Vegas Matt Wins Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV; Denies Qiyu ‘Nemo’ Zhou a 2nd Title
On Saturday night, 80 celebrities packed the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for the Celebrity Poker Tour (CPT) Invitational IV, which offered up a $50,000 prize pool. After six hours of play, Stephen Matt Morrow, better known as high-stakes slot icon Vegas Matt, came out on top of the invite-only event to win a $20,000 top prize.
In the process, he defeated chess grandmaster Qiyu ‘Nemo’ Zhou in heads-up play to deny her a second CPT title. It was a year ago that Nemo won her first-ever live poker tournament by topping a 70-entry field in the Enclave Celebrity Poker Invitational.
Vegas Matt actually started the night at the feature table alongside the likes of 8-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard, Blac Chyna, Steiny, Ethan Klein, and Haliey Welch, known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl” thanks to a viral video earlier this year. Unfortunately all of those players wound up falling short of making the money.
CPT Invitational IV Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vegas Matt | $20,000 |
| 2 | Qiyu ‘Nemo’ Zhou | $10,000 |
| 3 | Rachel Cook | $5,000 |
| 4 | Cash Baker | $3,500 |
| 5 | Marqise Lee | $3,000 |
| 6 | John Ferguson | $2,000 |
| 7 | Hila Klein | $2,000 |
| 8 | Teli Swift | $2,000 |
| 9 | 5Up | $2,000 |
The action, sponsored by Monster Energy, was live-streamed on a plethora of platforms followed the CPT Game Night III, which was won by Bryce Hall earlier this month.
At the final table, American gaming YouTuber 5up got his stack all in with 10♦9♦ only to run smack dab into the A♣A♥ of Rachel Cook. Unfortunately for 5up, he had to get up from the table in ninth place after the board ran out clean.
In one interesting storyline, CPT founder Blake Wynn made a bet with former basketball player Mike Bibby. If the former didn’t make the top 20 the former would get a pair of shoes from Bibby’s collection, but if Bibby did make the top 20, then Blake owed him $100. Fittingly, Bibby ended up finishing exactly in 20th place to win the bet!
In another, French magician Xavier Mortimer kept players and viewers entertained with several magic tricks that really were quite astounding.
The Celebrity Poker Tour will return on Saturday, Oct. 5th with Game Night IV followed by the CPT Championship on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
The entirety of the Celebrity Poker Tour IV stream can be viewed for free on YouTube now:
* Images courtesy of Celebrity Poker Tour/Tim & Dee TV
