From Hawk Tuah to Nemo, Vegas Matt to 8-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard, everyone seemed to be at the poker table in Las Vegas as the Celebrity Poker Tour returned. Who got chewed up and spat out, and which celebs bagged bragging rights on Saturday night? We’ve got the latest from the CPT felt.
A Cast of SuperStars
“I’ve never played poker, so we’re going to see how this goes.”
With players such as Blac Chyna, previous CPT legend Steiny, Ethan Klein and Haliey Welch – otherwise known as ‘Hawk Tuah Girl’ – at the felt, drama was certain to follow. In total, 80 celebrities took part in CPT Invitational IV, with the tournament won by Stephen Matt Morrow a.k.a. slots icon ‘Vegas Matt’ at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for $20,000.
There was a prizepool of $50,000 on offer and as usual, the coverage was free on YouTube for poker fans to tune in. It was the arrival of Welch at the feature table that caused the biggest stir, however, with PokerGO presenting legend Drea Renee asking her how much confidence she was feeling before the first deal hit the flop.
“It’s coming out of my *ss!” Welch replied, before responding with a little more honesty. “I’ve never played poker, so we’re going to see how this goes.”
With players sitting down with 100,000 chips, levels lasted 15 minutes each. That was fast enough to get the action going right from the off, with a fun prop bet going to the wire between CPT founder Blake Wynn and the former NBA basketball star Mike Bibby. Wynn bet $100 that Bibby couldn’t make the top 20 players, or to put it another way, the best 25% of the field. If Bibby lost the bet, he had to give Wynn a pair of his basketball trainers.
Fortunately for Bibby, he managed to last until exactly 20th place to win the bet and take home $100.
How Did ‘Hawk Tuah’ Do?
All eyes were on Hawk Tuah, a.k.a. Haliey Welch as play began at the feature table, but did she choke or hold her own? There were no spit-takes when she called a raise in the first hand, her ten-six of clubs some way behind Josh Richards’s queen-eight. When Xavier Mortimer re-raised with pocket tens, Welch put in another thousand chips. A flop of ace-jack-three prompted a c-bet from Mortimer and Welch threw in her hand, mucking as she folded.
“I’m gonna fold,” laughed Welch. “I don’t understand.”
That may have been the correct fold, but soon Welch was far too tight. In another multi-way pot, Welch flopped two-pair but, distracted by a magic trick from the player to her immediate right where he turned a piece of tape into a tie, Welch folded a flopped two-pair.
“Why did Hawk Tuah fold?” Brent Hanks asked on comms. “She was so distracted by the magician she folded two pair … what is happening?!”
We still can’t work out how he did it.
As it turned out, Welch saved herself money, as Vegas Matt made a Broadway straight by the end of the board to take a chunky pot on his way to victory.
“Great fold by Hawk Tuah!” Jeff Platt joked sitting next to Hanks.
A little later, Welch managed a double, with king-queen hitting two pair on the flop and this time, she was concentrating enough to get full value as Steiny lost with a nut flush draw to see her make it back up to over 100,000 in chips.
In fact, it took some time to shift Welch, as later on, with blinds at 10,000/20,000, her pocket sixes lost to Vegas Matt’ ace-seven of diamonds when a flop containing two sevens ended up knocking her out with a full house by the river.
“It was pretty fun,” Welch told Renee after the event. “I think I have a better understanding of it now – and I made some friends too.”
Who Won the CPT Invitational IV Event?
With just nine players making the final table, 5up, Telli Swift and the most recent CPT winner Hila Klein busted in the first three places of the final table. John Ferguson departed in sixth place for $2,000 – the same amount as those previous three players – before the former wide receiver Marqise Lee was bumped into touch in fifth for a score of $3,000.
The 21-year-old singer Cash Baker – hit maker behind the 2018 song The Way You Move made by him and his brother Maverick, was in dreamland to make the final four but crashed out for $3,500 when his queen-ten ran into Vegas Matt’s pocket queens. Soon, three became two as Rachel Cook, a ‘model, roadtripper and farmer in training’ according to her Instagram bio, ran out of road for a score of $5,000 when seven-six lost to Qiyu Zhou, known as Nemo’s king-seven, a king coming on the turn to confirm the American’s exit.
Heads-up, that gave Vegas Matt the lead, with around 10.5m chips to Nemo’s 4.5m. The chess grandmaster was all-in soon after the final duel began with king-five offsuit but she was in need of a hit when Matt called with pocket deuces. Nemo had two different suits to Matt, so when the flop of 8-4-2 in diamonds landed, it may have give Matt bottom set and not even paired Nemo’s hand but she had a diamond and that meant two streets of sweat for Matt.
The turn was an offsuit king, not helping Nemo because another king would give Matt a full house anyway. The river needed to be a diamond to prolong the affair but instead it was the case deuce, giving Vegas Matt quads to round out the drama!
After another superb Celebrity Poker Tour invitational event, Vegas Matt took home $20,000, with Nemo awarded the $10,000 runner-up prize.
Watch all the action at the fourth Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational event, where Vegas Matt ruled supreme in his city on a dramatic night right here: