Liz Lieu
Poker pro Liz Lieu’s beauty is much more than just skin deep.
At first sight, Liz Lieu’s petite stature, perfectly styled multi-color hair (she had it done in purple for the WSOP in 2006), and upscale designer clothes cause a double-take. Straight men are taken aback by her confidence, gay men admire her style, and women wonder when she last ate. But don’t let the exterior fool you. Liz Lieu’s a real sweetheart, really. “I’m just a normal girl. Of course, I like nice clothes Ð Roberto Cavalli is my favorite Ð but I’m just a regular person,” she says. Oh, and ladies, she does eat. “I get so busy that sometimes I have to remind myself, but I eat several meals a day.”
When you’re a female poker pro dubbed the Poker Diva in a male-dominated profession, those misconceptions come standard. Although she maintains a fierce image at the poker tables and is known to crush her opponents with aggression, she wants people to see her down-to-earth side as well.
Welcome to the multi-tiered world of Liz Lieu.
Born in Vietnam, Lieu’s family moved to the United States and settled in Colorado. “My parents worked all the time,” she recalls. “We were just a normal family.”
Lieu first picked up cards at thirteen to play Chinese poker, not realizing what an integral part of her life it would become. “I started my own home game when I was eighteen,” she says. “A friend of mine from San Francisco came to Colorado wanting to start a home game because poker was getting popular at the time. I knew the gamblers. He asked me to be partners with him, and I thought it was a good idea…
This is a long way to today, when Liz is a poker pro sponsored by Chili Poker. A permanent feature of the main live tournaments, you cannot miss her if you play on the poker circuit.