Adrian Mateos Wins Back-To-Back Titles At 2019 Caribbean Poker Party

Adrian Mateos is just 25 years old, but he has already managed to establish himself as one of the very best tournament poker players in the world. He is the youngest player in history to win three World Series of Poker bracelets, and with $19.4 million in career earnings is the all-time money leader for his home country of Spain. Mateos further cemented his spot on the list of the game’s best players this past week by winning back-to-back marquee events at the 2019 Caribbean Poker Party.

The first of his two huge title runs came in the $25,500 buy-in, $2 million guaranteed no-limit hold’em high roller event. The tournament drew a sizable turnout of 125 entries, blowing away the guarantee to create a final prize pool of $3,125,000.

Mateos overcame a stacked final table that included the likes of four-time World Poker Tour main event winner Darren Elias (9th – $100,000), 2019 MILLIONS Europe €100,000 high roller winner Orpen Kisacikoglu (7th – $135,000), 2018 European Poker Tour Barcelona €50,000 high roller champion and 2017 WSOP main event third-place finisher Benjamin Pollak (6th – $160,000), and 2017 WSOP Europe €25,000 high roller bracelet winner Niall Farrell (5th – $200,000).

In the end, it came down to a heads-up showdown between Mateos and American Brock Wilson. Mateos started at roughly a 5:1 chip disadvantage but managed to battle his way back to nearly even. With the stacks closer in size, Mateos and Wilson came to a deal that saw Wilson lock up $619,536 while Mateos secured $520,464. The two agreed to flip for the title, and Mateos’ hand proved to be the winner.

Just four days later, Mateos found himself in the winner’s circle again. This time around he outlasted a field 948 total entries in the $10,300 buy-in, $10 million guaranteed 2019 Caribbean Poker Party MILLIONS World Bahamas no-limit hold’em main event.

Despite the fact that this tournament had nearly 1,000 entries, the final table was still overrun with top tournament talent. German high roller and two-time WPT Alpha8 event winner Philipp Gruissem finished ninth for $140,000. High stakes cash game star Petter Jetten earned $250,000 as the seventh-place finisher, while 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event third-place finisher Scott Wellenbach placed fourth for $650,000.

The final three players struck a deal. Recent Poker Masters main event runner-up Chris Hunichen locked up $1,097,19, 2019 WPT Legends of Poker main event winner Aaron Van Blarcum
ensured himself $970,000 and Mateos secured $1,062,805. The three left the title and $100,000 to play for.

Van Blarcum picked up A-K against the A-3 of Hunichen to set up the heads-up showdown with Mateos, which began with the two finalists nearly even in chips. Mateos was able to quickly establish a lead, increasing his advantage to roughly 6:1 by the time the final cards were dealt. Van Blarcum shoved with 10-2 and got looked uo by Mateos’ J-9. Mateos made a pair of nines on the flop and held from there to secure the title.

Mateos earned a total of 3,204 Card Player Player of the Year points for his two victories. With two previous final-table finishes this year, Mateos has now climbed into 20th place in the 2019 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points from the Caribbean Poker Party $25,500 high roller:

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points from the Caribbean Poker Party $10,300 main event:

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