Thuy Cam Kieu, who more usually goes by the name Jade, first encountered poker in 2010 while studying at university, where she used to play with friends in small, fun games. In 2014, she says she rediscovered poker via another friend, who took the game more seriously. Kieu then began playing real money games in casinos and clubs.
Flash forward another six years and Kieu is heading to the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) in Barcelona having won a Platinum Pass at the Road to PSPC event in Paris. The Road to PSPC event earned Kieu €45,000 in prize money, even before you add the value of the Platinum Pass, and she beat a field of 1,310 entries to do it.
Thuy Cam “Jade” Kieu
When asked what her biggest tournament victory was before that, she deadpanned: “I won a weekly €30 tournament at the Cercle Clichy Montmartre during the summer 2019. And that’s it. Are you disappointed? I am.” The disappointment is surely over.
Kieu was forthright in naming Vanessa Selbst as her favourite poker player, before extending her list to include Davidi Kitai, Daniel Negreanu, Adrian Mateos and Romain Lewis. But she says her biggest achievements are all away from the poker table, and most of them are vicarious.
“I live the big achievements through other people,” she said. “My brothers and sisters all studied very well (school is very important in our family, I’m not a good example, I stopped studying when I was 18) and as a big sister, pushing them and helping them is a success that I’m proud of.”
In August, it’ll be time for them to do the cheering as Kieu goes for the biggest prize of her career.
