Player Interview: Liz Lieu

Liz Lieu has left LA and now lives in London although she's not found out where you can play 400/800 yet. Poker Verdict's Myles Phago caught up with her at the London EPT...

By Myles Phago 28 September 2007

Liz Lieu aka "The Poker Diva" was kind enough to give Poker Verdict five minutes of her time after being knocked out of the PokerStars London EPT.

Here is how it went with the lovely lady…

Myles: Commiserations on being knocked out Liz and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. How do you think the tournament went for you?

Liz: Well I think that I played well and didn’t really make any mistakes, I had several bad beats and could have been well up there if it wasn’t for the river. But I did double up a couple of times as well and then came in today and doubled up right away.

Myles: Which was nice.

Liz: Yeah for sure but I am not sure if you saw what happened?

Myles: No, I saw your exit hand but tell us what happened.

Liz: Well about three or four hands before I went out the guy in the five seat made a raise but the dealer had put the blinds and antes in front of his cards and I couldn’t see the raise or his cards. I tried to raise thinking that it was an unraised pot but the dealer gave me my change and ruled it a flat call of 3,300.

Myles: Well, you couldn’t have been happy with the dealer there then?

Liz: You know everyone makes mistakes but I wasn’t happy with that no. I would never have called that hand you know. They have to keep everything separate as it is already hard enough for the players to follow all the action and the limits are getting high.

Myles: So you were trying to steal then Liz??!!

Liz: No, no I had a good hand but not good enough to smooth call a raise. I either had to muck or move all-in because he had like 70k in chips and I was down to around 17k. My hand was either an all-in hand or a muck, I can’t smooth call that hand, not in my position.

Myles: Did you tilt a little after that?

Liz: No, but it was like giving 3,500 away as the button re-raised to like 15k and we both mucked. When a thing like that happens you don’t get that good vibe anymore and like you gotta have that upbeat feeling and feel confident about what is happening. I would have never have called if I knew there was already a raise. It was a real bad situation for me especially as I didn’t have that many chips.

Myles: So what are your plans now then? Do some shopping in London?

Liz: I’ve done a lot of that already! I’m pretty well known for that! No, I’m flying back to my country, Vietnam, in a couple of days as my father passed away on 30 August.

Myles: We are sorry to hear about that and all of the PV team and readers pass on their condolences.

Liz: Thank you…in my culture we have the 49 days praying which is a very big thing and I have prepared somewhere to put him for this. So, my plans are to go back on the 30 September and this time instead of doing some charity work with my best friend John Phan, I’m going to do it by myself. I’m going on a two week journey to various villages doing charity work and then going to return to Saigon on 15th September in time for my father’s funeral on the 17th. Then I’m flying back home to London.

[To learn more about Liz’s charity work go to www.lizlieu.net]

Myles: You live in London now?

Liz: Yeah, I relocated here a short time ago in August.

Myles: So where do you prefer to do your shopping then? LA or London.

Liz: I still prefer LA as I know all the boutiques and they all know me and will tailor anything I ask them to, to my own specifications.

Myles: So is the Vic going to become your local card room now?

Liz: Can you play 400/800 here?

Myles: Not quite as high as that but there are some high no limit tables available.

Liz: You know what – actually I’ve become addicted now to playing online at Chilipoker.com.

Myles: We’ve seen the chilli logo that you wear and were a bit confused thinking that you were endorsing Chillies, the US food chain!! Tell us a little bit about Chilipoker then.

Liz: Well, it’s a fairly new site that’s really growing. It just really suits my lifestyle and my sponsor, Alex Dreyfus, asked me so many questions and then made a generous offer to also make donations to my charities…how could I say no to that?

Myles: So does it have the limits and liquidity for you, Liz?

Liz: Sure, and you know the thing that I really love about Chilipoker is the fact that it also has heads-up tables.

Myles: So you are into your heads-up?

Liz: I love heads-up; that’s my favourite thing right now. I used to like ring games but I’ve spent years playing them. And you know what, there are a lot of people on there who are prepared to gamble with you.

Myles: Which we all like!!

Liz: Oh yeah!!

Myles: So what are your plans for the rest of the year, Liz? Playing any more EPTs?

Liz: I’m going to try and play all of them but obviously I have to miss Baden due to my commitments in Vietnam and will also be missing Dublin as it clashes with the WPT North American Poker Championship in Canada.

Myles: So will you be playing EPT and WPT?

Liz: No that is the only WPT that I am going to play because I really like Canada.

Myles: So, do you prefer playing against Europeans or Americans?

Liz: I really don’t mind but you know with the Europeans there is a lot less friction when you win which I prefer.

Myles: Well, thank you Liz, for taking the time out from your hectic schedule to speak to us. We hope that all goes well back in Vietnam and hope to see you soon at a final table of the EPT.

To find out more about Poker Diva Liz Lieu please visit her website at www.lizlieu.net.

28/09/07