Spanish professional Adrian Mateos won Event #5: $10,500 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 Poker Masters. In the final, he outlasted Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman and took home $229,500 from an $850,000 prize pool generated by 85 entries. The victory propelled Mateos into the lead of the Purple Jacket standings — the award given to the top overall performer of the entire series.
Details
The final table of Event #5 featured seven players, and Adrian Mateos entered the final day as chip leader. The Spaniard capitalized on his chip advantage and closed out the tournament in first place, while Nick Schulman finished second with a payout of $148,750.
The final standings and payouts were as follows:
- 1st place — Adrian Mateos, Spain, $229,500;
- 2nd place — Nick Schulman, USA, $148,750;
- 3rd place — Jeremy Becker, USA, $106,250;
- 4th place — Robert French, USA, $76,500;
- 5th place — Martin Zamani, USA, $59,500;
- 6th place — Keith Lehr, USA, $42,500;
- 7th place — Matthew Wantman, USA, $34,000.
This result was especially meaningful for Mateos following a difficult start to the series. He finished outside the money in three of the first four tournaments, with his only cash before the win being a second-place finish in Event #2. In poker, this situation is known as the money bubble: a player busts out right before the payouts begin. Despite suffering three such setbacks, Mateos continued to stick with his approach.
After the win, the Winamax representative told PokerNews that he tries not to focus on results, instead paying attention to the process and the actions he can control. According to Mateos, he has no control over exactly when he wins or loses. After 14 or 15 years as a professional, the Spaniard believes he has learned to cope with the inevitable ups and downs and simply tries to do everything in his power.
The win also allowed Mateos to take the lead in the Poker Masters Purple Jacket standings. The Purple Jacket is a special award presented to the player with the best overall performance across the series. Mateos has played the Poker Masters multiple times but had never come close to winning the overall title before. Now he believes he has a genuine chance to fight for it.
After five events of the series, Mateos estimated that he was in first place, but he emphasized that there was still plenty of play ahead, as the series was only halfway through. Five events remain, and the Spaniard intends to keep cashing and battling for the overall title. Over the course of the week, he spent 11–12 hours a day at the tables almost every day, reaching the late stages several times — but on three occasions he found himself on the wrong side of the money bubble. The player himself explained this as a normal feature of poker: on some days things go your way, and on others you bust out before the money.
The final day began with the eliminations of the two shortest stacks. Matthew Wantman moved all-in with queen-ten against Keith Lehr's ace-ten but failed to improve and finished in seventh. It was Wantman's second cash of the series. Lehr was eliminated on the very next hand: his king-queen could not beat Mateos's dominating hand, ace-queen.
Martin Zamani finished the tournament in fifth. His ace-queen ran into Jeremy Becker's ace-king before the flop, and that hand proved decisive for Zamani. It then took about an hour for the final table to be reduced to three players.
Robert French, a Texan enjoying the best year of his live tournament poker career, moved all-in with ace-king. Nick Schulman called with queen-nine and found a nine on the river, sending French home in fourth place.
The final three were Jeremy Becker, Nick Schulman and Adrian Mateos. Becker was the most active of the three and clashed with Mateos on several occasions. The Spaniard began applying pressure from the first hand of the day, moving all-in against Becker, and later reduced his stack again by catching him attempting a steal. Becker recovered some of his losses, but in the end it was Mateos who finished his tournament.
Mateos raised to 275,000 from the small blind and Becker defended the big blind. Becker called bets of 325,000 on the flop and 700,000 on the turn; after that, the pot grew to 2,700,000. The board read T-8-3-T-5 with no flush possible. Becker had 1,425,000 remaining, and on the river Mateos moved all-in. After a pause, Becker called with king-eight for two pair, tens and eights. Mateos held ten-four — a set of tens — so Becker finished in third.
Heads-up, Mateos held a better than four-to-one chip advantage and closed out the match in just two hands. Schulman won a small pot in the first, but in the second Mateos woke up with pocket aces against his opponent's suited ten-nine. The chips went in on the turn, when Schulman held both an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. The river did not help the American, and Mateos celebrated his first title of the series.
As Event #5 concluded, Event #6: $10,500 NLH was already under way and was expected to reach its final table later that same evening. Sunday was a scheduled day off for the players, with the Event #6 final table set to take place on Monday. Event #7: $15,700 NLH kicked off that same day, with Daniel Negreanu expected to take part. Despite his victory, Mateos confirmed that he will be back at the tables right after a short break.
Comment from the "Vse-o-Pokere Editorial Team"
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