Adrian Mateos Breaks Poker Masters Curse to Take Series Lead

Vitalijs Zavorotnijs and Adrian Mateos both won events at the 2026 Poker Masters in Las Vegas as they outlasted some of the best players in the world in Las Vegas. The PokerGO Studio at ARIA was the place to be. With Events #4 and #5 in the can, the race to become this year’s Poker Masters champion is well and truly on.

Zavorotnijs on the Rise

The Latvian player Vitalijs Zavorotnijs conquered Event #4, where Nick Palma continued to make strides towards what would be his first PGT Series win. While his nearest rival, Adrian Mateos was losing out on the stone bubble of Event #4, Palma got close to his second win in four events, eventually finishing third for $104,000.

At an entertaining final table, Erik Seidel came out of his self-imposed semi-retirement in poker to finish sixth for $40,000. He was followed from the felt by Andrew Lichtenberger, who won $56,000. Jamie Dwan’s sensational 2026 continued with another fine result, as the British WSOP bracelet winner from the summer claimed another $76,000 in fourth place.

Following Palma’s exit just before the heads-up, Latvian player Zavorotnijs had a marginal lead heads-up when a flop of Q-J4 landed and his two-pair of queens and fours beat Clemen Deng’s jacks and fours. All the chips went in and Zavorotnijs won his second PGT title, denying Deng a sixth such crown in the process.

“It’s good to be at the final table at all. Even better to win,” the Latvian said afterwards. “The cards went my way. I think I played pretty good, got lucky at some point and won it. It’s usually what happens when you win the tournament.”

Asked about his travelling support group, the Latvian  was positive about his support network.

“We have quite a big group of Latvians and Lithuanians. We’re all trying to work together. We’re friends and hang out together, especially in the summers here. I think our group made us much better than we could have been without it.”

Mateos Cleans Up in Fifth Event

“Right now, I’m leading, but there are a lot of tournaments. We’re only halfway through.”

In the fifth Poker Masters event, Spanish star Mateos continued to battle on and finally got his reward. After three bubbles and a runner-up finish in the first four events, Mateos’ win in the fifth and latest event to conclude meant he made it to the halfway stage of the series with the overall lead in the race to wear the Purple Jacket.

After players such as mixed game specialist Keith Lehr (6^th for $42,500) and Martin Zamani (5^th for $59,500) won big money at the final table, Robert French’s elimination in fourth place for $76,500 sent the remaining players into the podium places. Jeremy Becker busted in third place when tens and eights were no good against Mateos’ trip tens made on the turn, and cashed for $106,250.

Heads-up, the Spanish legend had a 4:1 chip lead and it took just one hand for Mateos to see off Nick Schulman and grab the latest Poker Masters trophy, formed to represent a miniature version of the Purple Jacket awarded to the eventual leaderboard winner. On a board showing [Kh][J][7c][3h], Mateos set Schulman all-in and the American called it off with [Th][9h] for the flush draw with a gutshot straight draw. Mateos turned over[As][Ac] and survived the [9d] river to become the latest champion.

“I love poker. I’m a big poker fan too, and titles are something that motivates me,” said Mateos after the event. “Right now, I think I’m leading, but there are a lot of tournaments. We’re only halfway through. Five more tournaments and I will try my best to keep cashing and try to win it.”

Having bubbled three times and finished in the top two twice, Mateos discussed the vagaries of the game.

“Poker is like this. Some days you run better. Today, I ran really good, and sometimes you run worse and you get bubbles. It is what it is. I try not to focus too much on the results; I focus only on the process and what I can control. I cannot control when I lose or win.”

Mateos was right to have this attitude… and would get to experience the opposite emotions very soon, as he bubbled Event #6!