Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2018 Winamax SISMIX
Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
2018 Winamax SISMIX
Buy-in
6,000 MAD
Entries
1,252
Level
32
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
50,000
Adrian Mateos Wins Winamax SISMIX Main Event for 1,000,000 MAD (~€89,000)
Level 32
: 150,000/300,000, 50,000 ante
Winamax Team Pro Adrian Mateos has won the Winamax SISMIX Main Event title here in Marrakech for 1,000,000 MAD, becoming the third Winamax Team Pro to win the event after Davidi Kitai (2014) and Bruno Lopes (2016).
Coming into the day fourth in chips, the Spaniard was never in danger and coasted to a heads-up against start-of-day chip leader Henrique Pinho, clinching the title shortly before half past ten in the evening local time.
The win is another career title for the Spanish triple-bracelet winner and EPT champion, and although the prize money doesn't rank among Mateos' top live cashes, the victory takes special significance Team Pro coming at a Winamax event.
Here are the results from the final table:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout (MAD) | Payout (EUR) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | د.م. 1,000,000 | 89,453 € | $106,849 |
| 2 | Henrique Pinho | Portugal | د.م. 730,000 | 65,301 € | $78,000 |
| 3 | Mehdi Merai | Morocco | د.م. 510,000 | 45,621 € | $54,493 |
| 4 | Corentin Ropert | France | د.م. 360,000 | 32,203 € | $38,466 |
| 5 | Miguel Tavares | Portugal | د.م. 265,000 | 23,705 € | $28,315 |
| 6 | Kamel Atoui | France | د.م. 195,000 | 17,443 € | $20,836 |
Before coming to Marrakech, Mateos said that some people suggested that he wasn't motivated, especially with there being less than a month until the start of the World Series of Poker.
"I mean, it's not 100k motivation," he said, "But one of my goals is to play my best every day and so I came here to try and play my best game - and it worked!"
Mateos has built up a reputation for being one of the hardest workers when it comes to studying; putting in the hours off-the-felt and clearly reaping the rewards when it comes to playing.
"When you coach people you need to study extra hard because you need to explain concepts to them. I've put a lot of hours into trying to help my friends, and that means working on my own game. For me it's nice; I love the game so studying doesn't really take that much of an effort. I'm a bit lazy for all the other things, but for poker...I love it, so studying doesn't feel that hard to me."
Coming into the final table as chip leader, Mateos says that final table ICM has been a major focus for him, especially with his normal tournaments coming with the same rotating cast of high roller regulars.
"When you play high rollers with 40-50 players, you get heads-up more often so you need to work on it. I don't think I'm the best heads-up player but I think I play pretty decent. I think I have a huge heads-up, and I was a big chip leader so I could put a lot of pressure on people. We were also pretty deep so that's good for me."
Mateos is now eyeing up a summer of, in his words, "huge, huge high rollers" in Las Vegas.
"The summer is one of the biggest parts of the year for a poker player, especially if they play tournaments. I have some huge, huge high rollers there; I want to play all of them, so let's see if I can win!"
Final Day Recap
The day started with a bang, going from 17 players to 13 in just under half an hour. French celebrity Moundir Zoughari was sent to the rail, before Winamax Team Pro Sylvain Loosli went runner-runner to double up and stay alive. By the time the tournament hit two tables, Henrique Pinho was still ahead, with David Brauman, Mehdi Merai and Mateos breathing down his neck.
However, a short while later Mateos' day was almost brought to an abrupt halt. Getting ace-king in against the pocket kings of Miguel Tavares, it went from bad to worse for the Spaniard after Tavares flopped a set on a king-ten-four board. However, you always need a bit of luck to win a poker tournament, and Mateos received a huge dose of it on the jack-queen run-out to river a straight and double up.
This moved Mateos into the chip lead as Brauman was sent to the rail, and Pinho fell back.
Sylvain Loosli was unlucky to be eliminated in eighth place, bubbling the unofficial final table of seven, after he got pocket aces in against the king-queen suited of Corentin Ropert. The flop wasn't a good one for Loosli, handing his opponent a pair of queens to go with a flush draw. The turn was a queen and the river a brick and Loosli was eliminated.
Mateos held the chip lead going into the final seven players, but there was a bunch of players just behind him ready to pounce should the Spaniard falter. He didn't. He pushed on. Overbetting river to get maximum value with trips from Pinho, and sending Francesco Pillitteri to the rail.
True, he did double up Miguel Tavares (twice!) and lose his chip lead to Ropert, but he was never out of the battle. Kamel Atoui would end up on the rail, before Mateos got revenge on Tavares and eliminated him, moving back into the chip lead in the process.
Four-handed Mateos was dominant. After his early clash with kings, the Spaniard picked up kings himself and called Ropert's five-bet all in, with the Frenchman showing ace-king. There were no such dramas on the runout, and as he watched Pinho send Mehdi Merai to the rail in third place, the Spaniard held a close to 1.4:1 chip lead heads-up.
After a 75-minute dinner break, the players resumed with the average stack of 104 big blinds. It was a see-saw battle; Mateos opening a lead only for Pinho to bring it back with a four-bet jam on a flop getting through.
Finally, after both players had flopped a pair, Pinho check-raised all in and Mateos faded both turn and river to take down the title.
Winamax Team Pros React to Adrian Mateos Victory
Level 32
: 150,000/300,000, 50,000 ante
It seemed like the entire Winamax Team Pro stable was watching on as Adrian Mateos took down the SISMIX Main Event, and we asked a selection of them for their thoughts on their teammate's victory.
Davidi Kitai: “It’s amazing that every two years there’s a Winamax player that wins. I don’t think anyone will do it again! It’s nice; Adrian is an amazing player. He’s the best player in the field, and he won. That shows that poker is not about luck!”
Sylvain Loosli: “What can I say! He’s not human! He’s inhuman! I’m really happy for him.”
Bruno Lopes: “It’s a pleasure to watch a fellow Team Pro win, especially after he’s just arrived on the team. He’s a guy who plays massive High Rollers, but he plays his A-Game whether it’s 550 or 100k. We went on dinner break together, and I asked him how he felt and he said ‘I want to win; I’m a competitor and I want to win’"
Leo Margets: “It’s incredible; I think it’s five years since he last played a 500 event. With an online series and everything we just come here to play whatever, but what’s more incredible is his attitude. No matter what he’s playing, when he sits down at the table, he plays to win. I think it’s amazing.”
Gaele Baumann: “I have to admit I’m not even that impressed(!) It’s so crazy! We were all laughing two days ago about how he would come here, fire one bullet and win it. And he wins it! It’s amazing!”
Michel Abecassis: “We have a group chat for the Winamax Team Pros. Sometimes we discuss hands, and suppose there is one hand that someone posts. And everyone says to call, fold, three-bet and whatever. Then he [Adrian] comes back. And he says something. And the discussion stops.”
Henrique Pinho Eliminated in 2nd Place (730,000 MAD)
Level 32
: 150,000/300,000, 50,000 ante
Adrian Mateos raised to 600,000 and Henrique Pinho three-bet to 2,500,000. Mateos called.
The flop came 
. Pinho checked and Mateos bet 4,000,000. Pinho check-raised all in for 29,200,000 and Mateos called.
Adrian Mateos: 
Henrique Pinho: 
Both had flopped pairs, but Mateos's was better. He had two cards to fade to take down the title. The turn was the 
and the river the 
meaning Pinho was eliminated in second place for 730,000 MAD.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Mateos Opens Up a Gap Once More
Level 32
: 150,000/300,000, 50,000 ante
Henrique Pinho is sticking with his standard opening size at this blind level, and raised to 1,150,000. Mateos called and the pair checked a 
flop. Mateos bet 1,500,000 on the 
turn and Pinho called. Mateos bet 3,500,000 on the 
river and Pinho folded.
A short while later Pinho raised, again to 1,150,000, and Mateos called. The flop came 
and Mateos check-called a bet of 800,000. The turn was the 
and Mateos bet 3,000,000 and Pinho folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
36,300,000 | 4,700,000 |
|
|
26,300,000 | -4,700,000 |
Action Flop Brings Stacks Level
Level 32
: 150,000/300,000, 50,000 ante
Adrian Mateos raised to 700,000. Henrique Pinho called. The flop came 
and Pinho checked to Mateos who bet 500,000. Pinho check-raised to 2,500,000 and Mateos re-raised to 6,000,000. Pinho then re-raised all in which got the snap-fold from Mateos.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
31,600,000 | -8,000,000 |
|
|
31,000,000 | 8,000,000 |
Early Pots for Mateos
Level 32
: 150,000/300,000, 50,000 ante
Adrian Mateos raised to 700,000 and Henrique Pinho called. Pinho check-called a bet of 500,000 on the 
and the turn was the 
. Pinho check-folded to a bet of 1,800,000.
Then, Pinho raised to 1,150,000 pre-flop and Mateos defended his big blind. The Spaniard check-called 1,350,000 on the 
flop and the pair checked down the 
board, with Mateos winning with 
for top pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
39,600,000 | 3,375,000 |
|
|
23,000,000 | -3,400,000 |
Level: 32
Blinds: 150,000/300,000
Ante: 50,000
Heads-up Chip Counts
Level 31
: 125,000/250,000, 25,000 ante
The players are taking a 75-minute dinner break before they commence heads-up play. Here are the chip counts for the last two players.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,225,000 | -3,500,000 |
|
|
26,400,000 |
Mehdi Merai Eliminated in 3rd Place (510,000 MAD)
Level 31
: 125,000/250,000, 25,000 ante
Mehdi Merai moved all in for 3,400,000. Adrian Mateos called before Henrique Pinho three-bet all in, forcing Mateos out of the hand.
Mehdi Merai: 
Henrique Pinho: 
Merai was dominated, and instructed his rail to call for an ace, but no ace came on the 
runout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
26,400,000 | 7,400,000 |
|
Busted |