Las Vegas is preparing for a busy Super Bowl weekend, and a part of that will be plenty of celebrities coming into town. That’ll be especially true on Thursday, February 8th when the Celebrity Poker Tour host their second invitational at PokerGO Studio with a livestream starting at 6 p.m. PST.
The Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational II, which is expected to last 4-5 hours, will be a 72-invite-only field that starts players with 100,000 in chips and play 15-minute levels. There will be a total of $50,000 in prize money awarded to the top nine finishers, with the winner capturing a $20,000 first-place prize.
The event will be comprised of celebrities, pro athletes, content creators, and business leaders including the likes of Perez Hilton, Aljamain Sterling, Will Levis, Austin Ekeler, Bryce Hall, Marc D’Amelio, Pierson Wodzynski, Tana Mongeau, and several dozen more.
That includes internet personality and actor Griffin Johnson, who rose to fame on TikTok thanks to his comedic skits, challenges, and a mastery of the slow-motion technique. The former member of the Sway House has more than 10.3 million followers on TikTok, 1.7 million followers on X, 3.1 million on Instagram, and nearly a million subscribers on YouTube.
(Bottom) From Left to Right: Bryce Hall, Tana Mongeau, Shane Victorino, Alex Botez, Rampage Poker
Actor Neil Patrick Harris Takes Brutal Cooler in WPT Celebrity Poker Tournament
Q&A with Griffin Johnson
PokerNews recently chatted with Johnson to get his thoughts on the upcoming Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational II.
“This will be my third-ever, in-person game,” Johnson admitted. “I actually learned from Blake Wynn [the owner of the Celebrity Poker Tour] through friendly games together and I also downloaded the app Pokerist as it was recommended by a friend and I’ve been playing ever since.”
He continued: “My favorite part is most card games are all luck-based and while there’s luck involved, there’s a lot of strategy, intelligence, and thought behind it so that’s what sets it apart for me. It’s like the difference between chess and Monopoly for example.”
While he didn’t participate back then, Johnson shared that there used to be some poker games played at the famous Sway House.
“There definitely has been poker played at the house. Although, it’s difficult for me to recall specific stories as I always just watched if there ever was a game. I’ve watched Bryce [Hall] play too much poker I think, as well as Josh [Richards]. I would love to play against Bryce and win just one good hand. That way, when he tries to win it back, there would be no chance as I would just get up from the table and go!”
As for the Super Bowl, Johnson is looking forward to the big game, though the two teams he was rooting for – the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills – have already been eliminated from Playoff contention.
PokerNews will be on-hand for the Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational II and offering social media throughout. While there, we’ll be sure to catch up with Johnson to see if he can manage to come away with all the chips!
Executive Editor U.S.
Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.