Joanne "JJ" Liu
2006
WPT Ladies Champion
August 31st
2006, JJ Liu not only wins her first WPT title, but also the 2006
WPT Ladies Championship. In the end against Kelli Griggs, she makes
an amazing call to win with a small pair, and what followed was
a moment most
will remember
as
the
QUEEN
SCREAM.
JJ was born
in Taiwan and came to the United States in 1985 to earn a Master's
degree in computer engineering. She worked in Silicon Valley until
2004. While working as a computer engineer, she honed her poker
skills playing limit holdem at the Bay 101 Casino. Her attention
shifted to No Limit Holdem due to the rising popularity of televised
poker tournaments.
She is happily
married to professional poker player Dan Alspach and they split
their time between Palo Alto and Las Vegas when not traveling to
poker tournaments.
Her many accomplishments
include the WPT Ladies Championship, $900,000+ in tournament earnings
over the last 10 years (ranking her 9th overall amongst women),
10 cashes in the World Series of Poker, and 4 cashes at open events
on the World Poker Tour. The most recent being a 14th place finish
in event #9 at the Bellagio Five Diamond Classic.
With the recent
expansion of televised poker into the East and Southeast Asian
markets, and new mega-resorts like the Macau where the WPT will
be holding events
come 2007, JJ hopes to become the ambassador of poker to the Chinese
speaking world.
And
it seems that the "Grammie" character
might have some competition.
JJ's
mother is 80 years old and is quite the poker player.
In her first
2 live poker tournaments, she cashed. Can you guess which poker
tournament they were in? The World Series of Poker!!
Needless to say after spending some time and getting to know JJ
a bit, we have come to the conclusion that she is one COOL lady.
Enjoy
the following random questions;
LaB: In a recent
article, Linda Johnson mentioned she nicknamed you
JJ "Mack Truck" Liu
for your fearless aggressive style of play, but we didn't
see that at the WPT Ladies Night. Was
it just a bad run of cards at the start or did you evaluate
the table and decide to switch up styles?
JJ
Liu: I used to be the Marine
Corps in the front line of war (Mack truck). Now I try to evaluate
the players first with my patience,
strategy and aggressiveness
LaB: Your husband is now infamous for having a matching shirt and
visor on during tournaments (especially watching you)...where does
he get those?
JJ
Liu: Custom made shirts, visor from Lacevisor.com
LaB: You
had a chance to play with a member of the Life's A Bluff Staff
during the Bay 101 Open... should he stick to humor? (ref:Matt
Waldron)
JJ
Liu: I remembered you. You got a serious day job !!-;
LaB: Who was the toughest opponent you ever faced?
JJ
Liu: None
LaB: When
Kelly Griggs was bouncing around chatting up the crowd with the
motivational speaker routine (ref: WPT
Ladies Night)...what
was running through your mind?
JJ
Liu: I don’t think Queens is coming. Felt sorry for
her.
LaB:
If you could go back in time and play any person, living or dead,
heads up in poker... Who would it be, and why?
JJ
Liu: Billy Duarte. I missed him. But he is dead.
LaB: Are you interested in getting invited to the PPL? What do you
think of the league?
JJ
Liu: Yes. Don’t know why they didn’t
choose me. Maybe I have to sleep with someone?? (humor)
LaB: As a female player, what was the most disgusting thing you
had to put up with from a man? And did you put up with it?
JJ
Liu: Smoking Smelly
disgusting loser attitude and say other people stupid.
I think it is funny.
LaB: Studies show the new casino boom in China could soon surpass
Vegas in revenue. Will poker be as popular there, and how much
of a part would you take in it?
JJ
Liu: I would like to be a poker ambassador to promote poker instead
of baccarat, craps, etc.
LaB: I know the Ladies Night events were tied to the Breast Cancer
charities, and that was great. Do you work with any charities in
particular?
JJ
Liu: Yes, I would like to work with autism / aspergers charity.
Because my daughter has aspergers.
LaB: Your husband told me you are online a lot, what do you spend
most of your time online doing? Do you play poker...if so, where,
and what is your typical screen name?
JJ
Liu: Search poker related
news, forum, comments about poker and myself. I played online once
a while. My screen name is Joanne, jjliu,
macktruck.
My mother’s screen name is Juicy69. She doesn’t
know English though.
LaB:
What are your favorite websites?
JJ
Liu: Poker pages / Cardplayer.com / google.com
My
husband’s
is Rush Limbaugh.
LaB: What is your craziest memory from a poker game?
JJ
Liu: Showing my breast on TV (WPT)
LaB: What is your bedtime?
JJ
Liu: My husband's bedtime is my bedtime, around 11:00
pm.
LaB: Most overused phrase in poker?
JJ
Liu: Bad beat.
LaB: Jack Three off-suit
is known (to at least 3 people) as the “Life's
A Bluff”. What hand is the JJ Liu?
JJ
Liu: JJ
LaB: Your mom
cashed in her first two World Series events at 80 years old! Is
winning in the blood or did she do it just to prove she
could or was it some form of secret poker magic? (If it was the
magic part, there are several of us that want a couple WSOP cashes & help)
JJ
Liu: She knows poker game in the blood and practice in the small
cash game. Also my husband saw her play on the cruise. My husband
felt it is very hard to knock her out of tournament. So he backed
her to play in WSOP.
LaB: Do you have any supernatural abilities?
JJ
Liu: I am a Palm reader.
LaB: Do you have any pre-tournament rituals or superstitions?
JJ
Liu: I believe in the rush.
LaB: JJ Liu is synonymous
with flashy and outrageous style, so with your recent addition
to the “Friends of Full Tilt” are
their any plans to alter or “update” their traditional
jersey?
JJ
Liu: Don't know yet..
And this question comes from Daniel
Negreanu,
DN:
Daniel Negreanu has widely been recognized as the sexiest man
in poker, what do you attribute that to?
JJ
Liu: He must be on drugs or drunk.
LaB:
And your question for our next interviewee is,
JJ
Liu: JJ
Liu is the queen of poker having won the 2006 WPT Lady's night
out, and being the top women money and card player points winner
in 2005 as well as the sexiest poker player, why isn't she in the
PPL?
We
very much appreciate the Champion taking the time out to talk
to us. It was our pleasure. To find out more about JJ, visit her
website at http://jjliupoker.com/
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