The Beauty of Poker: Even Elite Players Can Be Beaten

The Triton Poker High Roller Series tournament was won by a woman for the first time! And no one expected such a winner – Xuan Liu had never appeared at Tritons before, plays mostly cash games with strange rules that stimulate action , and complains that because of this she has forgotten how to patiently wait for a hand in regular Hold'em. None of this, however, prevented her from winning the $25,000 buy-in tournament, beating Daniel Dvoress heads-up.

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On Twitter, Xuan responded to the victory with extreme modesty:

"If you're wondering how I did it vs the best in the world, I won a 3way all-in early on, won some more all-ins periodically, laddered to HU, chipped up a bit, then won a ~$300k flip 😎

The beauty of the game is that anybody can win vs the elite on any given day."

Let's see if this historic victory really came so easy for her.

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Xuan started the second day with a 38bb stack at a table with Isaac Haxton, Leon Sturm and Kristen Foxen. The tournament was down to 31 players out of 155 (with a generous 27 places of prizes).

The final table of nine players was formed in the afternoon. Incidentally, Alexander Zubov took 23rd place, and Artur Martirosyan took 16th. Haxton finished 19th. The second hand of this table turned out to be one of the most dynamic in the tournament.

After getting two sevens on the hijack, Xuan raised to 275,000. A couple of big players behind her unanimously folded suited aces – apparently, the girl had a rather tight image. Daniel Dvoress was in the big blind. Finding himself with a pair of eights, he made the call.

On the flop Daniel checked, Xuan bet 275,000. There was a call.

“There will be no more bets,” the commentators promised, “even if they put out a two.”

But they were put to shame.

The card, clearly suitable for the BB range, pleased Dvoress, and the Canadian, after a little hesitation, made a lead of 375,000.

Xuan thought about it – it would be extremely unpleasant to raise and get 3-bet so deep at the very beginning of the final table. However, the idea of ​​not raising the set did not appeal to her, and a neat raise to 1,300,000 followed.

Daniel looked quite surprised and seemed to consider 3-betting, which would have taken up his extra time, but he still made the call.

The river turned out interesting – .

After carefully considering what he had spent another time bank chip on, Dvoress led in with a quarter pot bet.

And Xuan Liu, in no more than 30 seconds, confidently folded her set!

After losing that pot, Xuan played carefully for the rest of the day. She didn't get involved in big pots, didn't bluff much except for two barrels against Kristen Foxen (she couldn't knock out top pair), and went all-in preflop when needed. This style managed to outlast four people, but her stack suffered a bit.

The decisive third day began with five left.

Xuan was the first to move all in. Kristen Foxen raised from the button (with 98s), Xuan looked at the small blind and pushed it.

She then calmly dodged Peters' trips without even making a continuation bet on the paired board.

She also folded a lot of complete garbage until Tom Fuchs busted, losing a coinflip to Dvoress. At the new blind level with a 13bb stack, got KQo on the button and shoved into two opponents, who folded.

And when Kristen Foxen moved almost all-in for 8.5bb from the small blind (leaving herself with one small chip), Xuan in the BB found a hand for a confident call.

They went all in on the flop . No miracle happened.

Xuan's 3-max began with a hand in the blinds against David Peters. After receiving , the Canadian athlete limped, Peters checked. On the flop , Xuan bet a quarter of the pot, and her opponent folded with a worse hand. Also, nothing special, but at least it wasn't just a "fit-or-fold" game against the big boys of expensive MTTs, but a bluff with the bottom of the range.

An orbit later, so to speak, the hand began with a min-raise to 800,000 from Dvoress. Xuan, with 22 big blinds, picked up A2o and, in best Ben Rolle style, 3-bet to 2,600,000. Dvoress folded with KTo.

The Canadian pair then had to play postflop. Xuan opened KJs from the button and made a continuation bet on a very dry flop with two backdoors, but Dvoress had top pair. The action was check-check turn and bet-fold river.

Soon Dvoress and Peters were all-in on the flop:

The first card that was put down was a club, leaving Peters with no outs and out in third place.

Heads-up stacks:

Daniel Dvoress – 61bb
Xuan Liu – 16bb

Early in heads-up play in a limped pot, Dvoress checked the flop and bet the turn on the board . Xuan made the call with third pair – , on the river a repeat of the three came, not closing the flush, and Dvoress did not dare to bluff again with the jack-high.

In another limped pot, Xuan decided to take the initiative:

Dvoress thought hard, but then moved all-in and took the pot.

Left with a stack of less than 15 big blinds, Xuan nevertheless limped in with 54o – in heads-up play with an ante on the BB (i.e. effectively double the big blind) there are no trash hands. Dvoress checked T6o. The flop was Xuan, despite the gutshot, chose to check next.

Thorn – . Daniel, who has caught a valuable match, checks. His opponent decides to place a delayed bet – 650,000. There is a call, and Xuan looks at the camera a little hunted. But then the river arrives.

"Just what the doctor ordered!" exclaims commentator Ali Nejad.

Xuan bets the full pot with a little extra. Dvoress wastes the time token again, but finds a fold.

An attempt to punish an opponent's limp with a blocker is met with a hard all-in reraise:

And the next limped pot Xuan finally takes is not at all on the card – with an 2x pot overbet with a key blocker after checks on all streets:

Xuan limps 54o, Daniel checks T6o, but the deja vu doesn't end there – the dealer puts down the same flop as last time!

This time, however, it all ends on the flop: Xuan bets 500,000 and takes the pot right away.

The finalists trade isolators, taking turns winning pots with the nuts and the polar bottom of their range. No one wants to give up the initiative. And when the players return to limping again, Xuan counterattacks on the flop:

Dvoress calls. The turn is . Another overcard to second and third pairs on the flop, plus some extra equity for Xuan's hand. So another barrel follows – 2,400,000, a little less than half the pot.

The stacks are almost even – 33bb to 32bb! Xuan takes the lead after winning the next insignificant hand.

But the deed is not done yet – and in the new limped pot, Xuan check-raises the board with an ace again!

Dvoress gives up, but then wins a series of hands, mostly on the card, at showdowns after multiple checks, to regain the lead.

And then the cooler happens.

“All in,” Xuan says, flustered when she gets called and charmingly happy when she sees herself all-in.

Five cards of tens and below are dealt on the board, leaving Daniel Dvoress with four blinds.

The next deal becomes the last.

"What a great heads-up!" Nanonoko exclaimed. "She was absolutely dominant!"

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– I flew to Montenegro for only one tournament, – Xuan Liu noted in an interview immediately after the event, – but I told myself that I would make the most of this opportunity. Although, of course, I never dreamed of anything like this. I never led at the final table and was far behind at the beginning of the heads-up. But I was doing great. Of course, I won’t be able to consistently stay at this level, but that’s the beauty of poker – anyone can get lucky!

– How did you cope with your nerves after unsuccessful hands?

– Failures are part of life as a poker player. They will always be there, so it is important to know that when one door closes in front of you, maybe the next one will open a much more promising one. That is exactly what happened several times today. This is the peak of my poker career, and I do not think I will ever surpass it.

– How did you manage to come back in heads-up? Daniel is a two-time winner of Triton Poker tournaments, he has over 20 million in prize money, and with an hour left he had 66 blinds to your 11. What happened?

– The fact that I was behind the whole time is even good: there was no psychological pressure. Daniel is one of the best players in the world, everyone is absolutely sure of his victory, and he has no idea how I play. I didn’t really study MTTs and heads-ups and could do whatever I wanted. And my moves worked!

“Now we can spend a few more buy-ins,” Ali Nejad suggested. However, he was wrong – this streak for Xuan Liu is already over! Having received her $860,000 – the biggest win of her career, by the way – Xuan flew home to Toronto to relax, enjoy life and write shy tweets.