The Women in Poker Hall of Famer had no trouble showing off her skills
Last weekend’s Celebrity Poker Tour (CPT) event from the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas saw a third consecutive woman crowned as champion. Maria Ho took down the single-table field of poker vloggers and TikTok stars to win the golden CPT belt and the $10,000 first-place prize.
The Women in Poker Hall of Famer was one of the favorites in the CPT Game Night I, as she battled against vloggers Ethan “Rampage” Yau, Brad Owen and Alexander “Wolfgang” Seibt. Also included were NFL star Austin Ekeler and influencers Trent “BookitWithTrent” Attyah, Bryce Hall and Tommy Unold, who started as an alternate but finished as runner-up for $5,000.
The PokerGO Studio hosted the PGT Mixed Games Series a few weeks ago, attracting various old-school pros with decades of experience. Friday’s CPT Game Night I delivered a different environment, with players in their early and mid-20s cast into stardom via social media.
Ekeler, who recently signed with the Washington Commanders, was in the chip lead when the event reached the final three. He would lose the rest of his stack to Ho after the eventual winner beat his top pair.
Ho held a 3:1 chip lead entering heads-up play against the 22-year-old Unold and was ahead until the final hand, where she flopped a set of threes against her opponent’s queen-nine. The win made Ho the third straight woman to take a CPT championship after Princess Love won the PGT Invitational II in February and Qiyu “Nemo” Zhou took the inaugural 2023 event.
