Xuan Liu Selling Shares In Her WCOOP Run

With the PokerStars World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) on the horizon, Canadian poker professional Xuan Liu has stepped to the Two Plus Two forums to offer shares of her for her entries into the tournament schedule.

Xuan, whose most recent live success was a stirring third place run at the European Poker Tour’s stop in San Remo back in May, offers these shares in a thread on the popular poker forum. “Looking for investors to take 30-40% of my action to some of the bigger WCOOP events at reasonable prorated markups,” Xuan writes in the opening post. “This will probably be one of the easier WCOOPs due to Black Friday and most of these prize pools are still very significant.”

Since opening the offering yesterday, shares in Xuan are flying off of the shelves, so to speak. As of this morning, Xuan reports that slightly more than 35% of the action has already been scooped up, leaving less than five percent for other backers to claim. Overall, players seem to be staking her for anywhere from one to five percent of her buy ins, with the chance to claim some big money should Liu make a strong run in any of the tournaments.

Xuan has set out a difficult schedule for the upcoming WCOOP. She will play primarily No Limit Hold’em tournaments, with one H.O.R.S.E. event to break up the monotony. “I’m feeling pretty good about my game, my recent results, and how I’ve been running,” the humble Liu states on the thread. “I’ve also mentally and physically prepared myself to grind and stay focused for the whole series.”

The list of tournaments that Xuan will take part in, their buy ins and their guarantees are as follows:

9/5/2011 5pm $215+R NL Turbo $500,000
9/6/2011 5pm $1,050 NL Hold’em $600,000
9/13/2011 5pm $1,050 NL Hold’em $600,000
9/16/2011 11am $215+R NL Hold’em $550,000
9/18/2011 2pm $1,050 NL Hold’em $1,500,000
9/20/2011 5pm $1,050 NL Hold’em $600,000
9/22/2011 11am $530+R NL Hold’em $600,000
9/23/2011 11am $530 NL Hold’em [1R1A] $600,000
9/24/2011 2pm $2,100 HORSE $200,000
9/25/2011 2pm $5,200 NL Main Event $5,000,000

Xuan is definitely one of the bright young stars on the poker scene, whether it is live or online. She has earned over $560,000 this year, with the EPT score the highlight but also deep runs in the EPT Grand Final and the World Series of Poker Ladies’ Championship as a part of her total. According to OfficialPokerRankings.com, Xuan has played very well over the last three months, earning two wins, chopping two events and finishing at the final table on twelve other occasions. In that three month time span, Liu has pulled in $65,903 in winnings, finishing in the money in 76 of 347 tournaments (roughly 22% of the time).

While staking is nothing new in the live tournament poker world, it has been something that has become commonplace in the online community. Staking – which at one time was done by players who were broke (for whatever reason) as a way of getting into big tournaments – is now looked at much like the stock market. Staking is now looked at as an investment, especially if the player is highly skilled and has a good return on investment (ROI).

Most deals are done on a share platform, where a backer offers a certain percentage of the buy in and takes same percentage of whatever the staked player wins. In Xuan’s case, should she win a big WCOOP tournament, a five percent buy in could return thousands of dollars.

The 62-event schedule features nine different tournaments with guarantees in excess of $1 million, with buy-ins ranging from $109 up to the $10,300 High Roller events and satellites with entry starting as low as $1.

The PokerStars WCOOP will begin this Sunday, with a $215 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament with a guaranteed $1 million prize pool kicking off the festivities. Xuan’s first tournament will be on Monday. CanadaPoker will be watching as Xuan makes a run at success in the WCOOP, not only for herself but also for some lucky backers!