Xuan Liu: Triton Champion and Canadian Poker Professional
POKER HALL OF FAME
Inducted 2014
Xuan Liu is a Canadian professional poker player whose career spans major international tournaments, high-stakes cash games and poker media. Her defining achievement came in 2025, when she won the $25,000 WPT Global Slam at Triton Montenegro for $860,000 and became the first woman to capture a Triton Poker Series title.
The victory added a historic high-roller championship to a résumé that already included deep runs in the European Poker Tour and PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a major tournament victory at the Fallsview Poker Classic and appearances in some of poker's best-known televised and streamed cash games.
As of October 20, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Liu with $4,347,971 in live tournament earnings and an $860,000 career-best cash. World Series of Poker records list her with no WSOP bracelets or Circuit rings, while her 2026 results show that she remains active in major live events.
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Who Is Xuan Liu?
Xuan Liu is a Canadian poker professional who grew up in Canada after being born in Tianjin, China. PokerNews reports that she moved to Canada at age five and later began developing her poker game while attending the University of Waterloo.
Her early poker experience included online play, sit-and-go tournaments and low-stakes games around Toronto. Liu's first recorded live tournament results date to 2007, but her international breakthrough arrived several years later as she began competing more seriously on the European and North American tournament circuits.
Liu represents a generation of players whose careers developed across both online and live poker. Over time, she expanded beyond tournament poker into high-stakes cash games, streaming, content and poker ambassador roles.
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Xuan Liu's Breakthrough at EPT Sanremo
Liu established herself on the international tournament scene at the 2011 European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event.
The €5,300 tournament attracted 987 entries and generated a prize pool of more than €4.7 million. Liu advanced to the final table and finished third behind Rupert Elder and Max Heinzelmann, earning €360,000, which The Hendon Mob converted to $524,705 at the time.
The result was Liu's first major international score and immediately placed her among Canada's prominent tournament players.
Rather than proving to be an isolated breakthrough, Sanremo became the beginning of a stretch in which Liu repeatedly reached the late stages of prestigious events.
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Fourth Place in the 2012 PCA Main Event
Less than a year after her Sanremo run, Liu reached another major final table at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event in the Bahamas.
The $10,000 Main Event attracted 1,072 entries and created a prize pool of nearly $10.4 million. Liu finished fourth for $600,000, behind champion John Dibella, Kyle Julius and Faraz Jaka.
PokerNews has identified Liu as the first woman to reach a PCA Main Event final table. At the time, the $600,000 payout became the largest tournament score of her career and remained her personal best for more than 13 years.
That same period also produced one of Liu's deepest World Series of Poker runs. In 2012, she finished sixth in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event, demonstrating experience outside no-limit hold'em.
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Fallsview Poker Classic Victory
Liu added a significant tournament victory in February 2017 at the Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
She won the C$2,500 no-limit hold'em preliminary event, which drew more than 700 entries, and collected C$304,056. The Hendon Mob lists the payout at $232,114 using the exchange rate recorded for the result.
The tournament was part of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic festival, but it should not be confused with a World Poker Tour Championship title. The WPT's official player database lists Liu with zero WPT Main Tour wins.
The distinction matters because Liu's Fallsview victory remains one of her biggest career titles while being separate from the WPT Champions Club.
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Historic Triton Poker Victory in 2025
Liu recorded the defining tournament victory of her career on May 15, 2025, at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro.
Competing in the $25,000 WPT Global Slam, Liu defeated a 155-entry field to win $860,000 and the Triton trophy. The tournament generated a $3.875 million prize pool and included established high-stakes professionals throughout the field and final table.
More importantly, Liu became the first woman to win a Triton Poker Series event.
Triton had completed 200 tournaments without a female champion before Liu won the 201st event staged under the tour's branding. Her victory therefore represented both a career milestone and a significant moment for women's participation at the highest levels of tournament poker.
The $860,000 first prize also surpassed Liu's previous career-best score from the 2012 PCA Main Event and moved her beyond $3 million in recorded live tournament earnings.
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Xuan Liu's WSOP Record
Liu has been a regular World Series of Poker participant for well over a decade.
As of September 5, 2026, the WSOP's official player profile displays 59 cashes, four final tables and $1,656,517 in earnings under its All Brands database view. Those displayed figures should not be treated as her complete career live-tournament totals. She has not won a WSOP bracelet or WSOP Circuit ring.
Her WSOP record includes results across different poker formats rather than only no-limit hold'em. The sixth-place Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo finish in 2012 is one example of the mixed-game experience represented in her tournament history.
Liu continued cashing at the WSOP in 2026. Her results included 634th place in the $10,000 Main Event for $27,500, 26th place in a $2,000 no-limit hold'em bracelet event for $9,733 and a cash in the $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship.
Those results reinforce her continued presence on the live tournament circuit even as she has become more selective about how frequently she plays.
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High-Stakes Cash Games and Poker Media
Tournament results account for only part of Liu's public poker career.
She has also become a recognizable participant in televised and streamed high-stakes cash games. Her appearances have included High Stakes Poker as well as live-streamed games connected with major poker properties.
PokerNews documented her appearance on High Stakes Poker in 2022 alongside players including Doyle Brunson and Tom Dwan. Later cash-game appearances further expanded her profile beyond the tournament circuit.
That crossover is an important part of Liu's career. Tournament poker and deep-stack cash poker require different strategic adjustments, and Liu has accumulated significant public experience in both environments.
Rather than attaching a single stylistic label to her game, her record is better characterized by versatility. She has produced major results in large-field tournaments, reached international championship final tables and competed publicly in high-stakes cash settings.
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Poker Ambassador and Content Work
Liu has also represented several poker brands during her career.
PokerNews documented her joining 888poker's professional team in 2014. She later represented Natural8 and became a WPT Global ambassador, appearing at World Poker Tour events and promotional cash games.
Her WPT Global association continued through the period surrounding her historic 2025 Triton victory, which came in an event carrying the WPT Global name. In April 2026, Ignition announced a partnership with Liu covering brand representation at events and livestreams, along with poker content.
Liu has also used video, streaming and social media to document poker experiences beyond traditional tournament reporting. That public-facing work has helped make her recognizable to poker audiences who may know her as much from cash-game content and poker media as from her earlier EPT and PCA results.
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Xuan Liu's Career Earnings
As of October 20, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Xuan Liu with $4,347,971 in live tournament earnings.
Her largest recorded live cash is the $860,000 she earned for winning the 2025 Triton Montenegro $25,000 WPT Global Slam.
Several results account for a substantial portion of that total:
$860,000 for first place in the 2025 Triton Montenegro WPT Global Slam
$600,000 for fourth place in the 2012 PCA Main Event
$524,705 for third place in the 2011 EPT Sanremo Main Event
$232,114 for winning the 2017 Fallsview Poker Classic C$2,500 preliminary event
Tournament earnings should always be treated as a changing statistic rather than a measure of poker profit. Database totals generally track recorded tournament cashes and do not account for buy-ins, travel expenses, staking arrangements, cash-game results or other costs and income.
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Why Xuan Liu Matters in Poker
Liu's place in modern poker is defined by more than one tournament victory.
Her early EPT and PCA final tables established her as a successful international tournament professional during an era when relatively few women regularly appeared at the final stages of major open events.
More than a decade later, she added a result with lasting historical significance by becoming Triton Poker's first female champion. Accomplishing that in a $25,000 high-roller tournament made the achievement especially notable because Triton fields regularly feature many of the game's most accomplished tournament professionals.
Her career has also crossed several parts of the poker industry: international tournaments, mixed games, televised cash games, streaming, brand representation and poker content.
That combination has allowed Liu to remain relevant through substantial changes in the poker landscape since her first recorded live results.
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Is Xuan Liu Still Active in Poker?
Yes. Liu continued recording live tournament results throughout 2026. In September, she added a major Triton result in Jeju: second place in a $30,000 eight-handed no-limit hold'em event for $638,000, as recorded by The Hendon Mob and Card Player.
The Hendon Mob lists more than $151,000 in live tournament cashes for her during 2026 through early July, including results at the World Series of Poker, WSOP Europe, Wynn Summer Classic and ARIA Poker Classic.
PokerNews has reported that Liu plays fewer tournaments than she did during the earlier stages of her career and has become more selective about the events she enters. That approach does not indicate retirement. Her 2025 Triton victory and multiple 2026 tournament cashes show that she continues to compete at major live festivals.
Her career now combines selective tournament participation with the broader cash-game and media experience she has developed over more than a decade in professional poker.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much has Xuan Liu won in live poker tournaments?
As of October 20, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Xuan Liu with $4,347,971 in live tournament earnings. Tournament database totals change as new results are recorded.
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What is Xuan Liu's biggest poker win?
Xuan Liu's largest recorded live tournament cash is $860,000. She earned it by winning the $25,000 WPT Global Slam at Triton Montenegro in May 2025.
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Was Xuan Liu the first woman to win a Triton Poker title?
Yes. Liu became the first woman to win a Triton Poker Series title when she captured the $25,000 WPT Global Slam in Montenegro in 2025.
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Does Xuan Liu have a WSOP bracelet?
No. As of September 5, 2026, the World Series of Poker lists Xuan Liu with zero WSOP bracelets.
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Does Xuan Liu have a WSOP Circuit ring?
No. The WSOP's official player profile lists Liu with zero Circuit rings as of September 5, 2026.
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Has Xuan Liu won a WPT title?
Liu has not won a WPT Main Tour championship. The World Poker Tour's official player database lists her with zero WPT Main Tour wins. She did win a C$2,500 preliminary tournament at the 2017 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic festival for C$304,056.
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How did Xuan Liu finish in the PCA Main Event?
Liu finished fourth in the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event and earned $600,000. PokerNews has identified her as the first woman to reach a PCA Main Event final table.
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What was Xuan Liu's result at EPT Sanremo?
Liu finished third in the 2011 European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event. She earned €360,000, recorded by The Hendon Mob as $524,705.
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Is Xuan Liu still playing poker?
Yes. Liu recorded multiple live tournament cashes in 2026, including results at the WSOP, WSOP Europe, Wynn Summer Classic and ARIA Poker Classic. Her recent tournament history shows that she remains an active player, although she has described herself as more selective about tournament participation than earlier in her career.