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Liz Lieu was born in Vietnam and moved with her parents to America when she was just a year old. She and her older sister were raised in Colorado by their parents who worked hard to provide a good life for them both. When Liz was 13 years old, she began playing Chinese poker with some friends which turned into a lifelong passion for cards. At 18, she and a friend made their own game, where using hold’em and pai gow tiles. The game turned into a business, but quickly fizzled out. After her father suffered a heart attack, Liz became devoted to taking care of her parents. She told them to quit their jobs and to enjoy the rest of their lives.
Liz took her poker playing to the next level in order to provide for her parents. She took her impressive bankroll to Vegas and took up poker playing professionally. During that time Liz went through a difficult period in her life and nearly went broke. Her best friend, Jon Phan, helped her get back up on her feet and gave her the confidence and reassurance to move forward. She rebuilt her bankroll and began to focus. She quickly made a full recovery surpassing her previous limits of $80-$160 games to $400-$800 limits.
Liz Lieu continued to play limit hold’em cash games for a number of years and finally decided to take on the tournament circuit in 2005 at the World Series of Poker after some encouragement to register from John Phan. She entered into the $1500 no-limit hold’em event and did very well taking fifth place and landing a $168,000 prize. The same year, she placed twelfth in the $5000 no-limit hold’em event cashing in on the $3,000 tournaments also.
After a taste of tournament life, she quickly headed to the Bellagio’s2005 Fiesta Al Lago tournament and took home over $80,000 in for just a few days of playing poker. She finished in the top ten of the World Poker Finals, Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the Gold Strike World Poker Open. Up until that point she had not yet won a tournament event, but that all changed at the 2006 L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce Casino. She took home the first place prize of the $1000 limit hold’em event.
Liz was honored by the WSOP and ESPN as a Final Table Grand Marshall with Poker Pro Johnny Chan. She also won the first place prize in the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic with a first place prize of $148,000. Liz pledges to donate 20% of all her winnings to charity. Currently she represents ChiliPoker in events and tournaments around the world and is known throughout as the poker diva for her great sense of style. In her most recent tournament, the 2009 WSOPE, she finished in 33rd place and was the last woman standing in the competition.
Follow Liz Lieu Online
Official Website: http://www.lizlieu.net/
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Lieu
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