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February 7, 2007 - Bringing Home LA Poker Classic Trophy

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

Didn't I say that this was looking to be a good year? :) When I rounded out 2006 with the Bellagio Five Diamond tournaments and didn't cash, I took some time off from the tournament circuit to focus on family and business. I partnered with my fabulous agent, Stephen, and felt that some great things were in the works for 2007. Those things are still in the negotiation process, and I hope to have some other announcements soon. As for poker, since I've been in L.A. since the holidays, I did spend some time playing cash games at Commerce. I had some good sessions and not-so-good sessions, then the LA Poker Classic came to town. I intended to play some of the events and finally decided on the $1000 No Limit Hold'em tournament earlier this week. On Tuesday evening, I went back as I was one of the final 36 players left in the tournament, and we ended up playing all night. The field was very tough, not many well-known pros but most were very experienced, solid players. The event finally ended at 6:30am on Wednesday, we were all exhausted, and I took home the championship trophy and prize money!!! Woo-hoo!!! I've been playing tournaments for a few years now, and though I did win a Limit Hold'em event at the 2006 LA Poker Classic, I had been working really hard and improving my game in the hopes of winning another event. This win was good for me in so many ways and came at a really great time for me. As I've done in the past and will continue to do, 20% of my prize money will be donated to my charities, and I can't tell you how happy I am to do this. I devote whatever time I can to charities, but I know that money is necessary for these organizations to do their research and really help people. Being able to keep my promise to donate a percentage of my winnings is an awesome feeling! I just want to say that I appreciate all of the support from friends, family, and people who understand that poker is a tough game, and most people can't win all the time. So, I love that people support me when my name isn't in first place on the tournament results, and it's nice to get the congratulations messages when my name is there. Thanks for supporting me through everything, and I truly believe that there will be more "firsts" this year!

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February 18, 2007 - From Vegas to L.A. to London, I'm a Woman on the Move!

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

First, I want to let everyone know that my new website has been launched! I'm still working with my new webmaster to add more information and features to the site, but the main part of it is alive and kicking. I arrived in Vegas a few days ago for the Hoopology event and to take care of some personal business. One of the great things about this trip was that my agent, Stephen Pearson, came to Vegas to meet me here (from London) and accompany me to the Hoopology festivities. Though we've been working together for about two months, this was the first time I had the chance to spend time in person with him. We've really built a great friendship, and these past few days showed that even though he's very professional most of the time, he is also generous, funny, and a fun person to be around. The Hoopology event was a great time. The poker tournament at the Hard Rock was fun, and I was put at one of the featured tables with people like Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson, Gus Hansen, and Patrik Antonius. It was a great table, until the Great Dane himself busted me from the tournament! His K-6 (off) won over my A-7 (clubs) when he hit a pair. Anyway, I was glad to be invited to the charity event because Trent Tucker does great things with the money he raises, and he knows how to host a great party! I've spent a lot of time in Vegas this week in meetings and taking care of business, including arranging my furniture to be moved from Colorado to my new condo. But I've found some time to hang out with friends, too. On Friday night, I reserved a VIP section at Pure Nightclub at Caesars, which is somewhere that I love to go when I'm in Vegas. I invited about 15 people to come with me, like Stephen, Nick Geber, Jill, Lisa, Joy, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Cantu, Jimmy, and five of my friends from Colorado, including Matt who I've known for 15 years. (Happy Birthday, Matt!) There was an article written on Vegas Pop that talked about that night at Pure – you can check it out at http://www.vegaspopular.com/category/celebrity. Once my furniture gets delivered on Tuesday, I'm going to head back to L.A. on Wednesday (hopefully), then play in the $1000 no-limit hold'em event at the L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce on Thursday. I really wanted to play in more events, but I've been swamped with business and other commitments. I won't be able to play in the LAPC main event or the WPT Invitational, but I'll be on a plane on February 24th to London! I'm going to play in the PartyPoker.com Premiere League Poker tournament – a party on the 25th and the first round starting on the 26th. It's a $20,000 buy-in, and with $260,000 added to the prize pool by PartyPoker, the winner will take home $500,000! It will be filmed and air on Channel 4 in the U.K., and I'm going to be playing against players like Phil Hellmuth, Devilfish Ulliott, Tony G, Roland de Wolfe, Kenna James, Andy Black, Kiril Gerasimov, Ian Frazer,Eddy Scharf,Juha Helpi, and VickiCoren – 12 pro players in all. There are six qualifying rounds that will lead to heads-up matches after that. It's going to be a great tournament, and I'm excited to be playing! In response to people who've been asking if they can watch the tournament, I've received word that there will be an audience area. The tournament will be played and televised at Maidstone Film Studios, Vinters Park, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 5 NZ. If you are able to come by, please say hi! So, that's my schedule for the coming weeks. I'm very much looking forward to the LAPC event and the London trip. Even though it will be a hectic few weeks, I'm really feeling good about everything that is going on and the events that I'm participating in. I'll keep you updated!

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February 27, 2007 - $20,000 Buy-in Party Poker Premiere League Poker-- Updates

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

I'm finally in London! I arrived here on the 25th of Feb at about 3:50pm. The London airport was like a zoo. It took me about an hour to get through customs and get my luggages. My agent Stephen Pearson was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and drive me down to Maidstone, Kent where this $20,000 Buy-in Party Poker Premiere League Poker is being filmed. After arriving at my hotel, I attended a press meeting and media kick-off to the event. After chatting with everyone for awhile I decided to call it an early night so I could get some rest and be prepared for tomorrow's match. I was on the scheduled to play my first match with Tony G, Phil Hellmuth, Andy Black, Kirill G., and The Devilfish.. what a line-up eh?!?. From tomorrow on you will be able to track all the action live on the net at www.PokerNews.com As for today's action there is not an Internet connection set up so here's how the first heat was played out..... There was a lot of table chatter and psychological warfare before even the first card was dealt. A lot of good material was left on the greenroom floor when The DevilFish had a go at just about everybody. Telling Kenna why don't I go back to Brokeback Mountain. And something to Andy Black about wearing a sheet (Andy was a monk for 5 years). Let me just say.. there was definitely ALOT of trash talking going on! Anyway, when the competition began the DevilFish continued to mix it up in almost every pot. I caught a number of consecutive great starting hands and during the second level I happened to get tangled in a heads-up pot with DevilFish when he was in the big blind. I picked up A(s)Q(c) I made a medium size raise, everyone mucked except for DevilFish. The flop came A K 6 (all diamonds) the turn comes a 7(c). DevilFish tried to bully me around, by check-raising me all-in on the turn, DevilFish gave just a little too much info away on the hand by making a comment to me "You must have KQ with the Q of diamonds huh?" that comment was enough for me to call his all-in raise. DevilFish turns over A4 (off.. no diamond redraw) and he was crippled and never quite recovered. There was a lot of back and forth early but mostly forth to my stack which continued in a an upward direction all night as I amassed 400,000 of the 600,000 chips in play. Tony G was first out, then it was the DevilFish in 5th, Kirill in 4th with an untimely move in with AQ(c) vs. my AK(h). Andy Black held on for a long time after a real bad beat but ended up getting caught on an all-in move against me with QJ. I made the call, which was about a third of my stack with KQ which held up and found myself heads up with Hellmuth with a 480 to 120 chip lead. About 12 hands into the heads-up match with Phil.. I picked up QQ's on the button, I raised it 40k then Phil moves all-in for about 84k more. I immediately called! Phil turns over KJ(off) against my QQ's.. The flop comes.. J J K, turns a blank, rivers a blank. Phil doubles up... What a flop eh?!?!? I lost about 5 consecutive hands to Phil after that. I made one mistake during my heads-up play with Phil, I picked up KJ(c) on the button, I decided to smooth call instead of raise, Phil checks the big blind. The flop comes Q 9 8.. Phil checks, I bet out 28k, Phil calls my 28k and raised another 40k.. which leaves Phil with about 100k left in chips. I made a bad read and decided to move all-in. Phil calls my all-in and turned over QJ(off) the turn comes a 7(c) which gave me more outs.. any clubs, K, or 10 on the river would end the match, but unfortunately the river came a A(s) and Phil doubles up again which leaves me now short stacked with about 150k in chips. A few hands were played back and forth a few times but I think the hand that broke my spirit was when Phil moved all-in with 44's and I called with KQ(d). The flop fell T/8/8. The turn was a 10 and of course the river had to come an 8. Instead of doubling up.. It had to end in a chopped pot! Phil ended up winning the match, winning $8,000 and more importantly the 8 points that's included with winning the heat. I received $6,000 and 6 points. Andy 3, Kirill 2, DevilFish 1, and Tony G no points. I start my second match again today at 11am.. I'll keep you updated!

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March 8, 2007 - Back from England and Heading to San Jose - Whew!

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

I had a fabulous time in England! As you know from my last blog, I was there playing the Party Poker Premiere League at Maidstone Studios, and I won 6 points on Day 1... Day 2 was a little different. In the key hand of the day, Tony G was to my right and made a raise to about 12k. I picked up AK(h), so I raised to 35k, and Andy Black to my left moved all in. Tony mucked, and I was pot-committed so I called. Andy showed pocket Q's, I got no help from the board, and I was out in 5th place for 1 point. I had a total of 7 points so far. Day 3 was rough because a little incident happened before the tournament that distracted me, and I was off my game. I didn't play well and was the first one eliminated. No points. Boo! Day 4 was different in several ways. For one thing, the interviewer on the previous day had commented that I wore white on the first three days in a row, so I came in on Day 4 in all black. I don't know if that helped or not, but things went well! I'll tell you about a key hand first because it was the best call I made in the whole series. I was up against Roland de Wolfe, who is a great player but ran bad during this series. He was to my left and made a medium raise; I was in the BB with 2-3 of hearts, so I called. The flop came J-3-blank, I checked with my bottom pair, he bet, and I called. The turn was a 7, and we both checked. The river was an Ace of spades, I checked, he bet 16.5k, and I took quite a long time to think about this one, using up almost all my clock time. I put him on a KQ hand . I finally went with my initial read and made the call, and he turned over K-10 for King high, and my pair of 3's won the hand. My instincts were right on that day, and I went on to play heads-up against Kiril Gerasimov. Even though he was a 2-1 chip leader coming into heads-up play, I came back and won the match. That was 8 more points for a total of 15. Day 5 was up and down for me, but I made some key laydowns that stick out in my mind. In one hand, Andy Black was in the SB, Kenna James was in the BB, and I limped in with Q-10. The flop came 10-4-Q, and we all checked. I was last to act and purposely checked the flop to slow play the hand since I did flop top two. The turn was a K, Andy bet 12k, and Kenna moved all in. Once again I took all of my clock time to think, and I felt really confident that Kenna had it, so I finally laid my hand down. I was playing the players during this whole day, and I felt that I read him well. When I was knocked out in 4th place, I went into the green room, and immediately asked about my Q-10 laydown. Kirill and Juha both told me I made a great laydown, Kenna had flopped a set of 4's! Whew!! Even so, I made 2 points that day, putting me up to 17. Day 6 was going to be a challenge. Most players had to get points that day to end up in the playoffs, so it was very intense! In the first match, I got heads-up with Eddy Scharf and came in 2nd place in that heat, picking up 6 points for a total of 23. I was 4th in the rankings going into the finals. Juha Helppi had to make 1st or 2nd in his heat and made it to 2nd, and with his points, I was knocked down to 5th in the rankings. I was going to have to play a heads-up playoff game the following day. Day 7 was interesting because two women made it to the playoffs. I was up against Kenna James, and Vicky Coren was playing Andy Black. The structure was set up for the best 3 out of 5. I lost my first match to Kenna in 6 hands, but I won the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th matches in a row to put me in the finals with 230k. Vicky also went to the finals, so the table consisted of Ian Fraser, Phil Hellmuth, Vicky Coren, Juha Helppi, Eddy Scharf, and me. It lasted about eight hours with everybody starting out playing very tight. The first one out was Ian, then Vicky, and then me! Juha went on to win the final table, and it was also his 30th birthday. Congratulations, Juha! Everybody celebrated that night, then we went to London the next morning to play in a 24-hour live filmed cash game. I was so exhausted that I didn't play except for the last 3 hours. You could read all the updates here.. http://uk.pokernews.com/live-reporting/party-poker-premier-league/no-limit-holdem/blog/ through the eyes of Nicky O'Donnell, who did a fantastic job blogging this entire event.

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March 20, 2007 - San Jose - Time With Poker, Friends, and Fans

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

Well, I'm finally back from San Jose, and it was an interesting trip that developed into more than just a poker tournament! I started out by playing in the WPT Shooting Stars tournament as a bounty player, which means that I'm one of the featured players, but I have a bounty on me. Anyone who knocks me out of the tournament gets $5000 and a t-shirt with my picture on it that I sign for them. But if I knock out another pro, I can get a bounty, too! Bay 101 is awesome because of the tournament and how great they treat the players, but also because of the fans. As soon as I arrived at the casino, there were around 50+ people coming at me for autographs and photos! It was crazy! I stopped and tried to grant everyone's requests, and it took me almost a half hour to get through the crowd and into the casino. I was quite flattered that so many people were excited to see me! I started the tournament with an awesome hand in the first hour. My opponent, Ernie, moved all in after a flop of J-J-8. I called because I was holding J-10 and had flopped trips. He showed his club draw. Guess what came on the river… Another Jack to give me quads! What a way to start the day! A few hours later, I was sitting on a decent stack, and David "Dragon" Pham moved all-in preflop with pocket J's, and I called with A-10. The board came Q-9-7-A-4, and David was out. The kicker was that he was a bounty player, so I got $5000 for the elimination, and David had to sign his shirt for me that said, "I knocked out David "Dragon" Pham. Later, I found out that the WPT Live Updates team reported it as, "Dragon Slayed By The Diva." Hee hee! My solid stacks of chips soon went away slowly, and I was down to $16,000. On the board was 10(h) 9(h) 4(s) A(c), and I moved all-in with K-J – I had a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. My opponent called with A-K for top pair, and the river was a crappy 2 of another suit. Boo! After a day of some great plays, I was gone. Again, let me say BOO! I was ready to catch the first flight out the next day, but onef San Jose's nightclub promoter called me and asked if I'd be interested in doing a special appearance at a local club called Vivid on Thursday night. Once we ironed out the details, the club started sending out flyers with my picture on it – quite cool. I stuck around all week, just spending some quality time with my girlfriends and doing media interviews back at Bay 101. Then, on Thursday night, my friends and I headed over to Vivid, which ended up being a great time! The crowd was awesome, and I did a mini photo shoot. Thanks to Thai, Hailey, Ann, Huyen, and the rest of the crew for a fun night! Now I'm back home in L.A. and back to work – at home and at the poker tables at Commerce Casino. And I have good news about 2 tournaments in May. I've been invited to play as a guest in both PartyPoker.net World Open III and Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship in London! I'm really looking forward to playing in these two televised events, as I have great respect for the folks at PartyGaming and Ladbrokes and can't wait to return to London for more poker with the Brits. J For now, I'm trying to enjoy being at home for a week and deciding if I want to go to Reno for the next WPT event. I have several travel opportunities at the end of this month, so I have to make some decisions… I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll blog more soon. Take care!

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April 13, 2007 - Vegas Grand Prix Weekend in Vegas

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

Sorry that I haven't blogged in a while, but my schedule has been crazy! Late last week, I returned from a trip to Paris and headed straight for Vegas. I haven't had a minute to do much writing over the last few weeks! I was in Vegas this past weekend to participate in the Vegas Grand Prix, which was a huge event that featured a race (obviously) and a charity poker tournament that I was invited to play in. The whole weekend was so much fun! The poker tournament started with a red carpet entrance at Binions, and I was interviewed by several people, including the guy from RawVegas TV. (See attached video) There were lots of TV and movie stars there, as well as poker pros and anyone who bought in to the tournament for $2500. Obviously, there was a prize pool but most of the proceeds went to the Vegas Grand Prix charities via the Jenyon Foundation, Inc. As far as the tournament went, I started out pretty well. The first table was a lot of fun with Hoyt Corkins, Johnny Chan, Mimi Rogers, and Danger Ehren..the actor from Jackass. Then, after the first break, I was moved to the featured table. On my first hand, I picked up A-10 offsuit under the gun. I limped in and got four callers behind me. The flop came Ac10d4c, and I checked so that I could check-raise. A guy in middle position bet out 500, Kenna James raised it to 3000, and I pushed all-in for 4950. Kenna called since he was already committed to the pot, and he showed J-5 of clubs – the club draw that I suspected! The turn was a 9c, and the river was another club. He made his flush, and I was out of the tournament. Overall, the event was run really well, and I had a great time! I got to spend some time with good people and play poker for a good cause. Other than that, I just had two more magazine covers and articles come out – WPT Poker Magazine and Poker Player Magazine. I'm also working with the people who are doing my website, and I'm trying to make sure it gets finished very soon. With all of that, along with business meetings, trying to decorate my new condo in Vegas, and playing poker, I'm hoping to find a few days to relax soon before the World Series starts! Today, I'm heading over to Bellagio for the Five Star World Poker Classic $2500 event. It seems that I'll be sticking around in Vegas through April, playing in some of the events leading up to the big WPT Championship that starts on April 21st. I hope to have some good results to report very soon!

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April 15, 2007 - My Charitable Involvement with WIN Foundation

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

I'm very excited about recently becoming involved with WIN Foundation, and I want to tell you a little about it. Most of my charitable contributions will now be going to WIN and organizations that help the poor in Vietnam – those are my two main focuses right now. WIN stands for Women In Need and is a non-profit foundation that helps empower women. They offer classes, programs, and seminars on various topics like recovering from abuse, boosting self-esteem, and something they call Destiny Management, which helps women create their dreams and learn how to fulfill them. Dr. Tracy Kemble started the organization in 1996, and they offer help to women worldwide. Here are some of the goals of WIN: -- They are committed to the emotional health, personal self-esteem, and empowerment of all women. -- They are ommitted to those who find themselves debilitated from past or current pains of abuse and to those who desire to create a life of purpose. -- Believing that abuse is not a disease but a learned behavior, they are committed to educating, inspiring, preventing, and empowering both men and women through high quality counseling programs, conferences, educational messages, fundraisers, and outreach programs. The goal is to offer repair, restoration, and prevention services. -- They believe that by healing women, the family is also healed and the final destination to healing is love and passion of life's purpose. I first heard about the charity from my friend LynnPhuong Frazier- former Miss Virginia Globe 2006, and when I started looking into it, I realized that it is something I want to contribute to and help in any way I can. I know what it's like to go through incredibly tough times and have to basically start life over. This is an organization that helps women do that, and I couldn't be prouder to endorse them. What they do is close to my heart, and after some long conversations with them, I know that this is something I wanted and needed to be involved in. One of my first events with WIN will be the 2007 Mrs. Globe contest, which is an annual fundraiser for the foundation, and I'll be one of the celebrity judges at the event. As other events are announced, I will announce and promote them, and I'm working closely with WIN to learn what other things I can do to help. The first thing I'm going to ask everyone to do is visit their website, http://www.womeninspiration.net – whether you need help, want to help, or just get more familiar with the organization. Thanks for everyone's support, and I really hope to do great things with WIN!

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April 23, 2007 - WPT Championship, Karaoke, and WIN

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

I've been in Vegas for about a month, and the WPT World Championship started on Saturday. It's a $25,000 buy-in event, but I won a satellite the week before to get in for $2500. Now that's the way to enter a big buy-in tournament! Anyway, there were two first days, and I played on Day 1A on Saturday. There were lots of huge names in the field - Phil Ivey, Jamie Gold, Phil Hellmuth, Hoyt Corkins, Harry Demetriou, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, and the list just goes on and on. Everyone started with 50,000 in chips, so it was a nice slow day of play but not without its ups and downs for me. I had some low points, like when my set was run down because I slow-played it. But I had some good points, too. My chip stack varied from 28,000 to 58,000 during the day. I have to mention that I made the best laydown of this tournament in one hand, and it was sick, but it had to be done. I had pocket A's. (That already tells you how sick it was.) The blinds were 100-200, and the player under the gun limped in for 200. I raised to 700, and he smooth called. The flop came 9-9-2, my opponent checked, I bet 2500, then he reraised me 3500 more! I thought for a minute and raised another 12,000, but without any consideration, he moved all-in. Huh? I took a few minutes to think what hands he could possibly have to call my raise and hit that flop. I put him on either A-9 or pocket deuces. I laid down my A's, and he told me that it was a good laydown, showing me the 2-2. Wow. I lost some about 19K on that pot but could've been sent to the rail if I called that all-in, so I saved my tournament life there. Later in the tournament, during the last level of play for the day, I looked down at pocket J's. A player with a sizable chip stack made it 1800 to go, I only called instead on raising because of my position and there were still 5 players behind me that haven't acted, then two other solid players called the 1800 raise as well. The flop came 6 K 5 (rainbow). Everyone checked the flop, the turn came a "8" , the original raiser bet out 5K, now I know he doesn't have a "K" in his hand due to the fact that three solid players called his 1800 raise so it's very unlikely that he'd wanna slow play his hand if he were to have a "K". I then made a raise to 10K and the two players behind me mucked and the orginally better called my raise. River comes an "A". We both checked. My opponent turns over 6 7.. giving him a pair of sixes. I take down the pot with my JJ's I finished the day with 42,750 in chips, and Day 2 starts today at noon. Wish me luck and some good cards! After the first day of the event, since we all had the day off yesterday for Day 1B to play, a group of us went to the karaoke bar at Imperial Palace. It's a little cheesy but so much fun! Among the gathering were Lisa Cripe, Jennifer Newell, Jon Friedberg, Heather, Jay, Joy, Ships, Tiffany, Hollywood Dave, Miri, Lara, Tom, Ryan, Mariealena. I didn't sing but some of my friends did. I also want to mention that WIN, the organization with which I'm now involved and listing as one of my main charities, has sent out a press release from Mrs. Globe announcing my affiliation with them http://www.mrsglobe.com/media_globalupdate.htm. They are such a great group of women, and I received some really nice notes on their forum. I've also gotten some kind messages on MySpace. Thank you everyone for the kind words and support! Cheers!

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May 17, 2007 - Where In The World Is Liz!

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

I know that my blogs haven't been too regular over the past few months, and for all of you who check in regularly, I'm sorry that I haven't been doing regular updates. Things have been crazy for me this year with both my business and personal life. I can't get into too much detail - It would for sure take days! But I can say that with a lot of travel, the move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, the tournaments and cash games, and tons of business - a lot of it I take care of myself - I've been swamped. In the past month or so, I haven't even been hitting the cash games in Vegas because of my hectic schedule. Between the tournaments in London and everything else, I've been busy. But I've come to the decision that it's a good thing for me to take a break sometimes. And I'm doing a little of that right now. I'm taking this month before the WSOP to wrap up some business deals, get my new condo in order, and try to find a little time to just relax before the craziness of the WSOP begins. I do have a few good things in the works that I will talk about as soon as the deals are done. But right now I want to mention that I've signed on to play in the Ladbrokes Poker Millions in London. I'm really enjoying these recent trips to London, and I'm looking forward to going back, especially for another Ladbrokes tournament. Also, the new issue of Maxim Total Poker, the July issue, is out, and I'm so excited to be on the cover! This magazine accompanies Maxim distributed in Europe. It's only about poker, so there are no racy pics in it - Sorry! But take a look if you get the chance! For now, I'm off to Los Angeles for a one-day business meeting, then back to Vegas. I'm hoping I'll could make it back on time to play in the main event at The Mirage. So much for relaxing, huh? There are still a little more than two weeks left before the WSOP, so I can still try! Take care, everybody!

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May 1, 2007 - Heading to London Again!

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

I'm off to London today to play in the PartyPoker World Open tournament. There will be 72 players and a prize pool of over $500,000 - the winner should get at least $200,000. My particular heat starts on May 3, and if I win, I go on to play in the semi-finals later that day. Hopefully, I'll be there late into the evening at the final table! Matchroom Sport will be filming the event for television, and I'm looking foward to be participating in another Matchroom/PartyPoker event. After that, I'll be hanging around in London to play the Ladbrokes Ladies Championship Tournament from May 4-6. They are expecting a great turnout, and I'm excited to play! I then come back to Vegas on May 7 to rest up, possibly play in the Mirage Poker Showdown and Mandalay Bay WPT events, then go for that bracelet (maybe more than one!) at the WSOP. I guess it's obvious by now that I didn't win the WPT Championship at Bellagio last week - hee hee. Well, it's not that funny, really. My last blog described Day 1 where I just couldn't catch any cards. Day 2 was the same - grinding all day, staying around average in chips. I didn't have any bad beats but no great cards either. At one point, I made it up to over 100k but lost a hand at the end of the night that put me back down to 75,500. Frustrating, but I was still in. Going into Day 3 with below-average chips wasn't ideal, and the first hand was not a good sign of how the day would go. I was two to the button and looked down at Q-10 of hearts, so I made a raise to 9,000. The button (solid player) called. The flop was K-rag-rag with no hearts. I checked, he bet 23,000, and I had to muck it. With no more playable cards, I was blinded down to about 50k, and the small blind kept trying to steal my big blinds from me by raising to 9k every time. Finally, I took a stand with Q-9 of hearts and raised to 34k. The small blind called. The flop came J-rag-rag, and we both checked. The turn was an Ace, he checked, I moved all in to take the pot, and he called with A-10 offsuit. Bye-bye, WPT Championship! Argh. I must admit I played the hand quite poorly as some of you might be wondering why I didn't just move all in on the flop. Either way whether I moved all in on the flop or the turn, I was getting called down no matter what cause my opponent was already pot committed and I only had about 20k left. I'm hoping to do better in London, especially since I played some really good poker in the last Poker League Premiere event there. Maybe it's because all of the craziness of Vegas and the regular casino scene is across the ocean, and I can simply concentrate on poker. Whatever the reason, I hope I can report some great results from these tournaments. And on a side note, I just recently did a VO session and scanning for Activision for their new video game that's coming out this year - the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. I hope the image on the game looks like me this time! I'll have to borrow someone's video game system to find out - jk.. :) Anyway, life has been quite hectic these past few weeks, and I still have to pack before my flight to London. Wish me luck with packing and poker! Take care, everyone!

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June 4, 2007 - The WSOP, WIN, and Mrs.Globe(s) weekend in Vegas

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

As I mentioned in my last blog, I took some time away from poker to relax before the WSOP. I did some relaxing at home here in Vegas, and I even spent a few days in Los Angeles with my mom and friends. Sometimes, being in touch with the people that matter most puts me in a good frame of mind. Last Thursday, I went to a WIN function, which is the newest charity that I'm going to donate a portion of my winnings to, not to mention time. Part of what WIN does is Mrs. Globe, a pageant for women that is different from regular beauty pageants - it judges women based on who they really are. (More information can be found on the WIN website.) Anyway, there was a training weekend here in Vegas for the 2007 Mrs. Globe delegates - they had pageant workshops, style consulting, etc. I met up with the delegates at the Heart Bar inside Planet Hollywood on that first night that they arrived in town, where I met Mrs. Globe 2006 Janette Goins from Nevada and Mrs. North America 2006 Reyna Rahman from Hawaii along with all the other beautiful Mrs. Globe(s) from all across the world. We did a lot of catching up about WIN Foundation, poker, and each other's hometowns. The evening started with cocktails at the Heart Bar and after a few hours, all the ladies headed over to the Tao Nightclub to get their groove going. And let me tell ya… they ALL can dance! I didn't stay out too late, though, because Friday was the first day of the WSOP. I played in the first event - $5000 Mixed Hold'em (limit and no limit). I started out slow but started catching cards in the middle of the day. Just before the dinner break, I was the chip leader, and I went to dinner in the top three of the whole field. I was feeling good! After dinner, I lost my good run of cards, and by the time midnight rolled around, I had taken some bad beats and lost many of my chips. I finished Day 1 at with 11,500 in chips. Boo! When I came back for Day 2, I knew that I had to make a move very soon. I went for it with my A-7 but ran into an opponent's pocket A's. I was out very early on Day 2. Boo! I ended up sticking around the Rio and doing a bunch of interviews, seeing friends, and planning which WSOP events I'm going to play. Right now, I'm planning to play in most of the limit and no limit hold'em events. Wish me luck!

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June 17, 2007 - WSOP Craziness has begun!

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

It's been awhile since I've blogged, and I think about it often but haven't had the chance to write anything until now. Sometimes, my schedule and work can get a little overwhelming! Well, the World Series of Poker has started, and I've played in four events so far. I took 19th place in the $5000 limit hold'em event as the last woman standing in the field, and I finished in 89th place out of 1600 players in the $2000 NLHE tournament. I'm 2 for 4 so far, and I've been feeling pretty good. Obviously, I'm disappointed when I can't reach a final table and win that bracelet, but I feel like I'm on my way! The WSOP has had a great turnout, which not everyone expected. The fields are packed, and the fans are here too. I've been able to spend time with friends who are in town like Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Newell, as well as others from around the world, and I feel like I'm really in a good poker frame of mind. I planned to play all of the no-limit and limit events at the WSOP, but I've had to spend quite a bit of time taking care of business (no surprise there!). I'm trying to get things done, though, so I can play all of the remaining $3000 and higher no-limit and limit hold'em tournaments for the rest of the series. Also, I've been tending to the needs of my father who has been ill and back in the United States for awhile. (Happy Father's Day to my dad and all dads out there!) In other poker news, the Premiere Poker League that I played in with 11 other pros in London is finally being aired in numerous countries - not the U.S. of course! But if you're in the U.S., you can take a look at the promo video here: http://www.matchroompoker.com/promo.php. The tournament was great fun and I hope to be able to do it again next year! Thanks to all of my friends and fans for the kind messages and e-mails since the start of the WSOP. Your support means so much!

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July 10, 2007 - The End of My WSOP

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

With the madness of the WSOP finally ending for me, I wanted to write a quick blog to let you know what's going on with me. Everything started off really well at this year's World Series. I even did a great interview with Craig Cunningham from Pokerworks which was a very different type of article---it was much more personal then many of the other poker articles that have been written about me in the past. Here's where Craig's article titled "Liz Lieu-- A Leak of The Heart" began... www.pokerworks.com/blogs/ccexplore/2007/06/20/liz-lieu I initially planned on playing all the higher-buy-in no-limit and limit events at the start of the WSOP . Unfortunately I had other business demands that I had to attend to and also my father's health problem that needed my immediate attention. My family has always been more important than playing poker. I did cash twice in this year's WSOP but I didn't play in many events at all. I played in a total of six events including the Main Event. I was among the chip leaders in two of the events and went quite deep in both events, however as far as reaching a final table at this year's WSOP it just didn't work out. I was honored to be selected among six high profile professionals to be on the Advisory board for The World Poker Store. The other five Pro's were Patrik Antonius, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Marcel Luske and Hoyt Corkins. Here is a press release from The World Poker Store... www.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=746621 I've officially been eliminated from the Main Event of the WSOP. Arrrrghhhh!!! It's never easy to make the money in this event because the field is so large, but I'm still disappointed that I didn't make it further. As strange as this sounds, I have been playing my "A" game this entire WSOP but I haven't been able to avoid some unlucky breaks. About 2 hours into the tournament, I got moved to the featured televised table with about 27k in chips. When we all took a dinner break, I was sitting at around 50k in chips. After the dinner break.. I took a few bad beats.. all these beats occurred when the antes were 75 blinds 300-600. 1) I limped in with 22's in middle position, my opponent two position behind me made a minimum raise, everyone mucks and I call. Flop comes 6 4 3 (off) I bet out 5k, 9 seat moves all in for another 4300, I'm already pot committed and also I put him on A high so I called. He turns over A 5... turn comes a 9(h) and the river comes an "A" for him to double up. 2) I smooth called with 5(h)6(h).. everyone folds.. gets to the SB, he calls, BB checks the option. Flop comes 5(s)6(s)7(s).. both blinds checked, I bet out 3500 (more then what's in the pot) since that was a scary flop for my hand. SB mucks, BB calls almost instantly, turn comes "A(h), BB checks, I bet out 7k, BB calls, river's an A(s). (the worst card for my hand). BB bets out 12k.. (there's no possible hand I could beat besides a bluffed hand). Considering the pot odds on the flop and him calling both my big bets, he's gotta have a big draw and got there on the river so I mucked. BB then turns over his cards.. He's got 8(c) 3(h). WOW! and I mean WOW!!! (How he could of possibly make that kind of play considering pot odds on the flop with him having only his BB invested in the pot, calling two large bets, risking a large portion of his chips when he could of possibly been drawing dead... Now that I have No Clue!!) 3) The hand I busted out on... I had 9(s)7(s) in the BB, 1 seat makes a minimum raise, 2 players called behind, get's to my option I called. Flop comes 9 6 3 .. I bet out 2200, 4 seat raises to 7200, I pushed all in with not much chips left. 4 seat calls. He turns over 66's a set on the flop. Turn and river were blanks and out the door I go. So now I'm here in my home trying to avoid the hot Vegas weather and writing this blog. I think it was 105 degrees today as I write this. It is HOT!!! out there. I do appreciate all of the support from all of my family, friends and fans. I wish I could have played in more events and given myself more opportunities to place higher but as I mentioned earlier, I had some business opportunities and family related health issues that came up which were more important at the time. At one point I left Vegas for more then a week to get away from the craziness of everything going on and went back to CA to spend some quality time with my loved ones. I definitely needed this peace and quiet time... Thats for sure! So now that the Main Event is over with for me, all I can do is root for my close friends and of course for the other female poker players!! I hope one of the ladies represents this year and brings home the bracelet. I also wish everyone that is still playing in the main event the best of luck! And as for what is next on my agenda... I'm planning on spending the next couple weeks with my family then off I go again, back to London for awhile to play in a couple of invited televised events. Until next time everyone... Take Care!

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July 30, 2007 - Au Revoir U.S…. Bonjour Europe!

Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2007 Professional Live Tournament Women

Big changes, my friends… Big changes in my life! After a long period of thinking, I've finally decided to move to Europe. I still have my condo in Vegas, but I've secured an apartment here in London, and I'm in the process of having my clothes and other items shipped over. I arrived here yesterday morning, and I'm trying to get settled in. Why, London? Sure, I've always been in love with Europe, but I have several business opportunities here that will allow me to move my career further into the mainstream world market. The U.S. has so limited with its possibilities since the UIGEA, but poker is booming in Europe and Asia. I'm very excited about everything that is happening in my life, and it's been awhile since I've felt so positive. It's a little scary to move to an entirely new country, but I've spent enough time in London over the past years to know that I'll love it here. Let me back up a little. After the WSOP ended, I spent a few weeks preparing for this move. The most important thing on my list was to visit with both of my parents, spend some time with them, and make sure that they're going to be okay while I'm so far away. Now that I know they're secure for awhile, I feel better about going across the ocean. In order to better keep in touch with my friends and fans, I've started a new chat page on my website. From my home page (www.lizlieu.net), click on "chat" where you can send messages or comments directly to me, and I monitor it and respond back personally myself. My website is where my blogs are posted, my poker schedules are listed, etc. It's the best place to keep in touch! Speaking of my schedule, I have the Ladbrokes Poker Millions VI coming up on August 1st. It's a $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the Sky Studios in Middlesex. There are 72 invited players, and I'm happy to be one of them because Ladbrokes always knows how to put on a fantastic poker tournament! There is a million dollar first prize with extra prize money that Ladbrokes tosses in. This is their sixth year in a row for this tournament, and it's a good way to kick off more than a month of European events. Next, I'll be playing in the PartyPoker Women's Open tournament with friends like Shannon Elizabeth and Jennifer Tilly. That begins on August 7th and runs through the 10th. It's a $3,000 no-limit event with a top prize of $50,000. Some of Europe's top female pros will be there, so it should be fun! Hopefully, I'll have some great results to post in the coming days, and I'll blog more as I get settled in here in good ol' England. For now, take care of yourselves. Cheers!

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