Nanonoko Proposes to Celina Lin with Gold Cellophane Ring

Love was most definitely in the air this week as two of PokerStars Team Online pros got engaged in the most romantic of ways – Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew sending Celina Lin on a treasure hunt, with a marriage proposal at the end, a hand-made golden cellophane ring sealing the deal!

The poker-playing couple have been dating for a few years now, but the ultimate romantic gesture still took Lin by surprise, and her initial ‘No way!’ reply to the offer or marriage had online sensation ‘nanonoko’ sweating…

PokerNews’ writer Pamela Maldonado was first to catch up with Shanghai-born Lin, a two-time winner of the Red Dragon Cup who has close to $1million on her live poker resume, and discovered the incredible cryptic treasure hunt which Lin had to decipher to secure the ring, and man, of her dreams.

‘Lin woke up to see a card of riddles written all over it,’ wrote Maldonado, adding:

"The riddles: I am something you consume at a restaurant for free and you can find me in the word ‘breathe.’ Time is ticking."

When Lin realised Lew’s riddle was related to a unique hourglass at the pair’s New Zealand home, the sand and water puzzle started to make sense - Lin heading to their favourite beach at Te Ranga, Papamoa, and solved the next set of instructions:

"Go to the bottom of the steps, find two logs, and start digging."

Inside the box, a note asking the ultimate romantic question:

"Will you marry me?"

Lin’s initial response was "What the hell? No way!" but her shock – which had Lew worried – wore off, Lin explaining:

"But then I realized he was kneeling and I said, 'yes'."

Naturally, once news got out of the poker match made in heaven, the congratulations came pouring in from fellow stars of the game…

…and although everyone wishes the newly-announced bride and groom to be all the very best and much happiness… the engagement ring will have to be found before the story has a fully happy ending!

The ring, ‘handmade from a piece of gold cellophane held together by a sticky price tag’ as Maldonado describes it, will hopefully turn up – although Lew’s handicraft was meant as a promise to spend time together, shopping for a real ring part of that.

Of the wedding plans themselves, Lin explained:

"It's probably going to be a destination wedding. I would say a beach wedding, somewhere along Great Ocean Road in Melbourne."