Jonathan Little Wins StormX Invitational III

The StormX Invitational III was held at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday, October 26, with a 95-entrant field creating a prize pool of $427,500. Jonathan Little emerged victorious after defeating Princess Love heads-up to win the $130,386 first-place prize and StormX Invitational trophy. Little now joins Oliver Blakey and Richard Lee as StormX Invitational winners after collecting his first victory since August 2019.

The invite-only StormX Invitational III featured poker pros, crypto entrepreneurs, and celebrities all competing for $5,000 each. Among those in attendance were poker players Ryan Riess, David Williams, Nik Airball, Lynne Ji, Xuan Liu, Jake Abdalla, Joseph Cheong, Jonathan Little, Bryce Yockey, Ebony Kenney, and Kitty Kuo. Others in the mix included StormX co-founder Simon Yu, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, movie producer Randall Emmett, musician Ray J, and actress Princess Love.

Only 13 players finished in the money, and unfortunately for Kevin Chen, he would be eliminated on the money bubble while at the feature table. Chen was all-in holding ace-queen against the king-jack of Sung Joo Hyun, and everything was looking good until the river landed the jack to send Chen out in 14th place. Clutch Prep founder Johnny Betancourt exited in 13th, followed by poker players Cheong (12th) and Abdalla (11th), before the elimination of Kerve Capital Fund Manager Jeremy Kerbel in 10th place put the tournament down to the final table of nine.

Sung Joo Hyun would be eliminated in ninth place when he was all-in with ace-seven against Eshaan Bhalla's ace-jack. Jonathan Little was all-in with ace-deuce and flopped a wheel on Key Song, who would exit next in eighth place when Little's king-ten outdrew his sixes. Retired soccer player Jack Saville found a pair of kings, but he would be outdrawn by Yu's ace-four to exit in seventh place, before Yu exited next when his ace-four suited went up against Princess Love's pocket tens. No help arrived for Yu, and the StormX co-founder was out in sixth.

Daniel "Tafo" Lee found a double through Ye Shen, but his tournament would end in fifth place when his jack-seven suited couldn't hit the mark against Little's pocket queens. Shen would follow Lee out the door as the next to fall in fourth place. Shen's ace-six was no match for Little's queen-seven as Little would turn a queen and hold on to send Shen to the rail. 

Three-handed play was a back and forth affair, with players trading chips until Bhalla ran his king-jack into Little's ace-three suited. Little would turn a flush to leave Bhalla with just two big blinds and he would be eliminated shortly after. 

Little began his heads-up match with Princess Love with a nearly 2-1 chip advantage and he applied relentless pressure. Love eventually made her stand with king-eight, but Little was holding ace-queen. A clean runout ensured little's victory and he walked away with the title, much to a booing crowd's dismay. Love, who stated she just started playing poker a year ago, made a stellar run in the event and earned $80,156 for her second-place finish.

With his StormX Invitational III victory for $130,386, Little now eclipses $8 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

StormX Invitational III Payouts

Connect with PokerGO.com on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Watch daily poker clips on the PokerGO YouTube channel. Join the conversation on the PokerGO Discord server. You can save $20 off an annual subscription to PokerGO.com by using the code “PGT2023” at checkout.