For the second time up to now decade, Adrian Mateos completed atop the ultimate rankings within the annual Card Participant Participant of the Yr race offered by World Poker. Eight years after incomes his first POY award in 2017, the 30-year-old Spanish poker professional strung collectively 21 last desk finishes, incomes three titles and cashing for greater than $11 million in POY earnings on his technique to securing the 2024 POY honors.
With this win, Mateos turned simply the third participant to have earned the award a number of occasions within the post-Moneymaker period, becoming a member of the likes of Poker Corridor of Famer Daniel Negreanu (2004, 2013) and Stephen Chidwick (2019, 2022).
“To develop into a multi-time Participant of the Yr award winner means lots to me as a result of I believe, in poker, consistency is without doubt one of the most essential abilities and the important thing to success. I’m very happy with with the ability to win in a number of years,” Mateos instructed Card Participant after sealing the deal.
Mateos has been a prime participant on the circuit since earlier than he was allowed to play in most American casinos, having earned his first massive dwell victory by taking down the 2013 World Collection of Poker Europe foremost occasion on the age of 19.
Over the previous decade, Mateos has not failed to complete inside the highest 200 within the year-end POY standings. Six of the previous ten years he has ended up inside the highest 20, with two outright wins alongside the best way. Whereas this was his largest yr but, by way of earnings, Mateos didn’t attribute that uptick in prize cash to any explicit enchancment in his recreation.
“I didn’t do something too particular this yr. I believe I’m at a extremely excessive degree proper now, however I already reached this degree by working very onerous for greater than 12 years. Compound curiosity works like this. Whenever you do the precise factor for a few years, at one level every part aligns… luck and preparation meet and also you get a extremely good end result. This yr has been luckier than different years and that made me one of many greatest winners of the yr.“
Mateos is a four-time WSOP bracelet winner, a European Poker Tour foremost occasion champion, and two-time Triton Poker victor. Whereas his trophy case retains increasing, Mateos shouldn’t be fixated on capturing a specific piece of {hardware}.
“My purpose in poker has been all the time the identical, which is to be a greater participant every single day. That’s my foremost purpose. I attempt to work every single day in direction of bettering in each side of my recreation technically and in addition bettering in dwell poker as nicely. That’s the primary purpose. But additionally I wish to have actually good outcomes. I have already got a lot of a very powerful trophies on the planet, however I wish to maintain successful an increasing number of.”
With $54.5 million in whole profession earnings, Mateos is now ranked seventh on poker’s all-time cash listing. He trails present chief Bryn Kenney ($74.1 million) by simply over $19.5 million however hopes sooner or later to beat that deficit and declare the highest spot.
“Considered one of my greatest objectives, which I do know can be fairly tough to attain, however I’ll strive, is to be primary on the all-time cash listing. I want many extra years of working actually onerous, however I can be there. Let’s see what occurs.”
At 30, Mateos is the youngest participant inside the highest 10 on the match earnings leaderboard. His place on that prestigious listing was bolstered by his enormous eight-figure yr on the circuit in 2024. With out additional ado, here’s a nearer have a look at Mateo’s POY-winning run over the previous 12 months.
How Mateos Captured His Second Card Participant POY Title
Mateos didn’t document a single dwell money in the course of the month of January final yr. He made up for misplaced time with a trio of final-table finishes in excessive curler occasions at EPT Paris, recording a sixth-place end within the €10,200 thriller bounty adopted by a pair of runner-up showings in €25,000 buy-in tournaments. All instructed, he accrued $511,920 and 830 POY factors throughout these scores.
His first outright win of the yr got here on the Triton Jeju pageant. He beat out a subject of 185 entries within the $30,000 eight-max occasion to earn $1,175,000 and 1,176 factors. This was his first-ever Triton title. He managed another money at that collection, inserting third in a $40,000 thriller bounty occasion for one more $381,000 and 784 factors.
Mateos’ finest month of the yr was undoubtedly Could. Whereas he managed one final-table end at EPT Monte Carlo (sixth place in a €25,000 for $63,504 and 112 factors), the true heavy lifting was finished at Triton Montenegro. Mateos shared with Card Participant that this fortnight was his favourite stretch of the yr.
“I ran insanely good, making 4 last tables, successful one title, and incomes the most important money of my profession,” he famous. “Additionally, I performed some money video games and had good leads to these, too. It was a loopy two weeks and proper after that, I went to play on-line and had my two greatest on-line scores in the identical week. So, it was like tremendous loopy three weeks for me, one of many craziest [runs] of my profession.”
His first rating on the collection was a comparatively tame sixth-place end in a $25,000 buy-in for $209,500 and 364 factors. 4 days later he completed in the identical spot in a $50,000 buy-in bounty occasion, including one other $245,000 and 374 factors. His last two scores had been the true highlights, although.
Sooner or later faraway from the $50,000 bounty last desk, Mateos got here out on prime of a subject of 159 entries in one other $50,000 buy-in, incomes his second Triton trophy together with $1,761,000 and 1,224 factors. He quickly hopped into the $200,000 eight-max foremost occasion, drew 93 entries to create a $18.6 million prize pool. He navigated his technique to heads-up play, in the end ending second for $3,292,000 and 900 factors. This narrowly edged out the $3,265,362 he earned because the 2021 WSOP $250,000 buy-in occasion champion to develop into his new highest payday.
Mateos managed two final-table finishes on the WSOP in Las Vegas. His first deep run got here in a $50,000 buy-in eight-max occasion, through which he positioned fourth for $681,554 and 663 factors. Through the last days of the collection he positioned fifth within the $10,000 buy-in six-max occasion for one more $198,261 and 875 factors.
When requested if any shut calls stood out for him in 2024, Mateos pinpointed his tenth-place end within the $250,000 buy-in on the collection. “It was like $5 million for first and I used to be chip-leading with 12 left and busted in Tenth place. In order that was onerous, slightly bit, however made much less onerous as a result of I simply got here from the most effective second of my profession one month earlier.”
Whereas the WSOP was operating, Mateos did handle one different last desk end in Las Vegas, inserting second in a $10,500 excessive curler at ARIA for $85,000 and 200 factors.
The subsequent prime on Mateos’ world high-stakes itinerary was in Cyprus, which hosted this yr’s Tremendous Excessive Curler Bowl collection. He made 4 last desk finishes in the course of the 10-event pageant, inserting fourth or greater throughout that number of outcomes. He kicked issues off with a runner-up end in a $25,750 buy-in ($231,000 and 350 factors), then positioned third the next day ($262,000 and 272 factors). He then recorded two final-table outcomes on the identical day, ending fourth within the $100,000 buy-in for $420,000 and 240 factors earlier than taking down the $25,750 thriller bounty for $162,000 and 420 factors.
His run in Cyprus added 1,282 factors and $1,075,000 in POY earnings to his haul. With that, he entered the autumn months in pole place within the factors race.
The ultimate third of the yr noticed Mateos add solely 4 extra POY-qualified cashes. Three of these got here on the EPT Cyprus collection in October. He completed third in a $25,000 buy-in for $198,400 and 280 factors. A number of days later, he led to the identical spot within the $50,000 buy-in for $555,758 and 340 factors. His penultimate final-table end of 2024 noticed him place second in one other $25,000 buy-in, cashing for $258,100 and 350 factors.
Mateos instructed Card Participant that the majority of his dwell poker journeys in 2024 had been worthwhile, with the marked exception of the Triton Monte Carlo collection in direction of the top of the yr. He managed simply two cashes, together with one final-table end. His fourth-place displaying within the $30,000 turbo bounty occasion earned him $313,000 and 420 factors to convey his last whole to 10,174 factors.
The ultimate enjoying vacation spot of 2024 for Mateos was the WSOP Paradise in The Bahamas. He cashed in three occasions, along with his deepest run being an Eleventh-place end within the $500,000 buy-in Triton Million Invitational. From there, he headed off to spend time along with his household over the vacations and relaxation forward of his subsequent marketing campaign.
“The yr was tiring for positive, however I’m used to it. This yr wasn’t too totally different from the earlier 12 years of my poker profession. I’ve been all the time on the street, touring lots and enjoying lots of hours. And this yr the outcomes had been a lot, significantly better… It was the most effective yr of my poker profession by far,” mentioned Mateos.
“I simply wish to maintain enjoying and maintain successful. Being drained has by no means been one thing that will cease me. So till I lose the motivation, I’ll maintain enjoying lots of hours. My purpose is to be among the best poker gamers on the planet and that requires lots of work, and I’m able to put in all the trouble.”
Take a look at our in-depth have a look at the gamers who completed inside the highest ten within the 2024 POY race last standings, damaged into the Tenth-Sixth place finishers and the Fifth-2nd ranked contenders.
Mateos’ High Ten Scores of 2024:
Date
Occasion
Place
Earnings
Could 23, ’24
$200,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Eight Max2024 Triton Poker Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection Montenegro
2
$3,292,000
Could 18, ’24
$50,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Eight Max2024 Triton Poker Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection Montenegro
1
$1,761,000
Mar 09, ’24
$30,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Eight Max2024 Triton Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection Jeju
1
$1,175,000
Dec 09, ’24
$500,000 Triton Million Invitational2024 WSOP Paradise
11
$985,000
Jun 16, ’24
$50,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Eight Max2024 World Collection of Poker
4
$681,554
Oct 15, ’24
$50,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em2024 EPT Cyprus
3
$555,758
Jun 23, ’24
$250,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em2024 World Collection of Poker
10
$506,757
Aug 22, ’24
SHRB #5 – $102,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Eight Max2024 Tremendous Excessive Curler Bowl Cyprus
4
$420,000
Mar 11, ’24
$40,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Thriller Bounty Seven Max2024 Triton Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection Jeju
3
$381,000
Nov 06, ’24
$30,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Turbo Bounty2024 Triton Poker Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection Monte Carlo
4
$313,000
A have a look at the highest 20 within the last 2024 POY race standings:
Rank
Participant
POY Factors
Titles
Remaining Tables
POY Earnings
1
Adrian Mateos
10,174
3
21
$11,003,997
2
David Coleman
9,698
5
24
$4,737,165
3
Jesse Lonis
8,908
3
23
$6,666,685
4
Punnat Punsri
8,478
2
19
$7,164,933
5
Michael Watson
7,958
4
17
$7,663,989
6
Alex Foxen
7,909
3
20
$7,949,332
7
Ren Lin
7,823
2
23
$3,565,228
8
Jim Collopy
7,463
6
26
$3,735,483
9
Jeremy Ausmus
6,849
2
21
$6,327,423
10
Stephen Chidwick
6,229
5
20
$5,686,359
11
Dylan Weisman
6,170
5
15
$3,830,136
12
Aleksejs Ponakovs
6,095
0
14
$5,827,036
13
Roman Hrabec
5,902
3
11
$7,451,039
14
Brock Wilson
5,860
3
18
$2,785,633
15
Oliver Weis
5,796
3
6
$2,632,466
16
Jeremy Becker
5,476
2
27
$1,144,620
17
Benjamin Tollerene
5,307
3
11
$9,196,585
18
Biao Ding
5,288
2
14
$5,810,949
19
Matthew Lambrecht
5,233
2
19
$1,464,097
20
Michael Rocco
5,183
2
10
$2,192,388
The Full Record of Card Participant Participant of the Yr Winners:
Yr
Participant Identify
1997
Males Nguyen
1998
T.J. Cloutier
1999
Tony Ma
2000
David Pham
2001
Males Nguyen
2002
T.J. Cloutier
2003
Males Nguyen
2004
Daniel Negreanu
2005
Males Nguyen
2006
Michael Mizrachi
2007
David Pham
2008
John Phan
2009
Eric Baldwin
2010
Tom Marchese
2011
Ben Lamb
2012
Greg Merson
2013
Daniel Negreanu
2014
Daniel Colman
2015
Anthony Zinno
2016
David Peters
2017
Adrian Mateos
2018
Jake Schindler
2019
Stephen Chidwick
2020
Vincent Wan
2021
Ali Imsirovic
2022
Stephen Chidwick
2023
Bin Weng
2024
Adrian Mateos
Header photograph credit: Danny Maxwell/Rational Mental Holdings Ltd., Joe Giron/Triton Poker, and WPT.
