World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is over for another year after the young Spaniard Adrian Mateos overcame Fabrice Soulier in heads-up action to take the coveted gold bracelet and €1m in prize money. Checkout the WSOPE Main Event Day 1A, Day 1B, Day 2, Day 3 & Day 4 summary.
At just 19-years of age, Adrian Mateos became the second youngest WSOPE champion after he managed to navigate his way through a tough final table that contained the likes of Benny Spindler, Ravi Raghavan, Dominik Nitsche and Fabrice Soulier.
In truth, despite his age, Mateos was in control of this competition from as far back as Day Three when he took the chip lead with 24-players remaining, and never lost it until he reached heads-up and faced a fighting Frenchman called Fabrice.
“I feel incredible. Great. It’s an amazing achievement. Even though I am young I wasn’t feeling any pressure, “ Mateos told PokerListings before continuing, “I hope now that a Spaniard has won something big that the Spanish public will play more tournaments as they can see they can win some money playing the game.”
Carlos Mortensen obviously fading the attention of the Spanish youngsters.
Here are the main talking points of the final day of action in Paris.
Benny Spindler Eliminated in 6th Place (€126k)
Benny Spindler is one of the most talented poker players in the world, but with that talent comes a high propensity to take risk, and in the end it would be his downfall in this competition.
Jerome Huge opened to 50k in the small blind and Benny Spindler called in the big. The flop was [9h] [6s] [5h] Huge bet 45k and Spindler made the call. The turn was the [Ad], Huge bet 75k and Spindler once again called. The final card was the [5c], Huge bet 100k and Spindler moved all-in for 523k putting Huge at risk of elimination should he make the wrong call. Huge thought for several minutes before making the call and Spindler was bluffing. It was [As] [7h] for Huge – for two pair – and [3c] [2c] for Spindler.
That action knocked Spindler down to 153k and he moved all-in over a Mateos open not long after. The Spaniard called and it was QQ v KT, with Mateos spiking a king on the river to send the former European Poker Tour (EPT) Champion home.
Ravi Raghavan Eliminated in 5th Place (€176k)
Ravi Raghavan raised to 50k and Adrian Mateos called in the big blind. The flop was [Ks] [Ts] [8h], Mateos led for 65k, Raghavan raises to 175k, Mateos came over the top for 410k, Raghavan moved all-in and Mateos called. Raghavan showed [As] [Qs] for the Royal Flush draw and Mateos tabled [Kh] [8c] for two pair. The turn, [Ac], and river, [3h], maintained Mateos’s lead and Raghavan was out in fifth.
Jerome Huge Eliminated in 4th Place (€251k)
Fabrice Soulier opened to 65k from the cutoff and Jerome Huge called from the big blind. The flop was [Ad] [Qs] [3s], Huge checked, Soulier bet 75k, Huge called. The turn was the [Kd] and Huge led for 200k and Soulier just called. The river was the [8h] and Huge moved all-in. Soulier eventually called with [Ac] [Qd] for two pair and Huge showed [3c] [4c] for the bluff.
The three-way action would see Soulier start with 3m, Nitsche 2.4m and Mateos 5.7m
Dominik Nitsche Eliminated in 3rd Place (€400k)
Dominik Nitsche was one of the favorites for this title, but alas he would have to settle for third and €400k after running out of steam just shy of the title.
Adrian Mateos opened the button; Nitsche moved his short stack all-in from the big blind and Mateos called. It was [As] [7h] for Mateos and [9h] [8d] for Nitsche. The board ran out clean for the Spaniard and we were heads up for the WSOPE Main Event title.
Fabrice Soulier Eliminated in 2nd Place (€610k)
The heads-up action was a classic case of experience versus inexperience. The French WSOP bracelet winner versus the young pretender to the throne, except this pretender had 9.1m chips playing 2.1m.
Soulier was used to the big time occasion and he would use all of his experience to take the chip lead away from Mateos. Then the Spaniard dug deep and retook the lead. Soulier started to wilt, but did find a double up when his AK out-punched the K5 of Mateos.
Then this happened…
Soulier opened to 130k, Mateos three-bet to 310k and Soulier called. The flop was [Jh] [9s] [4c] and the pair decided it was time to draw a line in the sand. It was [9d] [8d] for Soulier, for second pair, and [As] [Kc] for Mateos for two over cards. The [Ks] hitting the turn to give Mateos a big lead and it would stay that way after the [5d] hit the river and a deserved Mateos took the biggest title of his short career.
Final Table Results
1st – Adrian Mateos – €1,000,000 2nd – Fabrice Soulier – €610,000 3rd – Dominik Nitsche – €400,000 4th – Jerome Huge – €251,000 5th – Ravi Raghavan – €176,000 6th – Benny Spindler – €126,000
