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Adrian Mateos Wins Poker Masters Purple Jacket Despite Five Bubbles
Adrian Mateos can finally breathe a sigh of relief. After watching his Purple Jacket lead come under threat over the final few days of the 2026 Poker Masters, the Spaniard was confirmed as the series champion following Jeremy Ausmus' fourth-place elimination in Event #10: $51,000 NLH.
Ausmus was the only player left who could catch Mateos heading into the final day, but he needed a top-two finish to do so. When his pocket fives failed to hold against Sean Winter's ace-king, the race was officially over.
"I knew I was favorite to win on the last day," Mateos told PokerNews moments after Ausmus' elimination. "But Jeremy is a good player and can finish top two."
Mateos had built a sizeable lead earlier in the series, helped by his victory in Event #5, but failed to cash in any of the final three tournaments. That left him watching from the sidelines as his rivals tried to close the gap.
"I had a big lead all the way, but in the last three events I wasn't able to cash, so the sweat was real," he admitted.
Five Bubbles in Ten Events? Even Mateos Can't Believe It
While Mateos walks away with the Purple Jacket, his series will also be remembered for one of the strangest runs of results imaginable.
The Spanish superstar managed to bubble five of the ten events, a statistic that even he struggled to get his head around.
"I don't know how many stone bubbles I did in my career, but for sure less than five probably," he said. "Having five in the same series, in two weeks, is just insane. Ten tournaments and five pure bubbles."
Despite those near misses, Mateos was pleased with how he played throughout the festival. He felt he was consistently building stacks and putting himself in good positions, even when the results didn't go his way.
"I feel like I was playing great and building stacks every tournament," he explained. "I ended up winning a lot of money this trip, so I'm pretty happy."
"It's gonna be a special series that I will remember forever because these results are really rare."
Mateos cashed three time across series. His first in the money finish came from a second-place finish in Event #2 before winning Event #5. A fourth place in Event #7 was enough to seal the series title.
Mateos Looking to Finish Career-Best Year on Top
The Purple Jacket adds another achievement to what Mateos considers the best year of his poker career, and he isn't planning on slowing down just yet.
With Triton Poker in Cyprus and the World Series of Poker in the Bahamas still to come, Mateos expects to spend more than $2 million on tournament buy-ins across the two stops.
There are some particularly expensive events on his radar, including a $200,000 buy-in in Cyprus and a $250,000 tournament in the Bahamas.
"I'm having the best year of my career, and the goal is to end this year as the maximum winner of the year," Mateos said. "Right now I am, but there are some people that are close."
As for what's behind his remarkable 2026 results, Mateos believes it's a combination of putting in the work, playing more tournaments and getting the better side of variance.
"I think I'm a better player every year. That's why I work really hard," he said. "And of course, I'm running good, super good this year. So when you combine everything, then you have really good results."
For now, though, Mateos can enjoy being the 2026 Poker Masters champion, even if he had to endure a few more bubbles and a final-day sweat than he would have liked.