Vegas Matt Wins Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV

Legendary social media gambler and local Vegas Matt won the Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV on Saturday at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. Vegas Matt topped the 78-entrant field, which included celebrities, comedians, professional athletes, models, actors, internet personalities, and content creators, to win the $20,000 first-place prize. 

Before 2021, Vegas Matt went by Matt Morrow, a husband and father who moved to Las Vegas in 2012. Following a trademark victory celebration after making a Royal Flush, Vegas Matt's son, EJ, uploaded the video to TikTok, and "Vegas Matt" was born. Since that day, Vegas Matt, his son EJ, and his friend World's Biggest Gambler (WBG) have captured their daily gambling adventures on social media. The Vegas Matt YouTube channel is now the world's number one most-viewed gambling channel. 

Another huge turnout of players made up the 78-entrant field for the Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV, and everyone was spread throughout the PokerGO Studio across nine tables of play. Some of the players included NBA players Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, Kenyon Martin Sr, and Mario Chalmers, NFL players Eric Ebron, Marqise Lee, and Patrick Peterson, and other sports stars such as Adrien Broner, Jose Canseco, Aljamain Sterling, and Mackenzie Dern. Players from the social media space included Tana Mongeau, Blac Chyna, Princess Love, Bryce Hall, Sara Saffari, Ray J, Ashley Nocera, H3H3, and current "it" girl Hailey Welch who has been more prominently known as "Hawk Tuah."

Each player participating in the Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV possessed a second-chance chip, which gave them a 100,000-chip rebuy or add-on. Once all the second chance chips were cashed and the first break had concluded, NFL quarterback Cardale Jones held the chip lead ahead of CPT Game Night III champion Bryce Hall and NFL running back Kenyan Drake. As the money bubble approached, it would be Hall who fell in 10th place when Marqise Lee eliminated him, while Nicholas "5up" Karabin exited immediately after to leave just eight players redrawing to the final table.

Lee entered the final table as the chip leader ahead of model and actress Rachel Cook. A massive pot saw the double elimination of Telli Swift in eighth place, and Hila Klein in seventh place, when Cook flopped top set and had both players drawing dead on the turn. Cook now held nearly half the chips in play and another double elimination would follow when John Ferguson and Lee were both all in against Qiyu "Nemo" Zhou. Lee held the best hand, but Zhou outflopped both her opponents and held through to the river to leave just four players remaining.

Vegas Matt found a double through Cook when his pocket jacks held up against the ace-three-suited of Cook. Cash Baker was then all-in, holding queen-ten against the pocket queens of Vegas Matt, and after he was eliminated in fourth place, Vegas Matt and Zhou shared the chip lead over a short-stacked Cook, who was forced all-in next hand and was eliminated by Zhou. 

Zhou entered heads-up play holding a slender chip leader over Vegas Matt, who took the first major pot with ace-five, and moved into a sizeable lead. The final hand would see Zhou move all-in from the big blind with king-five, and Vegas Matt raise-called his button with pocket deuces. Vegas Matt called and flopped bottom set, while Zhou needed a diamond to stay alive. The turn changed little, but it would be the fourth deuce on the river for Vegas Matt to give him quads and the victory in the Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV for $20,000 in prize money.

Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV Results

The Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational IV was livestreamed on PokerGO and the PokerGO YouTube channel. If you'd like to relive the excitement of this star-studded event and Thurston's first-ever live tournament victory, you can do so on the PokerGO YouTube channel.

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