Adrian Mateos Wins 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 Summer Solstice No-Limit Hold'em Event

Adrian Mateos has emerged victorious in the 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 ‘summer solstice’ no-limit hold’em event, a tournament that featured longer levels (90 minutes as opposed to the standard 60 minute levels of the other WSOP $1,500 events) in honor of starting on the longest day of the year, June 20. The unique tournament drew a huge field of 1,840 players to build a prize pool of $2,484,000. The lion’s share of that went to 21-year-old Spaniard Mateos, who earned $409,171 and his second gold bracelet for the win.

Mateos won his first bracelet by taking down the 2013 WSOP Europe main event for €1 million. With this most recent win he now has more than $4.6 million, enough to put him in second place on the Spanish all-time money list behind 2001 WSOP main event champion Carlos Mortensen. Mortensen and Mateos are two of only three players from the nation of Spain to win WSOP title. The third, Cesar Garcia, won his earlier this summer.

“It feels very good to win. It’s especially important for me to win one here in Las Vegas,” Mateos told WSOP.com. “It’s like a dream come true to play in this tournament because I have been wanting to do this in Las Vegas for a long time.”

The event’s slower structure and massive field meant that it was always going to take a little longer than most other $1,500 no-limit events. It was scheduled for four days, and ended up taking five.

Mateos returned on the final day to finish a heads-up battle against Austria’s Koray Aldemir, with the Vienna native beginning the showdown with a chip advantage of roughly 5-to-4. The two played 57 hands on the final day. By the time the final hand arose Mateos had built a 12-to-1 advantage.

With blinds of 50,000 – 100,000 and an ante of 15,000 Aldemir moved all in for just under 1,000,000 from the button. Mateos made the call with the 44. Aldemir would need to improve with the A2.

The board ran out 109355 to keep Mateos’ fours ahead, earning him the pot and the title and sending Aldemir to the rail in second place with $252,805.

In addition to the bracelet and the money Mateos also earned 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points for coming out on top in this event. This was his third final table finish of the year. As a result of the win he has climbed to 25th place in the POY standings with 2,058 points and $717,127 in year-to-date earnings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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