She might be a professional poker player with an eye on breaking into the mainstream, but Liz Lieu still finds time for others. She’s got her own website (www.lizlieu.net), a MySpace page (www. myspace.com/lizlieu) and a huge online photo album (www.flickr.com/photos/liz_lieu), and she spends time constantly updating all of these and thanking her fans for their messages of support.

On top of this, Lieu does lots of charity work and, along with fellow poker player John Phan, has started taking a hands-on approach, buying rice and distributing it in Vietnam. It’s something she finds incredibly uplifting and it helps to balance and ground her time at the poker table. ‘It can’t always be take, take, take,’ she insists.

‘Doing good deeds can only bring you good things. When I got into poker I changed as a person. When I was much younger I was much more me, myself and I. Since I’ve been in poker I’ve seen good, bad, I’ve found friends, and it’s made me a better person. I never thought about helping people when I was young.’