Adrian Mateos Wins $250K Super High Roller for $3,265,262

Adrian Mateos is a young professional poker player from Spain. He is just 27 years old but has already managed to achieve great milestones in the game of poker. His latest victory was at the 2021 WSOP where he has managed to defeat a field of 33 entries and win the $250,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event for a career-best payday of $3,265,262. It was also Mateos’ fourth career WSOP gold bracelet. With this latest win, Mateos was able to increase his lifetime live tournament earnings all the way to $25,945,482. This puts him in first place on Spain’s all-time money list. He also has more than twice the earnings of his closest rival, Sergio Aido with $12,751,563. Mateos’ previous largest score came from his win during the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event for $1,379,300. He was only 18 years old when he won this Main Event. 

Before Mateos has managed to come out on top in the Super High Roller event, he had two prior final tables in the WSOP events with buy-ins of around a quarter-million or more. However, he has finished fifth both times. 

Here is what Adrian Mateos had to say about his Super High Roller victory:

“It means a lot. I have played some $100,000 tournaments and even the $1,000,000 buy-in, and I never won a big buy-in like this. So this was something I’ve had in mind, to win one of these. When I came here I knew that I was the favorite to win, but there were four other players to beat and it was a long wait yet. I was lucky enough and played well enough to win. It’s the same game, but it’s different because you have to adapt. My game is a little bit different in a tournament with a lot of people compared to a small field. For me, it’s more of a mental challenge to win these tournaments. The most important thing for me is feeling that I’m among the top tournament players and that I can compete with the best of the best.”

Now, let’s take a closer look at how the events at the final table unfolded.

Final Table

The final day of the $250K Super High Roller kicked off with Mateos having a confident chip lead. His 25.5 million in chips represented over 100 big blinds when Day 3 resumed. There were only five players remaining at the final table. Christoph Vogelsang, the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl champion was the last player to finish outside of the money and was eliminated on Day 2. 

The WSOP bracelet winner, Keith Tilston was the first participant of the final table to be eliminated. His A 3 ran into the A 10 of John Kincaid. Kincaid called the three-bet shoved made by Tilston. Kincaid has managed to get a queen-high straight on the river. With that, Tilston was sent home and awarded $632,124 for his fifth-place finish.

Seth Davies was the next player to fall. He lost most of his chips during four-handed action and became the shortest stack at the table. Soon after that, he shoved from the small blind with suited A 7 of clubs. Ben Heath decided to call this bet from the big blind with his pocket Jacks. The pocket Jacks came out on top and Davies was eliminated in fourth-place and awarded $930,791. 

The next knockout was performed by Adrian Mateos. He was still in the chip lead even though he did not manage to score either of the first two eliminations. With only three players remaining, Mateos has actually given up his lead for a short period of time after losing a preflop race with his A J suited against the pocket threes of Ben Heath. However, Mateos was able to jump right back into the lead when he picked up pocket Aces against the pocket nines of John Kincaid. As a result, John Kincaid was eliminated and was awarded $1,370,575 for his third-place finish. 

Heads-Up

Adrian Mateos has entered the heads-up play with a 3:2 chip lead against Ben Heath, who was hoping to win his second WSOP bracelet after the 2019 $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Rolle victory. Meteos was able to quickly grow his chip lead to almost 4:1 by the time the final hand of the tournament was played. 

The battle culminated when Mateos limped in from the button with Q 10 for 400,000 and Ben Heath responded with a raise to 1,400,000 from the big blind with suited 5 3 of diamonds. The flop came out to be 7 of clubs 6 of diamonds and 5 of spades after Mateos made the call. After that, Ben Heath check-called a bet of 1,000,000 with a bottom pair. At that moment, he had flush possibilities. Mateos was able to turn a Queen, which gave him the top pair. Ben Heath checked on the turn, but Mateos bet 2,800,000. Heath called and 2 of spades came out on the river. Once again, Heath checked and this time Mateos went all-in. Ben Heath took his time before making the call for his last 5,050,000 with a significant disadvantage. As a result, Ben Heath was eliminated and awarded $2,018,148 for his second-place finish. This put his lifetime live tournament earnings just shy of $10,000,000. Adrian Mateos was awarded the top prize of $3,265,262 for his victory at the $250K Super High Roller. 

Here are the full 2021 WSOP $250K Super High Roller final table results: