bluff's report on the final
48 year-old Phil Hellmuth showed last year that it was still possible for an old school player to win big after taking down the WSOPE Main Event. A year later, it's a youngster less than half Hellmuth's age who has come to the fore with 19-year-old Adrian Mateos taking the bracelet and €1m first prize.
The Spaniard dashed the hopes of the French rail by beating local hero Fabrice Soulier after a marathon four-hour heads up session which ended in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Mateos had started the day with the chip lead and after a quiet opening session boosted his stack still further with the first elimination of the day. Benny Spindler bluffed away a huge chunk of change to Jerome Huge on the previous hand but it looked as if the poker gods were smiling on him when he was dealt pocket queens immediately after. The ladies couldn't hold against Mateos' KT though which sent the German to the rail in sixth.
The only American at the final table, Ravi Raghavan, was the next to go and once again it would be Mateos who served up the elimination. All the chips hit the middle on a KsTs8h board with Mateos in front with top two-pair. Raghavan, with AsQs, had plenty of outs which were added to when the dealer turned the Aq. The river was a blank
though which sent the last non-European at the final table home in fifth.
Jerome Huge departed in fourth at the hands of fellow Frenchman Souiler. Huge put his compatriot to the test with a river shove on an AdQs3sKd8h board but after a short consideration Soulier made the call with AcQd which was way in front of Huge's 3c4c.
Dominik Nitsche struggled to gain any momentum during the latter stages and departed in third his short stacked shove with 9h8d unable to outrun Mateos' As7h.
Mateos started heads up play with Soulier with a 4.5 to 1 chip lead but the Frenchman soon ground his way back into contention and eventually drew level with his young opponent. The 19-year-old wasn't to be denied though, gradually reasserting control with a small ball strategy before eventually sealing victory 160 hands into heads up play.
With the blinds at 30,000/60,000 Soulier raised to 130,000 with Mateos three-betting to 310,000. After a flop of 4cJd9s the Spaniard bet 275,000 to which Soulier responded by going in for 2.27m. Mateos went into the tank before eventually making the call and tabling AsKc which needed help against the Frenchman's 9d8d. The
on the turn changed everything though and was good enough to give Mateos the bracelet and the €1m first prize.
The official final table positions and payouts were as follows:
1. Adrian Mateos – €1,000,000
2. Fabrice Soulier – €610,000
3. Dominik Nitsche – €400,000
4. Jerome Huge – €251,000
5. Ravi Raghavan – €176,000
6. Benny Spindler – €126,000
7. Andrei Konopelko – €101,000
8. Shannon Shorr – €77,500
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