They are two hands that will live long in the memory of poker fans — and longer still in the mind of four-time WSOP bracelet winner and Winamax Poker Pro Adrian Mateos.
Widely considered one of the best poker players around, Mateos made it through to Day 5 of the 2024 WSOP Main Event and was under the lights of the feature table where two crucial caught the attention of the poker world.
Kings on a Queen-High Board
The first hand that boggled the minds of many came in a four-bet pot, with the flop reading Q♦4♦2♣. Will Berry A♠A♣ bet 425,000 into a pot of 1,360,000 and Mateos K♠K♥ just called.
The turn was the 10♠ and Berry bet 1,300,000 into the pot of 2,210,000.
Mateos thought for just over a minute before folding, garnering plaudits from commentators and receiving instantaneous reactions from all over social media.
Many were quick to praise the Winamax Pro, calling him “the goat” and the fold “sick”. Joey Ingram called it a “god mode fold” while Will Jaffe said that it demonstrated once again why Mateos is the best poker player in the world right now.
Scott Seiver took the philosophical approach, tweeting: “On the one hand none of us are good enough to truly know who amongst the best is the best NL players in these things, but on the other hand it’s just obviously Mateos no questions asked.”
Mateos Picks Up Aces
While the poker world recovered from Mateos’ laydown with kings, he was involved in another hand, this time with Adrian Garcia.
Mateos opened to 60,000 with A♥A♣ and Lingkun Lu called in the small blind with 5♥4♥. Garcia was in the big blind and three-bet to 325,000 with A♠K♠
Mateos four-bet to 750,000 and Lu folded. Garcia then thought before five-betting all in for 2,925,000. Mateos snap-called.
The flop 10♠9♥8♦ changed nothing but the 9♠3♠ turn and river saw Garcia go runner-runner to make a flush and leave Mateos short, with the Spaniard eliminated shortly thereafter.
“[It] could be one of [my] worst bad beats for sure, especially in this tournament,” Mateos told Jeff Platt post-elimination, who added that he’d always wanted to make a deep run in the Main Event. “Today, Day 5, was close but there are still a lot of people left.
“It was a huge spot, but I think I played the hand great. I’m just unlucky and that’s just how poker works.”
Mateos explained that throughout the tournament he had felt focused and that everything was going smoothly.
“During all the days, all my reads were on point. I feel like I probably played my best tournament ever. But that’s poker. Two hands: kings against aces and aces against ace-king and the dream is over.
“The only thing is to stay focused on the next tournament and try to play my best. That’s the only thing I can control and that’s my plan.”
Managing Editor
He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
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