Celebrities in poker are nothing new. Gabe Kaplan and Chill Willis were a couple of celebrities involved in the early days of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas used to hold celebrity charity events that included Dionne Warwick and Mr. T.
During the “Poker Boom” of the mid-2000s, an influx of celebrities ventured into the game including Jason Alexander, Kevin Pollak, and Jennifer Tilly, all of who dabble to this day. There was also the Celebrity Poker Showdown, which ran for five seasons on Bravo from 2003-2006.
However, the events of 2011’s Black Friday dramatically changed the poker landscape, with most TV shows devoted to the game disappearing from the airwaves. While celebrities made sporadic poker appearances on TV, primarily on ESPN episodes of the WSOP, they weren’t a big part of the game.
That all changed in 2024 when the poker world was inundated with celebrities. The PokerStars Big Game got in the action by inviting the likes of Arden Cho, Michael Ian Black, and Rob Gronkowski, but it was actually a new tour that brought hundreds of celebrities to poker.
The Celebrity Poker Tour (CPT), the brainchild of 25-year-old Blake Wynn, debuted in 2023, completed its first season in 2024, and kicked off Season 2 in February 2025. The CPT hosted eight events in its first season and the celebrities were a mix of traditional sports stars, comedians, and TV personalities, as well as more modern-day celebrity streamers, vloggers, and internet personalities.
Regulars include Ethan & Hila Klein, Trent “BookItWithTrent” Attiyah, Bryce Hall, Jorge Masvidal, Steiny, Mackenzie Dern, Tana Mongeau, and many more.
Origin of the Celebrity Poker Tour (CPT)
Blake Wynn told PokerNews the story of how the CPT came to be:
The idea for the CPT almost sort of happened by accident. When we threw the first tournament, which was the Enclave Celebrity Invitational in August 2023, I think that was the moment that we realized that, as opposed to having that be a one-off event that we did in partnership with PokerGO, there was a hunger for the idea of getting unique personalities together, celebrities being the epitome of that, and pitting them against one another.
That became clear as a means of engaging and exciting content as soon as we threw that first one. So immediately following that one we worked with the PokerGO team and we decided that 2024 was going to be the inaugural year of the Celebrity Poker Tour. The first event was on February 8 which was about five months after that first event had taken place during which time we were figuring out who we were going to cast for each event, creating the branding, and all of the backend work that goes with launching a business.
The actual idea for it came from inside my house where I have a poker room and we play low-stakes games with celebrities and I would oftentimes have folks like Alexandra Botez, Austin Ekeler, Joey Hamilton, Princess Love, Bryce Hall, and others come to my house and we would play low-stakes poker. It was so entertaining that if we were able to film it, we thought that would make for some incredible content, so that's how the idea came to be and that's why we did the event that we did in August of 2023, but the CPT was a result of that event.
Qiyu “Nemo” Zhou Becomes First CPT Champion
It was back on August 27, 2023, that the first-ever CPT Invitational was held. The tournament invited 70 players to PokerGO Studio including “Boston Rob” Mariano, Alexandra Botez, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and Bryce Hall, though none of them managed to cash.
The first-ever CPT champion ended up being chess grandmaster Qiyu “Nemo” Zhou.
"I've always wanted to play so much more poker," Nemo told officials after her win. "I took a break this year because there are three holes in my door because I punched it after really bad poker sessions. I'm really glad to be back in poker and I'm super grateful for this opportunity."
She added: "Honestly, I think I got really lucky on some hands. As we were getting shorter and shorter, I just had to shove all in. I kind of started developing this reputation at my table where I was just shoving all in because that's just what you have to do when you have 10 big blinds. There's nothing more you can do."
Enclave CPT Invitational Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Qiyu "Nemo" Zhou | $20,000 |
| 2nd | Bill Pulte | $10,000 |
| 3rd | Chris Grove | $5,500 |
| 4th | Brandon Marshall | $3,500 |
| 5th | Nathan Webb | $2,500 |
| 6th | Joey Hamilton | $2,000 |
| 7th | Manny Kess | $1,500 |
| 8th | Chase DeMoor | $1,000 |
| 9th | Steven "Hoodie Allen" Markowitz | $1,000 |
| 10th | Dan Fleyshman | $1,000 |
| 11th | Alexander Seibt | $1,000 |
| 12th | Hayes Pullard | $1,000 |
Princess Love Wins CPT Invitational II
On February 9, 2024, the CPT Invitational II was held at PokerGO Studio. The field was comprised of 73 entrants including a slew of NFL players such as Calais Campbell, Dalton Kincaid, Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Marqise Lee, Brandon Marshall, Will Levis, Laviska Shenault, Eric Ebron, and Aaron Jones. They were joined by the likes of Perez Hilton, Brad Owen, and Ethan “Rampage” Yau.
Princess Love, an actress who was also known as the wife of Ray J at the time, was also in the field and ended up defeating Keith Smith in heads-up play to become the second CPT champ, good for $20,000. It was her first career win, though she had had larger scores including $80,156 for finishing runner-up in the 2023 StormX Invitational III and $132,500 for placing 40th in the 2023 WPT World Championship.
CPT Invitational II Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Princess Love | $20,000 |
| 2nd | Keith Smith | $10,000 |
| 3rd | Tana Mongeau | $5,000 |
| 4th | Laviska Shenault | $3,500 |
| 5th | Trent "BookItWithTrent" Attyah | $3,000 |
| 6th | Will Levis | $2,500 |
| 7th | Aljamain Sterling | $2,000 |
| 8th | Gordie Gronkowski | $1,334 |
| 9th | Eric Hansen | $1,333 |
| 10th | Eric Ebron | $1,333 |
Princess Love actually talked about her CPT win when she sat down with Connor Richards for an episode of Life Outside Poker, which you can watch below.
Contortionist Goes All In With Her Feet at Celebrity Poker Tour Invitational
Bachelorette Star Victorious in CPT Invitational III
The CPT Invitational III took place on May 4, 2024, with 79 runners competing for the title and $20,000 top prize. Once again the field was a mix of poker players, streamers, online personalities, and sports stars such as Peyton Barber, Prince Amukamara, Kenyon Drake, Jason Verrett, Larry Sanders, Glen Davis, Pacman Jones, Hayes Pullard, Chris Eubank Jr, Amir Johnson, Aljamain Sterling, an Sugar Shane Mosley.
On the celebrity front, former Season 25 Bachelor contestant and The Bachelorette Season 17 star Katie Thurston was in the field, and actually took it down to become the third female winner of a CPT Invitational event. She defeated a final table that included former champs Princess Love and Qiyu "Nemo" Zhou.
CPT Invitational III Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Katie Thurston | $20,000 |
| 2nd | Miguel Núñez Jr. | $10,000 |
| 3rd | Carson Lueders | $5,000 |
| 4th | Ethan Yau | $3,500 |
| 5th | Steven "Hoodie Allen" Markowitz | $3,000 |
| 6th | Princess Love | $2,500 |
| 7th | Qiyu "Nemo" Zhou | $2,000 |
| 8th | Mark Dohner | $2,000 |
| 9th | Alex Bachman | $2,000 |
Vegas Matt & “Hawk Tuah Girl” Shine in CPT Invitational IV
On August 31, 2024, 80 celebrities packed the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for the 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.
Vegas Matt started the night at the feature table alongside the likes of eight-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. While Welch didn’t cash, she was arguably the most popular star of the night and played some big hands as recapped here on PokerNews.
CPT Invitational IV 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 |
“Hawk Tuah Girl” Gets Distracted and Folds Flopped Two Pair in CPT Invitational IV
Season 1 Wraps with Maria Ho Becoming a Two-Time Winner
The first season of the Celebrity Poker Tour wrapped on November 20, 2024, which is when Maria Ho topped a 62-entry field to win the 2024 CPT Championship for $50,000 and become the tour’s first two-time champ.
"I definitely got a lot of big hands as you could see at the final table," Ho told PokerGO's Natalie Bode and CPT's Blake Wynn after the victory. "But everybody played really well. Like a lot of the women especially. We hung in there, we were trying to get an all-women final table today. It didn't quite happen, but I'm super proud of everybody's showing tonight."
More than 60 celebrities competed ranging from retired professional athletes Mike Bibby, Mario Chalmers, and Adrian Peterson to influencers Bryce Hall, Tana Mongeau, and Vegas Matt and content creators Ninja, Ethan Klein and Sketch.
Ho added of the experience: “This is all about the fun. If anybody’s watched a CPT stream, they know that everybody here is trying to have a good time. They want to win, but it’s not going to be the stone-faced sunglasses, hoodie situation.”
2024 CPT Championship Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Ho | $50,000 |
| 2 | Brian Quinn | $20,000 |
| 3 | Sofie Dossi | $10,000 |
| 4 | CJ So Cool | $5,000 |
| 5 | Hayes Pullard | $4,000 |
| 6 | Adrian Peterson | $3,500 |
| 7 | Lena Ayad | $2,500 |
| 8 | Bryce Hall | $2,500 |
| 9 | Hila Klein | $2,500 |
Game Nights Galore
While the CPT Invitationals are larger multi-table tournaments, the popular Game Nights are single-table events. The first one was held on March 15, 2024, which is when Maria Ho won her first CPT title and a $10,000 top prize.
The following month on April 19, poker vlogger Alexander “Wolfgang Poker” Seibt became the first man to win a CPT event when he took down Game Night II for $10,000, and then Bryce Hall followed in his footsteps on August 12 by winning CPT Game Night III for $15,000.
CPT Game Night IV was the final one of the year and was held on October 7. H3 Executive Assistant Lena Ayad won it for $5,000.
Celebrity Poker Tour Events & Winners
| Date | Event | Entries | Winner | Celebrity | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 20, 2024 | 2024 CPT Championship | 62 | Maria Ho | Poker Player | $50,000 |
| October 7, 2024 | CPT Game Night IV | 10 | Lena Ayad | Executive Assistant H3 | $5,000 |
| August 31, 2024 | CPT Invitational IV | 78 | Vegas Matt | Slot Streamer | $20,000 |
| August 12, 2024 | CPT Game Night III | 9 | Bryce Hall | Media personality & influencer | $15,000 |
| May 4, 2024 | CPT Invitational III | 79 | Katie Thurston | TV personality | $20,000 |
| April 19, 2024 | CPT Game Night II | 9 | Alexander “Wolfgang Poker” Seibt | Poker Vlogger | $10,000 |
| March 15, 2024 | CPT Game Night I | 8 | Maria Ho | Poker Player | $10,000 |
| February 9, 2024 | CPT Invitational II | 73 | Princess Love | Actress & personality | $20,000 |
| August 27, 2023 | CPT Enclave Invitational | 70 | Qiyu “Nemo” Zhou | Chess Grandmaster | $20,000 |
*Images courtesy of CPT & PokerGO.