The 888poker pro went into the final table as the chip leader and then survived a heads-up match that went for over four hours.
“This is incredible,” said Mateos. “I have so many supporters in Spain and they are so excited.”
Mateos became just the second Spanish poker player to win a WSOP bracelet.
Just 19 years old, Mateos had to get past world-class poker pros Dominik Nitsche and Benny Spindler on top of Soulier to claim the title. Outside of an Estrellas Poker Tour title Mateos was relatively unknown at the final table.
The Spaniard’s victory may be a sign of things to come as the WSOP has mentioned the country as one of the potential future locations for the WSOPE.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Mateos. “There would be more players and they would like it a lot there.”
Rough Day for Benny Spindler as He Busts Early
It was an unusual day as the final table began with six players instead of eight. That’s because the final table got down to eight players ahead of schedule on Wednesday and they decided to play all the way down to six.
The decision to play down to six players was a bad beat for Shannon Shorr and Andrei Konopelko who missed out on any TV time by finishing eighth and seventh respectively.
It ended up being a disastrous final table for German Benny Spindler who dusted off 1.7 million chips in a little over an hour. Spindler made a couple ill-timed bluffs and eventually became the first player to bust on Friday in sixth place.
American Ragi Raghaven didn’t last much longer as he got all-in with a Royal Flush draw and missed. Jerome Huge busted in fourth place, which left Soulier as the only Frenchman left in the field.
Nitsche was considered by many to be the best player at the final table but just missed out on heads-up when he busted in third.
Here are the complete final-table payouts:
1. Adrian Mateos – €1,000,000 2. Fabrice Soulier – €610,000 3. Dominik Nitsche – €400,000 4. Jerome Huge – €251,000 5. Ravi Raghavan – €176,000 6. Benny Spindler – €126,000 7. Andrei Konopelko – €101,000 8. Shannon Shorr – €77,500Visit www.pokerlistings.com