Richard Lee Wins the StormX Invitational II

The StormX Invitational II was another exciting and fun-filled event, and it was Richard Lee, a managing partner at Global Blockchain Innovative Capital, who topped a 130-entrant field to take home $175,500. Lee was down to less than two big blinds at one point but came back to capture the title. The tournament took place at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday, October 27. 

StormX Invitational II Payouts

The invite-only StormX Invitational II featured poker pros, crypto entrepreneurs, and celebrities all competing in the $5,000 buy-in event. The top nine finishers reached the final table and made the money.

The tournament attracted some of the best and brightest of the three worlds and brought out players such as Maria Ho, Bruce Buffer, Joseph Cheong, Kitty Kuo, Margaux Brook, Xuan Liu, and Arden Cho. Simon Yu, CEO and co-founder of StormX, also made his second appearance in the event. None of the above players made it into the money. Poker pros Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk kicked off the day hot on the feature table, but eventually fizzled out and failed to reach the money as well. 

Poker Pro Sashimi, most known for playing in several streamed cash games, was the first player to bust at the final table. Sashimi came in with a big stack, but after several beats, she dropped in 9th place, earning $17,750. In her final hand, she jammed her pocket fives into the pocket nines of Kacper Piotrowski and was headed to the rail before the river even dropped. 

Amir Marmar, the CEO of JFDI Accountants (a crypto accounting firm) was the 8th place finisher collecting $23,400, while Ben Middleton, a former high-stakes poker player turned founding partner of Ascensive Assets, followed him to the rail in 7th place earning $29,250. David Malka, Founder and CEO of Truffle.vc, finished in 6th place for $35,100. Malka took a brutal beat in a three-way all-in with pocket jacks. Up against two ace-rag hands, Malka just needed to fade to stay alive, but an ace on the flop ended his dreams of capturing the StormX Invitational II title.  

Richard Lee Takes Control of the Final Five

Richard Lee began picking up steam around this time, taking half of the massive pot against David Malka. He then eliminated Shingo Lavine, the Ethos.io founder, in 5th place, winning a race with ace-ten against Lavine’s king-jack. 

Perhaps the world’s most popular poker vlogger Brad Owen, dubbed “The Vlogfather” in this very tournament, made a great run in this year's StormX Invitational, but Owen too ran into the buzzsaw that was Richard Lee. Owen moved in from the button holding king-seven, but Lee woke up in the big blind with ace-jack and would flop Owen close to dead. Owen earned $58,500 for his run, which to date is his largest recorded live cash. 

Kacper Piotrowski quickly followed Owen out the door in 3rd place, collecting $81,900 and also falling to Richard Lee when his ace-five fell short of Lee’s king-jack. This gave Richard Lee a huge chip lead going into heads-up play against Daniel “Tafo” Lee, a former competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee player. 

Heads-up play would only last one hand with both players getting involved in a pot which they described as “playing itself.” Tafo was all in before the flop holding king-ten and Richard called him down holding ace-queen. A queen on the flop reduced Tafo’s outs to three, and the turn and river ran out clean allowing Richard to secure the bag and crowning him the second-ever StormX Invitational Champion. Tafo earned a payday of $117,000 for his second-place finish.

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