Xuan Liu Becomes First Woman to Win Triton Event

Xuan Liu wrote her name into poker history as she became the first woman to win a prestigious Triton Poker title by winning the 99-entry $25K WPT Global Slam for $860,000. This win in Montenegro makes for the best cash of her career and puts her above $3 million in career earnings to move her into 15th on the Women’s all-time money list.

Liu, making her Triton debut, was playing as an ambassador for the rapidly expanding WPT Global and overcame a stacked field of prolific high-rollers. She slayed a big dragon heads-up to capture this title, defeating fellow Canadian Daniel Dvoress, the second-winningest Canadian player of all time.

She would need a comeback to do so as Dvoress entered heads-up play with a 4:1 chip lead. But Liu slowly chipped away before taking the lead with a king-high bluff to take the lead. She would not give up the lead from that point on.

The 39-year-old, born in Tianjin, China, has been a big ambassador for the game to other women. This movement has recently gained a lot of momentum, particularly in Asia, with daily women’s events at APT Manila.

Liu talked about how big this victory was to Triton Poker commentator Henry Kilbane following the win and lobbied for more women to play big events such as the Triton Poker series. She was also humble about how she came out on top:

“I know I really can’t hang on a day-to-day basis, but this is what the beauty of poker is all about. Anybody can get lucky on any given day.”

Also of note in this event was Kristen Foxen’s fourth-place finish for $325,000. Those winnings were enough to catapult her across the $10 million career earnings mark, becoming only the second woman ever to do so. She sits second all-time in career earnings for a woman, trailing only Vanessa Selbst, who now holds a slender lead of $1.7 million on Foxen.

If Foxen’s winning form continues, she will ascend to the top spot on that list sooner rather than later.