Princess Love Wins PokerGO Tour’s 2024 Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational Event

Princess Love, a reality television star who is best known for her role in the TV series Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood isn’t just a fashion designer and model. She is in the spotlight to many because of her relationships with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and music artist Ray J, but last night, she pone again proved her poker chops as she cashed for $20,000 as she beat Keith Smith heads-up for the second-ever Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational winner’s trophy.

A Room Full of Stars

The second Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational event held on PokerGO had so many big names there that celebrities from all areas of sport and entertainment might have been forgiven for star-spotting between hands. NFL superstars Will Levis, Calais Campbell, Eric Ebron, Dalton Kincaid, Marqise Lee, Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Brandon Marshall, Laviska Shenault, and Aaron Jones all took their seats among poker royalty such as Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau, World Poker Tour ambassador Brad Owen and Global Poker Award nominated Alexander ‘Wolfgang Poker’ Seibt.

Other celebrities at the felt included the eventual winner Princess Love, boxer and social media personality Bryce Hall, Cuban-American baseball legend Jose Canseco, Beauty Guru Tana Mongeau, Gossip Column legend Perez Hilton, and the defending Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational champion Qiyu ‘Nemo’ Zhou.

Play began with each entrant being given 100,000 chips, with rebuys in place for some time, along with an add-on. The first break heralded a change from a rebuy tournament to the freezeout format that would see players battle down to a winner.

As that stage began, it was the former Jacksonville Jaguars Wide Receiver Marqise Lee who had the chip lead over the field, with another football star, the 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Calais Campbell second in chips.

The Bubble Bursts

Down to a dozen players, there were two big eliminations before everyone remaining got paid. ‘Rampage’, a.k.a. award-winning content creator Ethan Yau, was under pressure and succumbed to that pressure when he busted before ‘Wolfgang Poker’ himself, also known as Alexander Seibt, busted before the bubble too.

A double all-in was taking place on an outside table, with Eric Hansen and Eric Ebron both ousted by the eventual winner Princess Love. Love rivered a flush to take both players out, but in the same moment, the feature table saw Gordie Gronkowski fall unluckily when his pocket jacks were overtaken by Carolina Panthers’ Wide Receiver Laviska Shenault’s queen-deuce, a devastating queen on the turn doing for Gronkowski’s chances of victory.

All three players busted at that time split the 8^th and 9^th-place money, meaning all three cashed for $1,333 instead of two players cashing for $2,000. That hand gave Shenault a strong lead with seven players remaining, with Princess Love and Trent Attyah chasing hard in second and third place respectively.

Love the Queen as Princess Sees Kings Fall

Down to seven players, MMA (mixed martial artist) fighter Aljamain Sterling was eliminated. Super-short, Sterling did double up through the Tennessee Titans Quarterback Will Levis but wasn’t able to do so again, all-in with king-deuce and dominated to defeat by Shenault for a score of $2,000. Soon, the field was down to five, when Levis himself was taken out in sixth for $2,500, his ace-ten outrun by Love’s five-four when she was priced in to call with two live cards and hit trips on the river.

One of the defining hands of the final table took place next, Attyah moved all-in with top set and was ahead of Shenault’s middle set but at threat of being overtaken by Tana Mongeau with a straight draw. That straight came in the on the river and she tripled up as Attyah went to short stack and busted soon after, losing with queen-jack to Shenault’s king-ten to bust in fifth for $3,000.

Despite winning that hand, Shenault was still short and busted in fourth place for $3,500 when a king-high bluff wasn’t bought by Princess Love, who had flopped the full house and was never folding it, claiming yet another victim on her march to victory. Soon, Keith Smith flushed Mongeau to leave the latter short when three-handed. She moved all-in with jack-eight and Love had no problem calling off her fellow female player’s stack with ace-king. A king fell on the flop and play was heads-up as Mongeau left in third place for $5,000.

Totally dominant with an 8-to-1 chip lead, Love wasted no time finishing the fight, as Smith moved all-in with queen-seven on the very first hand of heads-up play and Love called with king-four. A king-high board saw Love crowned the second-ever Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational II winner for $20,000 as Smith took home the $10,000 runner-up prize.

The $20,00 won by Princess Love might be her biggest outright title in her fledgling career but it isn’t near her biggest cash. With cashes now over $250,000 in live ranking tournaments, Love’s career might pivot from design to deliverance if she continues to crush at the poker table.