It’s a weekend of celebration for 20-year-old Spanish poker ace Adrian Mateos, who has just taken down the Euro 10,600 buy-in European Poker Tour Grand Final main event for a cool Euro 1,082,000 after besting a top notch field of 564 entrants.
It was the young professional’s second major live tournament win – in 2013 he won the WSOP Europe main event – and his biggest payday to date.
At the final table Mateos faced an international group of talented players that included Muyedine Fares from Senegal, Johnny Lodden from Norway, Lebanon’s Hady El Asmar (chip leader), Jose Carlos Garcia of Poland, Japanese ace Koichi Nozaki, and two respected German pros Ole Schemion and Markus Ross.
Although chip leader at the start of final table action, El Asmar could not retain his lead and was eliminated in third for Euro 486,000, clearing the way for a heads up between survivors Mateos and Muhyedine Fares – the latter with a 2 to 1 chip advantage.
Mateos played a disciplined game which saw the lead seesaw a little, but he then scored a major 14.75 million chip[ pot that put him permanently in the driver’s seat, and shortly thereafter he was able to dispatch his last opponent.
Fares’ runner up prize was an impressive Euro 679,000
It was a notable victory for such a young player, building on his impressive record of an Estrellas main event title at age 18, followed the next year by the WSOP Europe victory at age 19, and now the prestigious EPT main event title – and a million Euro payday – at age 20.
Other final table pay-outs looked ike this:
Johnny Lodden Euro 379,000
Jose Carlos Garcia Euro 297,250
Ole Schemion Euro 233,500