On Saturday night, 80 celebrities packed the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for the Celebrity Poker Tour (CPT) Invitational IV, which was won for $20,000 by Stephen Matt Morrow, better known as high-stakes slot icon Vegas Matt.
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 arguably the “celebrity” everyone was most excited to see, Haliey Welch, known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl” thanks to a viral video earlier this year.
Drea Renee actually interviewed Welch prior to the start of play.
“It’s coming out of my ass,” Welch quipped when Renee asked where her confidence came from regarding the tournament. “I’m not very good at poker and I’ve never played poker, so we’re going to see how this goes.”
Players started with 100,000 in chips and played 15-minute levels. If needed, invitees had a second bullet in the chamber, albeit only for the first six levels. Below are four noteworthy hands played by the Hawk Tuah Girl!
“I Don’t Understand”
Even before the event began, Welch admitted she didn’t know how to play poker. In what would be her very first hand of poker, action folded to Josh Richards and he limped for 1,000 with the Q♦8♥. Xavier Mortimer raised to 2,000 with the 10♥10♣ in the small blind and Welch was in the big blind with 1,000 already invested.
“Ok, ok, I’ll put in,” she said as she put in an additional 1,000 chip with the 10♠6♣. “I don’t understand.”
Richards also called and the flop fell J♣A♠3♦. Mortimer bet the minimum of 1,000 and the dealer explained the options to Welch.
“I’m gonna fold,” she said with a laugh. Richards followed suit and Mortimer took down the first hand.
Welch Folds Two Pair on the Flop
With the blinds at 2,000/3,000, Mortimer limped under the gun with the 6♣5♣ and Welch did the same with the K♥3♣ next to act. Ethan Klein called with the J♦9♣, Richards with the K♦9♦, and Steiny on the button with the Q♥2♠.
Vegas Matt called with the Q♠J♥ in the small blind and Patrick Peterson checked his option from the big with the 8♥7♦. The flop fell 3♥K♣10♣ and Welch flopped two pair! However, she checked it back after two players checked before her.
Klein checked and then Richards bet 5,000 with top pair, Vegas Matt called with his open-ended straight draw, and action was back on Mortimer, who had a flush draw. He decided it was time for another magic trick in which he turned a piece of tape into a tie.
It proved to be an unintentional distraction as Mortimer folded his flush draw and a surprised Welch sent her cards to the muck.
“Why did Hawk Tuah fold?” a perplexed Brent Hanks commentated. “She was so distracted by the magician she folded two pair … what is happening?
A ten on the turn would’ve counterfeited Welch, and Vegas Matt wound up making a Broadway straight to win the pot.
“Great fold by Hawk Tuah,” Jeff Platt joked.
Double Up on That Thang
With the blinds at 2,000/4,000, Richards called with the J♥3♥ and Steiny raised to 12,000 holding the A♦9♦. Welch was in the small blind sitting with 40,000 and called holding the K♥Q♠. Klein called from the big with the 9♥5♦, Richards called the additional 8,000, and it was four-way action to a flop of K♦Q♥3♦. Welch flopped top two pair and checked. Klein did the same, Richards bet 10,000 with bottom pair, and Steiny raised to 30,000 with the nut flush draw.
Welch called off for 30,000, Klein folded, and Richards also called off for 20,000 total. Welch got it in good and was a 55% favorite to more than double in the hand. However, Steiny, who had a diamond draw, had a 32% chance of winning, though that dropped to 19% after the 2♣ bricked on the turn.
The 5♥ river was safe for Welch and she was all smiles as she pulled in a 148,000 pot.
Goodbye, Hawk Tuah
In what would be her final hand of the tournament, the blinds were 10,000/20,000 when Vegas Matt limped holding the A♦7♦ and Mortimer did the same with the Q♣J♥. Welch just called holding the 6♥6♣ next to act, Blac Chyna went all in for 25,000 with the 8♥4♥, and Dwight Howard called from the button with the K♥10♦.
Steiny called from the big blind with the K♣3♣ and the other four players each put in an additional 5,000 to make it six-way action to a flop of p7c7s9c]. Steiny was first to act and bet 40,000 with his club flush draw and Vegas Matt popped it to 100,000 with trip sevens.
Action folded to Welch and she used two hands to slide her stack of 110,000 in the middle.
“If she doesn’t hit a six she’ll find her way to the bar,” Brent Hanks said.
Howard, who seemingly never folds, called with his king-high, Steiny ditched his flush draw, and Vegas Matt called the additional 10,000. The A♥ improved Vegas Matt to an unbeatable full house and he moved all in for 105,000. Howard once again called and just like that Vegas Matt won a 730,000 pot after the meaningless 5♠ was run out on the river. That hand ultimately helped propel him to victory in the tournament for $20,000!
Alas, the hand also marked the end of Hawk Tuah and Blac Chyna in the Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV.
“It was pretty fun. I think I have a better understanding of it now,” Welch told Drea Renee in a post-elimination interview. “And I made some friends too.”
The entirety of the Celebrity Poker Tour IV stream can be viewed for free on YouTube now:
The Celebrity Poker Tour will return on Saturday, Oct. 5th with Game Night IV followed by the CPT Championship on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
* Images courtesy of Celebrity Poker Tour
PR & Media Manager
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