All went well for Adrian Mateos at the recently-concluded 2019 Caribbean Poker Party (CPP) in the Bahamas. The Spanish poker pro managed to score back-to-back wins, the first of which was in the $25,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em High Roller where he outclassed a field of 125 entries for a top prize of $520,464.
He then followed it up with another victory in the MILLIONS World Bahamas No-Limit Hold’em Main Event, where he turned his $10,300 investment into an astonishing $1,162,805 after a three-handed deal.
$25,500 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller
In his first major score at the 2019 CPP, Mateos navigated his way to victory by overcoming a stacked final table, made up of the likes of World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Niall Farrell, four-time World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event winner Darren Elias, and European Poker Tour (EPT) champ Benjamin Pollak.
By attracting 125 players, the $25,500 buy-in event was able to boost its prize pool to $3,125,000, shared among the top 17 finishers. Among those who made it to the final table were Michael Zhang (8^th, $115,000), Orpen Kisacikoglu (7^th, $135,000), Benjamin Pollak (6^th, $160,000), Niall Farrell (5^th, $200,000), David Eldridge (4^th, $255,000), and Christopher Fraser (3^rd, $326,250).
Mateos faced Brock Wilson heads-up with a 5:1 chip deficit, but the Spanish pro managed to improve his stack to narrow the gap. Both payers agreed to a deal, with Wilson guaranteed to take home $619,536, and Mateos walking away with $520,464, before a flip gave Mateos the title.
$10,300 MILLIONS World Bahamas
Four days after booking his first major victory at the 2019 CPP, Mateos triumphed in the $10 million guaranteed MILLIONS World Bahamas Main Event. He did so by defeating a field of 948 players and striking a three-handed deal with American opponents Aaron Van Blarcum and Chris Hunichen.
During the final day of the huge event, it was Team partypoker’s Ludovic Geilich who was leading the pack, but his dominance did not last long as he unfortunately lost a sizable portion of his stack to William Blais and Alex Foxen. Geilich eventually settled for 14^th place for $65,000. Foxen, alongside former WSOP champ Ryan Reiss also ended their bids early, falling short of making the final table.
The final nine included Germany’s Philipp Gruissem who landed the ninth spot for $140,000, American poker pro Gregory Baird who finished eighth for $180,000, Canada’s Peter Jetten in seventh place for $250,000, German player Oleg Mandzjuk who earned $350,000 for finishing in sixth place, and Blais who ended in fifth place for $500,000.
Scott Wellenbach became the third Canadian at the final table to miss out on the top prize after finishing fourth for $650,000. After Wellenbach’s elimination, the three remaining players took a break and discussed a deal, leaving $100,000 and the title for the eventual champion
The first to bust during three-handed play was Hunichen who collected $1,097,195 in third-place winnings. Mateos and Van Blarcum both had almost equal chances of winning the lion’s share of the prize when heads-up play started, but the Spanish pro surged into the lead, eventually building a massive stack of 814,000,000, against his opponent’s 134,000,000 by the time the final hand took place.
Van Blarcum put all of his remaining chips in the middle with ten-deuce against Mateos’ jack-nine. Mateos improved to a pair on the flop, securing the title. Van Blarcum walked away with $970,000 as runner-up.
Mateos’ latest victories pushed his total live earnings to $19,423,996, placing him at No. 27 in Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List, and No. 1 in his home country of Spain. The 25-year-old has continued to make a name for himself in the international live tournament scene, after becoming the youngest player (19 years old) to win a WSOP Main Event title back in 2013.
Other Big Winners at 2019 CPP
Some of the other big winners during the final stages of the 2019 CPP include Hungary’s Norbert Szecsi who triumphed in the MILLIONS High Roller Finale for $400,000. He overcame the likes of Sam Soverel, Stephen Chidwick, Julien Martini, Matthias Eibinger, and Ralph Wong to secure his victory.
Malaysian poker pro Wai Leong Chan also came out on top of a stacked final table in the MILLIONS Super High Roller Finale to take down the event for $380,000, defeating Isaac Haxton who finished as runner-up for $250,000.