The Celebrity Poker Tour returned to the PokerGO Studios on Monday night for Game Night III — a single-table tournament with a winner-take-all prize of $15,000 sitting at the top.
The show continues a long tradition of fame-based poker competition that dates back to the Moneymaker Boom when television networks scooped up everything poker. Programs like the Bravo Network's Celebrity Poker Showdown drew some top-tier celebrities — Ben Affleck and the cast of Friends — over five seasons from 2003-2006. A British counterpart, Celebrity Poker Club, crowned Victoria Coren Mitchell as the champion of its second season in 2005, a year before she won the Main Event at EPT London — the first of two EPT titles for the writer and TV presenter.
The modern Celebrity Poker Tour doesn't draw A-list celebrities as it did in the heyday of poker television, but there's still room for a lot of personality around the table. Many of today's participating celebrities come from internet fame, sometimes even better suited to play in front of a live audience on stream for long periods.
Steve Will Do It stops by
The poker action is sometimes secondary, as it was on Monday night when Steve Will Do It stopped by with expensive gifts for his friends Ethan and Hila Klein from the YouTube channel h3h3Productions. Hila went on to finish second in the tournament behind social media personality and Hustler Casino Live guest Bryce Hall.
The PokerOrg team, led by Lara Neacy, was on hand to chase the chaos all night. They caught up with TikToker Zach Justice to get an insight into his strategy:
"Threaten the immediate family of the player sitting next to me," Justice said before play started. "They kinda telephone it to the next player until we get down the line and I eventually get all the money."
The Grand Entrance
The night's big moment came after Ethan Klein's elimination when an empty chair opened up a spot for Sofie Dossi, a contortionist and finalist from America's Got Talent. Like any good celebrity poker player, she brought her act with her:
Klein's bustout was the first of the single-table sit-and-go and he was followed out the door by Mongeau and JC Caylen in eighth and seventh. Caylen is a YouTuber who once ordered every possible topping on a pizza.
In sixth was Makoa, son of late Hawaiian surfing legend Derek Ho, and Justice followed him in fifth. Dossi, seen above crawling out of a box, hit the rail in fourth before Steiny from Nelk finished in third. Hall and Klein traded a few flips before the former took the $15,000 prize.
