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Mateos Shakes Off Poker Masters Nightmare to Win Event #5: $10,500 NLH
Three stone bubbles, a runner-up finish, and now a Poker Masters title. It's been quite the week for Adrian Mateos, who finally got his hands on a trophy after taking down Event #5: $10,500 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 Poker Masters.
The Winamax ambassador entered the final day as chip leader and made the most of his advantage, overcoming a seven-handed final table to collect $229,500 from the $850,000 prize pool, that was generated by the 85-entries. Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman finished runner-up for $148,750.
Mateos had bubbled three of the first four events, with a second-place finish in Event #2 his only payday before today. Despite repeatedly coming so close, he refused to let those disappointments affect his play.
"I try not to focus too much on the results," Mateos told PokerNews following his victory. "I focus only on the process and what I can control. I cannot control when I lose or win."
After 14 or 15 years of playing poker professionally, Mateos believes he has developed the mindset needed to handle the game's inevitable swings.
"I think I'm really good at dealing with upswing and downswing," he said. "I just try my best."
The win also moves Mateos into the lead of the Poker Masters Purple Jacket standings, giving him another title to chase over the remaining five events.
Event #5: $10,500 NLH Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | $229,500 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | United States | $148,750 |
| 3 | Jeremy Becker | United States | $106,250 |
| 4 | Robert French | United States | $76,500 |
| 5 | Martin Zamani | United States | $59,500 |
| 6 | Keith Lehr | United States | $42,500 |
| 7 | Matthew Wantman | United States | $34,000 |
Mateos Sets His Sights on the Purple Jacket
Mateos' consistency throughout the opening five events has put him in an excellent position to challenge for the Purple Jacket, awarded to the player of the series.
"I love poker. I'm a big poker fan too, and titles are something that motivates me," Mateos said.
He has competed at the Poker Masters several times before but has never been particularly close to winning the series championship. This time, he believes he has a genuine opportunity.
"Right now I think I'm leading, but there are a lot of tournaments. We're only halfway through. Five more tournaments and I will try my best to keep cashing and try to win it."
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Mateos' week has been his ability to continually build stacks and reach the closing stages of tournaments, even when the results haven't gone his way.
He explained that he has been playing 11 or 12 hours almost every day, only to finish on the wrong side of the money bubble on three occasions. But rather than dwell on those setbacks, he has continued to approach each event in the same way.
"Poker is like this. Sometimes, some days you run better. Today I ran really good, and sometimes you run worse and you get bubbles. It is what it is."
And anyone expecting Mateos to celebrate his victory with a well-earned break would be mistaken.
With Event #6 already underway, the Spaniard confirmed that he would be heading straight back into the action after a short rest.
Final Day Action
The day began with the two shortest stacks heading to the rail in quick succession. Matthew Wantman got his chips in with queen-ten against Keith Lehr's ace-ten, but "Bucky" couldn't improve and bowed out in seventh place for his second cash of the series. Lehr followed him out on the very next hand, with his king-queen unable to overcome Mateos' dominating ace-queen.
Martin Zamani was the next casualty, finding himself on the wrong end of a preflop cooler when his ace-queen ran into Jeremy Becker's ace-king.
It took another hour of play before the field was reduced to three. Texan Robert French, who is enjoying his best year on the live tournament circuit, committed his short stack with ace-king. Schulman looked him up with queen-nine and found a nine on the river to send French out in fourth place.
That left Becker, Schulman, and Mateos to battle for the title.
Becker had been the most active player at the table and had tangled with Mateos on several occasions. The Spaniard made life difficult for the young New Yorker from the outset, shoving on him in the very first hand of the day before later catching Becker speeding to take another chunk out of his stack.
Becker managed to recover some of those losses, but it was Mateos who eventually brought his tournament to an end.
Mateos raised to 275,000 from the small blind and Becker defended his big blind. Becker called bets of 325,000 on the flop and 700,000 on the turn, bringing the pot to 2,700,000 and the board reading T-8-3-T-5 rainbow board.
With Becker holding 1,425,000 behind, Mateos moved all in on the river. Becker took his time before making the call with king-eight for two pair, tens and eights. Unfortunately for him, Mateos had ten-four for trip tens, sending Becker to the rail in third place.
Mateos entered heads-up play against Schulman with a commanding chip advantage of more than 4:1 and needed just two hands to finish the job.
Schulman took down a small pot in the opening hand, but the second proved to be his last. Mateos picked up pocket aces against Schulman's ten-nine of hearts, and the chips went into the middle on the turn, where Schulman had both a double-gutshot straight draw and a flush draw.
The river offered no help to Schulman, leaving Mateos to celebrate his first title of the series.
While Event #5 has wrapped up, Event #6: $10,500 NLH is already underway and will play down to its final table later tonight.
Sunday is a scheduled day off for the players, with the Event #6 final table taking place on Monday. That same day will also see the start of Event #7: $15,700 NLH, where Daniel Negreanu is expected to be among those joining the action.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the 2026 Poker Masters.