Adrian Mateos Wins the $250K Super High Roller for Fourth WSOP Gold Bracelet ($3,265,262)

Spain’s Adrian Mateos defeated Ben Heath in heads-up play to win Event #82: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em at the 2021 World Series of Poker. The highest buy-in of the 2021 series attracted 33 runners and generated a prize pool of $8,217,000, of which $3,625,362 went to Mateos for the win.

Mateos collected his fourth career WSOP gold bracelet and his sixth live cash of the 2021 WSOP.

$250,000 Super High Roller Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

“It means a lot,” Mateos said in a post-win media interview. “I have played some $100,000 tournaments and even the $1,000,000 buy-in, and I never won a big buy-in like this. So this was something I’ve had in mind, to win one of these.”

Mateos came into the Day 3 finale with more than half the chips and a huge lead. He fought back after falling behind Heath in three-handed play then made quick work out of the young English pro in heads-up play.

“When I came here I knew that I was the favorite to win, but there were four other players to beat and it was a long wait yet. I was lucky enough and played well enough to win.”

Mateos has had success in fields of all sizes, but the high roller tournaments with fewer runners present their own set of challenges for the Spanish pro.

“It’s the same game, but it’s different because you have to adapt. My game is a little bit different in a tournament with a lot of people compared to a small field. For me, it’s more of a mental challenge to win these tournaments.”

With four career bracelets and over $25 million in earnings, today’s big win is a modest step towards the career goals of a 27-year old who still has a lot of his legacy ahead of him.

“The most important thing for me is feeling that I’m among the top tournament players and that I can compete with the best of the best.”

With the second-place finish, Heath crosses $10 million in lifetime earnings. Relative newcomer John Kincaid took third place after ending Day 1 with one of the smaller chip stacks. Seth Davies finished in fourth and Keith Tilston rounded out the five finishers that survived the field to hit the pay window.

Final Table Action

Moves were made early on Day 3 and Kincaid found a quick double when he spiked the river to beat Tilston with two pair. Davies followed with a double through Kincaid when his ace-king outdrew pocket tens.

Before long, Tilston was headed for the rail after shoving with a suited ace-three that ran into Kincaid’s ace-ten.

The three trailing players traded chips in their pursuit of Mateos and his lead. Heath got it in and won with pocket fours against Kincaid, while Mateos continued to apply pressure and gather chips. Mateos sat above 30 million after a few orbits of four-handed play with the remaining chips split evenly among the other three.

Davies was the next to go in fourth place when he shoved with ace-seven and failed to outdraw Heath’s pocket pair of jacks.

Three-handed action continued on until Heath took his shot and jammed with a pair of threes against Mateos, who called with ace-jack. The threes held and Heath took over the lead, sending Mateos to second while Kincaid looked for a chance to spin up the short stack.

The chance came soon and Kincaid got it in with pocket nines, but Mateos was waiting with pocket aces and Kincaid was out in third place.

Heath came into heads-up play with a small deficit, and Mateos applied pressure early to widen his lead. The big moment came when Heath called a big river bet for the last of his chips. Mateos turned over a pair of queens and Heath flashed a pair of fives before heading for the exit in second place.

Congratulations to Adrian Mateos for winning his fourth WSOP gold bracelet in Event #82: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em. Be sure to keep it here with the PokerNews live reporting team for updates at our WSOP Live Reporting Hub to follow all the exciting action here at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino for the remaining events at the 2021 World Series of Poker.