Liz Lieu Poker Biography | Liz Lieu at ChiliPoker.com

• Name: Liz Lieu • Nickname: Poker Diva • Birth Date: August 2, 1974 • Birth Place: Ho ChiMinh City, Vietnam • Current Residence: Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London • Poker Room: ChiliPoker

Originally born in Vietnam to a Chinese father and a Vietnamese mother, Liz was immediately brought to the States and raised in Colorado. Her parents were very dedicated to get the best for her and her older sister. They never gave up their roots and led a Vietnamese life, one with a strong country identity and heritage with Vietnamese being spoken at home. Already at 13, Liz found an interest in cards, particularly Chinese poker back then, playing with some friends and connecting to the game. Poker became a regular part of her life and at 18 years, she was organising home games of Hold'em and Pai gow. Later on when her father suffered a heart attack, she stepped up, told her parents to quit their jobs and offered to provide for them from then on through her poker winnings. Liz started out with the $80-$160 Limit Hold’em cash games in Vegas and then continued moving up in limits and eventually decided a move to Sin City. During the 2005 World Series of Poker, Liz turned to tournament play. With her bestfriend John Phan’s encouragement she entered the $1500 no-limit hold'em event and classified fifth with over $168,000 in prize money. In the same year, she went on to place 12th in the $5000 no-limit hold'em event cashing in the $3000 tournament as well. At the Bellagio's 2005 Festa Al Lago tournament, Liz placed fourth in the $2500 no limit hold'em event and 16th in two other top tournaments in the series cashing in more than $80,000. She also finished in the top ten spots at the World Poker Finals, Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the Gold Strike World Poker Open which boosted up her income. She got money finishes in EPT, WPT and APPT events. 2005 was also the year she started working with worldwide non-profit organizations and started donating 20% of her tournament earnings to charity. Through the years she dedicated a lot of her time to so many oganisations and causes in the States and Vietnam. At the 2006 L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce Casino, she won the $1000 limit hold'em event which made this her first tournament win. She was also honoured by the WSOP and ESPN as a Final Table Grand Marshall along with Johnny Chan. She also did several magazine coves in 2006, such as Deal and American Poker Player. In 2007, she attended the L.A. Poker Classic and played in the $1000 no-limit hold'em tournament with another 450 players and won the first prize of over $148,000. During this year she also appeared on the covers of Maxim's Total Poker, Woman Poker Player, Midwest Gaming & Travel, Poker Player, World Poker Tour, Flush, Maximal, Poker Pro Europe, and Poker Pro France. More exposure was through several newspapers in Singapore during her participation in the BetFair Asian Poker Tour events. She excelled at limit hold'em cash games for a number of years. She also solidified her place on the world tournament circuit with two back to back final tables at the premier of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in Macau. 2007 also saw her signing a sponsorship deal with ChiliPoker. But 2007 was also a bad year for Liz Lieu, as her beloved father passed away after having had health problems for many years. Liz was devastated by the loss of her dad as he was an important figure in her life, always offering her support and strength. She decided to take time off from the poker tables and flew to Vietnam, where her father had spent the later years of his life. She needed to be close to him while she grieved and threw herself into charity work. She experienced a sense of unbelievable fulfilment that filled up the gap her father left. Liz's work took her across the country to homeless shelters, orphanages and homes for the ill and elderly, supplying rice and other essentials to the communities. Liz dedicated her work to him and achieved a sense of completion through this kindness and charity work. She then returned to the poker world with a renewed strength, stamina and back on track. Through her career, Liz has encountered personal obstacles that caused her to nearly go broke and had to almost re-start everything from scratch. Her best friend, John Phan helped her get the confidence and strength back to start rebuilding her bankroll. She focused completely on her game and was soon climbing the ladder of success. She has a flair for style and love for fashion clothing, thus the nickname ‘Poker Diva’ which came from her fellow poker players. She has developed quite a unique image at the tables, the asian petite frame and stylish appearance. When it comes to cards, she goes into an aggressive style, serious demeanour and killer instincts with a love for competition. Liz represents the Chilipoker site at poker events worldwide. Nowadays, she plays regularly at the $400/$800 limit and splits her time between L.A., Las Vegas and London. When not playing, she loves to shop, dance and spend family time. She speaks Chinese, Vietnamese and English Liz Lieu’s other achievements • 14 cashes and 2 1st place finishes • Placed 5th in her first WSOP event in 2005 • 8 cashes and $295,190 • 8th in 2007 Special, APPT Macau High Roller Event • 7th in the 2007 Macau Main Event • 12th in the 2005 WSOP Event 13 Jennifer Liz has been very successful so far, as she holds natural talent on the felt and has the looks too. She is loved by the media who see her as a prominent personality and a good poker representative. She is a winning poker player but was also clever to market herself much more than others pros. This proves to be a very reliable income as she has built an image that is very popular by the media. Full of energy and confidence she accumulates a lot of tournament finishes. She has earned over $650,000 in less than three years of tournament play and currently ranks as the 19th all-time female money-earner in poker history. Fiercely competitive but with a soft heart, clever, smart and generous, she is an addition in the poker world usually dominated by men. At the Final Table Grand Marshall, Nolan Dalla introduced her as the next likely woman to win a WSOP bracelet. Throughout her play, she has shown her versatility at the tables and the range of her poker ability. Respected by her peers, poker fans and the media, Liz is a proud ambassador of poker and looks forward to the future.