I told her it’s up to her, and she left $800 for the waitress and $400 was tipped to the busboys earlier in the night already.

So the waitress comes back with a response it’s not enough, that we needed to leave at least 10-20%.  I really have never had anyone come back with a tip and say it wasn’t enough. I thought it was outrageous. We ended up just laughing it off and leaving her $1000.

I missed being out with my girlfriends, just laughing and not thinking about anything.  This past year has been a year away from that, twelve months of being alone for the most part.  I’m not used to it, and I really loved being there with all my friends.

I’ll be playing a few more events before the Main Event, so keep checking here or PokerListings to see how I’m doing. I’m physically feeling great, so my sickness is behind me.  That and my friends are keeping me at my best, and I hope I can get even further at my next WSOP Event.  Ciao!

WSOP Begins…Game On!

I have neglected my own site.  I admit it. And I am sorry

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so kind during my illness.  It was over forty days that I was sick, sicker, flown to the US, had an operation, then sat in bed recovering.  I’ve gone through every feeling imaginable:  discomfort, pain, anxiousness, fear, misery, sadness, anger, stubbornness, fatigue, graciousness, humility, thankfulness, and anticipation.  Now, I’m feeling great, ready to get all of the bad feelings (and bad beats!) behind me.

I wasn’t sure when I would start playing in the World Series of Poker until I received a call from Fabrice Soulier, my Chilipoker teammate.  He’s made a five-figure bet with a team from Winamax (a French company).  He’s betting that he and I can win more cash this WSOP than the Winamax team.  Here’s who we’re up against:

The Chilipoker Team:
Liz Lieu
Fabrice Soulier

The Winamax Team:
Michel Abecassis
Manuel Bevand
Guillaume De La Gorce
Vikash Dhorasso
Davidi Kitai
Eric Koskas
Ludovic Lacay
Antony Lellouche
Nicolas Levi
Arnaud Mattern
Alexia Portal
Anthony Roux
Almira Skripchenko

Game On!!  At least he got me fired up and ready to go, so I headed to the Bellagio to play a quick cash game Friday night, just to be sure I would feel up to playing cards.  There were no high stakes games going on at the Bellagio, so I played $100/200 LHE for a few hours.  I got a bit bored, but I remembered that a flush beat a straight, so I was ready to head to the Rio for my first event.

I played Sunday in the second Day 1 of Event #2, a $1.5k NLHE event.  These weekend events are going to have huge fields, and I’d recommend anyone who wants to take their shot at a bracelet to try one of these events first.  Sure, it takes a bit of luck, but Theo Tran is leading the event as they’re down to 18 players, so you have to be able to play to go deep.  I won’t bore you with how I went out (aces cracked again!!!!), you can read all about it on my PokerListings blog.

You might be able to see my photo there (hair color:  red!), but I had a friend tell me about a new policy that Harrah’s has this year.  Photos can only stay up 72 hours online then have to come down.  I’m not sure I understand why this is the case, but that’s the way it is.

Besides that, Harrah’s has made some nice improvements to the WSOP.  More food (Pizza Hut and Krispy Kreme kiosks!!), not so cold, color-coded table signs.  It all seems a little better than the last few years, and I haven’t had any problem with the long lines that plagued last year’s Series.

I’m hoping to play as many hold-em events as possible this year.  I promise I’ll write more here as well as on PokerListings, so check both of these sites out every day.  Thanks again for all of the love.  I’ve really felt it the last few weeks, and I hope I can return the favor with a big score this summer.

Call Off the Search Party!

Don’t send the search party! Liz Lieu is in Vegas and doing fine. If you haven’t heard, I’ve been sidetracked by some bad fish! I’ve had a number of people checking up on me after looking at the live tournament updates wondering where I was. I was sick in bed, in of all places Monaco!! I had such high hopes for the EPT Grand Finale in Monaco last week and for the Five Star World Poker Classic in Vegas this week. These are my two favorite tournaments of the entire year. The only other tournaments that compare are the Five Diamond in December and the WSOP Main Event. I was really looking forward to competing and was really disappointed to get so sick

Ironically, I did everything in my control to be prepared for the EPT Grand Finale. I flew into Monte Carlo a day early to get adjusted and properly rested from the travel. I even passed on a great party thrown for the poker players, the evening before Day 1A to make sure I had enough sleep. Then I decided to order a salmon dish before going to bed and woke up the next day feeling very ill. The Hotel is 5 Star in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. I never even considered getting bad room service!!

When I woke up the next day, I was feeling dizzy, feint and just awful. Luckily, Alex was able to move my Day 1A start to Day 1B and I went back to bed hoping I could sleep it off. Unfortunately I just felt worse the next day. I had sharp stomach pains and asked my Sponsor Alex to try and get me a refund on my buy-in. Thankfully, they agreed on giving us a full refund and I didn’t have to suck it up and play it out. As bad as I felt, there was no way I could’ve played close to my “A” game.

The entire Day 1B was spent in bed and trying to convince room service to deliver me some soup. The only soup the Hotel had was Minestrone and they only gave me this after much struggle. Apparently the poker players were only allowed to order from the poker menu. Soup wasn’t on the menu but it was the only food I could keep down and after Alex made a phone call to room service they agreed to send a tiny bowl up.

The adventure didn’t stop in Monte Carlo. I spent a few more days in my hotel room recovering and then back to Vegas on my scheduled flight to the States. I still felt ill but hoped I could sleep through most of the flight. On the first leg of the flight, I was able to get some sleep but I awoke in a feverish sweat. I felt a little light headed and dizzy as well. The flight attendant noticed I wasn’t feeling quite right and made sure I was taken care of on my connecting flight. I was even provided a wheel chair to transport me around on my connection and arrival. I was whisked thru these long security lines and somebody even grabbed my luggage for me. It was actually quite nice! I didn’t realize how quickly you could navigate thru an airport when you are in a wheel chair.

That was my Monte Carlo experience!! I’m back in Vegas and still not well enough to play in the Five Diamond Event at the Bellagio but it did give me a chance to catch up on some blogging. I immediately went to the doctor after getting back home and I have all kinds of stuff wrong with me!! Low blood pressure, fever, food poisoning. The doctor tells me I’m too stressed out and along with the food poisoning and travelling I just need to chill out for awhile. I know many of you have been emailing me when you noticed I didn’t play either of the last two major events and rest assured; besides being quite ill right now from some bad salmon everything is okay.

And as soon as I get my strength back, I will probably play some cash games exclusively until the WSOP.

Cheers!

Cirling Europe

Hello from beautiful Monte Carlo, although I hardly feel beautiful today. It’s been a crazy few weeks, including my time in Malta with the Chilipoker team, a cash at the EPT San Remo, and a lot of expectations heading into the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. I was so looking forward to getting off to a great start, but I unfortunately I never got out of bed.

I spent a lot of time working with the Chilipoker team in Malta. Alex has put together some terrific people, and we’re working on many great things for the rest of this year. I’m so glad I chose Chilipoker and Alex as partners, because that’s what they are: true partners in every sense of the word.

From there, I headed to Italy and EPT San Remo. San Remo is near France and not too easy to reach, as I flew into Milano then rode in a car for almost three hours. It is a beautiful, ancient place, but I had no time to see the sights. It was a great tournament for me, and not due to the fact that I cashed (although that is always welcome). No, it was great because I played great, made good decisions, and made no real mistakes. I was near the chip lead on Day 2 and would have been strong for a deep run had it not been for this tough hand.

The blinds were 800/1600 with a 200 ante, and I picked up pocket 4′s. I raised to 5k and both blinds called. The rainbow flop came 9-8-6, and I checked behind both blinds. When I saw 4(d) come from the dealer on the turn, I caught my nice bottom set. I bet 9500 after both blinds checked, then one of the guys moved all-in for 49,200. I quickly called and saw him turn over J-10o. If I could avoid a queen or 7, I’d have a great stack. It was one of the queens that spiked on the river, and it crippled me.

I went out in 53rd place with 8,000 euro (a little over $12,600). I felt I’d played poorly in Poland, and here I played really well. I even had a little luck, with my dreaded pocket aces holding up five times in a row!

After heading back to Malta for a bit, I flew to Monte Carlo for the final event of the EPT season, the EPT Grand Final. I arrived early so I could be really relaxed and prepared for this big event. I even skipped the PokerStars party the evening before Day 1A. I ordered salmon for room service and headed to bed early. When I woke up, I felt horrible. Major headache and drowsiness. I called Alex at Chilipoker to see if he could reschedule me for Day 1B (he could), and I went back to bed after taking some medication from the concierge.

The next morning, it was worse. I reached back out to Alex to see if he could get a refund, and I felt relieved when he told me he could. I was able to have a doctor see me, and I didn’t really feel better for a couple days. I missed playing in the tournament, but I’d rather not play then not play my best. I owe it to Alex and Chilipoker to only put my best foot forward, and Alex has been great throughout the EPT season.

And now, I’ll be heading back to the US and Las Vegas. I can’t wait to get out of the hotels and back home again. I play in the $25k WPT Championship at the Bellagio this weekend, and I’m hoping I’ll feel 100% by then. I’ll be staying in Vegas throughout the summer at the World Series, and I have high hopes to have a great few months.

Join me at Chilipoker when you have a chance. And if you’re somewhere in Asia, you can find me on the cover of Asian Poker Times as well (one of my nicer photos, too!). Keep up all the encouraging comments and thoughts. They really, really help me a lot!

The Liz Lieu Exclusive on Chilipoker…Come Join Me!

Well, I made it back to Malta, barely in one piece after the EPT Warsaw event. You can read my recap on PokerListings, but I can tell you that I need some good luck with pocket aces sometime soon! Losing three out of five times in Day 1 will do that to you. I made it through the first day and made a horrible play short-handed on Day 2 that could have put me back in the thick of things.

The flight back to Malta was a nightmare. It took me over twelve hours including a layover in Frankfurt. Needless to say, I’m not a very big fan of Air Malta now

For the first few days back in Malta, I played a good bit online at Chilipoker after I went to the office for three-four hours. It was really great being with Alex and the team, and it made me feel even more a part of the Chilipoker family. When there are so many people working so hard, it gets you motivated, especially since they’ve involved me in many things going on there. A highlight for me was meeting Eric, Chilipoker’s main web designer. I’ve been working with him via email for several months, so it’s always great to connect in person.

Chilipoker is working on some great things to continue to grow the site. One of the most exciting things just popped up, a “cheaproll” tournament that I’ll be hosting. Anyone who knocks me out gets a free Wii, and they’ll be adding $500 to the prizepool plus giving an Xbox to one player who makes the Final Table. It should be a really fun time, and it will be 26 March at 20:00GMT. It’s a $1.10 buy-in, so it should be loads of fun.

Alex and Eric took me to see The Other Boleyn Girl, which was really a great movie. I was startled though when they stopped the movie in the middle for a fifteen-minute intermission. They used to do that in the US back in the ’60′s, but it was really odd to see everyone hustling out to get snacks or take a smoke break.

On Saturday, Alex had rented a convertible Mini Cooper and took both Eric and myself on a sight seeing tour around Malta. Some places he took us to had amazing views and scenery. We spent most of the morning to mid afternoon just driving around and stopping at nice places as we go. Fabrice joined us later Saturday, and we had a great time out that night. Easter Sunday we went sightseeing on another island near Malta called Gozo. I was exhausted, but it was great to take some time and see a place I’d been working.

Hope to see everyone at my cheaproll at ChiliPoker! I’ll be shooting to win it so I can keep the Wii myself!