Xuan Liu, Poker Biography
Xuan Liu never intended to become a professional poker player, but once she became a casual player in college, she never looked back. Even so, the travel that comes with her new poker life still affords the opportunity to be a student of the world as she set out to be.
Xuan Liu
Xuan Liu's Profile
Xuan Liu was raised in Canada and attended Waterloo University in Ontario. Her major was social development studies and political science, and her fascination with people and the world led to her complete her schedule of classes and graduate. But it was there at the university that she also discovered poker.
Gaming was natural to her, as she first took note of poker in a film called God of Gamblers when she was five years old and started playing with the cards. She took an interest in poker with fellow students in college, playing small sit-n-gos and cash games, and eventually started running home games, where she got to know players like Glen Chorny, Mike Watts, Michael McDonald and Steven Paul. Studying the game with those players and being able to hone her skills online, Liu transitioned from college to the role of a full-time poker student, consistently improving her game.
It wasn't until 2010 that Liu began to move into the world of live tournament poker. Winning satellites to live events online was one of the catalysts, and she started to parlay her online poker success to the online tables. Her first scores came in March of 2010 when she traveled to play in the Macau Poker Cup, where she cashed in two tournaments, one of which was the final table of a NLHE event where she finished seventh. She took her game to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas that summer and cashed in the Ladies Championship there.
Still in Las Vegas for the summer, she then took her first title at the Inaugural Aria Classic for $7,740 in an 8-game mixed tournament. Her next win came later in the year at the Italian Poker Tour stop in San Remo. She won a €1,000 buy-in NLHE event for €48,000.
That led her back to Italy in 2011, first to the Italian Poker Tour in Malta for a cash in the Main Event, but then to the European Poker Tour stop in San Remo in April. Liu did well throughout the €5K Main Event and made it to the final table, ultimately finishing third for €360,000. She went on to cash in the EPT Grand Final Main Event in Madrid as well.
Back at the WSOP in Las Vegas, she cashed in two tournaments, then returned to San Remo for another EPT stop, and she final tabled a €300 NLHE Turbo tournament, finishing fourth for €3,200.
To start 2012, Liu made the trek to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, and it was a worthwhile trip. She played in the $10K Main Event and made the final table, going on to finish fourth for $600,000 in the prestigious event.
Liu continues to travel the live tournament circuit and enjoys the poker as much as the exploration of different cultures around the world. Now with over $1.2 million in live tournament earnings to her name in only a few short years, expect to see Liu at more final tables in the future.
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