Xuan Liu Makes History As First Woman To Win A Triton Poker Title

Xuan Liu has made poker history, becoming the first woman to ever win a title on the prestigious high-stakes Triton Poker tour.

The Canadian pro overcame a field of 155 entries that turned out to Maestral Resort & Casino for the 2025 Triton Poker Montenegro WPT Global Slam $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event to hoist the trident trophy.

The WPT Global Ambassador revealed that she had flown out to the festival intending to play just this one event, which was her first on the tour. She made her single shot count, as she topped a stacked final table to secure the trophy and a career-best payday of $860,000.

“Obviously this is beyond my wildest dreams,” said Liu after coming 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.”

While Liu was humble about her victory in this event, she is hardly a newcomer on the circuit. Her previous top score was a $600,000 windfall earned for a fourth-place showing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event back in 2012. The 39-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario now has more than $3.1 million in lifetime earnings after securing this massive victory.

This win also came with 1,008 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was Liu’s first POY-qualified score of 2025.

The top 27 finishers earned a share of the $3,875,000 prize pool in this event, with three female players among those that cashed. In addition to the champion in Liu, Sosia Jiang finished 20th ($46,500) while five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Kristen Foxen placed fourth ($325,000).

Other notables who ran deep included five-time Triton champion Mikita Badziakouski (17th), two-time bracelet winner Artur Martirosian (16th), two-time Super High Roller Bowl winner Seth Davies (13th), three-time bracelet winner Joao Vieira (12th), two-time Triton champion Michael Soyza (10th), and Triple Crown Winner Michael Watson (6th).

The final 5 return in one hour to battle it out for the first title of the series in Event #1 $25K WPT Global Slam.
Who will kick off Triton Poker Montenegro 2025 with the win?

Watch it all live on YouTube, Twitch, and Triton Poker Plus. https://t.co/Cd2GIRboAA@DDvoress… pic.twitter.com/TbEJLLtNZ5

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 15, 2025

The third and final day of this event began with five players remaining and Liu in the middle of the pack. Two-time Triton champion Daniel Dvoress held the lead to start, and added to it when his pocket sevens held up against the K-J suited of 2024 WSOP Paradise $50,000 high roller champion Tom Fuchs (5th – $259,000).

Kristen Foxen

Liu scored her first knockout of the day when her KJ held against the K8 of a short-stacked Foxen. The vast majority of the chips went in preflop, with one final 25,000 chip going in after the two saw a 1073 flop. Liu’s hand held through the 4 turn and 7 river and Foxen was sent to the rail in fourth place. She now has nearly $11.9 million in career tournament earnings, extending her lead on the women’s all-time money list. Foxen now sits $979,309 ahead of second-ranked Vanessa Selbst on that leaderboard.

Foxen also secured 504 POY points for her fifth final-table of the year. With three titles won, her 2,698 points place her inside the top ten in the 2025 standings presented by Coin Poker.

Four-time bracelet winner David Peters, just over a week removed from a win in a €25,000 buy-in at the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo, was the next to fall. He got all-in with top pair against a flush draw for Dvoress. The flush came in on the turn to leave Peters drawing dead. He secured $398,000 for his efforts, growing his lifetime haul to more than $52.4 million. That’s good for tenth place on poker’s all-time money list.

Heads-up play began with Dvoress holding nearly a 4:1 chip lead over Liu. That disparity shrank as the match wore on. By the time the decisive hand of the clash arrived, Dvoress had Liu covered by just a handful of big blinds. The hand in question began with Liu limping from the button for 800,000 total with 55. Dvoress raised to 3,200,000 with AQ. Liu shoved for 17,275,000 total and Dvoress called. The board came down 108824 and Liu’s pocket pair held to see her double into a commanding lead.

Dvoress was all-in on the next hand with 10-3 suited, which was unable to best the 7-6 of Liu from the big blind. Liu flopped a pair of sevens and held from there to close out the win. Dvoress earned $579,000 as the runner-up. The Canadian pro now has nearly $44.6 million in recorded cashes under his belt, including two WSOP bracelet victories.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: Triton Poker.