Chris Hunichen Wins the 2017 Caribbean Poker Party $25,500 Super High Roller for $400K
Chris Hunichen celebrated a $1million year in Punta Cana when he scooped the $400,000 first prize.
There are very few of the current crop of poker’s top youngsters who can rival Adrian Mateos’ rise to the top of the professional ranks – taking over the top all-time Spanish tournament winnings spot after only 5 years on the circuit.
The 23-year old, born on July 1st 1994, has managed to do this without a $multi-million victory as closest Spanish rival Carlos ‘El Matador’ Mortensen did back in 2007 with a close to $4million win in Las Vegas and his 2001 WSOP Main Event title.
Instead Mateos has consistently appeared in the top echelons of tournaments, with 2017 having a remarkable 25 top ten finishes totalling almost $5.5million, including victories in Macau, the Caribbean, Monte Carlo and the WSOP Heads-up $10k Bracelet event in Las Vegas.
Along the way he broke records aplenty, including becoming the youngest Spaniard to win an EPT title (in Monte Carlo in 2015) and the youngest ever from anywhere to snag 3 WSOP bracelets – and started off the remarkable run by taking down the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event for a cool €1,000,000 in 2013.
“At the beginning, it wasn’t easy,” Mateos explained to Calvin Ayre’s Lee Davy after becoming the GPI number 1 for his, by most standards, unbelievable heater in 2017. “My parents didn’t like my decision to quit university and leave Spain to live in London. It was the hardest decision of my life. I decided to go all-in for my dream, and now I am delighted I did, of course.”
By the end of 2017, having just cashed 4 times in Prague at the PokerStars Championship – including 3 final tables – he had hauled himself up to number 33 in the all-time tournament winners rankings worldwide, snuggled in between Joe Hachem and Jamie Gold, both WSOP Main Event winners.
Should Mateos find similar success money-wise in 2018 as he did in 2017, he would almost certainly enter the top 20 – and for a 23-year old that is simply incredible. Add to this his $2.9million winnings online under the name ‘Amadi_017’ and it already justifies talking about him as a future contender for GOAT, although that tag has quite a number of players vying for it.
In late 2017 Mateos also claimed another title, that of Winamax poker room ambassador, when he was signed up by the French online team alongside another young shooting star of the European poker scene, the Italian player Mustapha Kanit.
Published 10 years ago
Funny - Nitsche stares down Mateos WSOPE 2013Nitsche stares down Mateos to get a read during the WSOPE 2013.
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Mateos busts Raghavan WSOPE 2013Mateos busts out Raghavan during the World Series of Poker Europe 2013.
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WSOPE ME 2013 Final HandWSOPE ME 2013 Final Hand Mateos vs Soulier
Chris Hunichen celebrated a $1million year in Punta Cana when he scooped the $400,000 first prize.
It’s been a great and slightly unusual week for the high-rollers in Punta Cana at the 2017 Caribbean Poker Party, with Spain’s Adrian Mateos finishing off the impressive festival.
Cracking his opponent's pocket aces during heads-up action was crucial in Timothy Adams' exciting victory in the PSC Prague €50k Super High Roller.
Prague in December has long been a hotbed of poker action and despite the cold weather it proved to be a happy-hunting ground for Lebanese pro Albert Daher.
Kenney, the 31-year-old pro from Long Beach, New York cashed 28 times in live tournaments last year for a total of $8.5 million, for more than what anyone else earned.
Maria Lampropulos navigated through a field of over 500 players to take down the 2018 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure.
Spain and France finally share online poker liquidity and PokerStars becomes the first online poker room to offer games for the promising new shared market.
The two-day event featured the biggest buy-in of the 2018 LHPO and came with a $1 million guarantee, which was eclipsed to the tune of a $1,232,500 prize pool.
Justin Bonomo topped a typically tough nosebleed final table that included Ben Tollerene, Joe McKeehen, Stefan Schillhabel and Bryn Kenney
The early odds at Bovada find Daniel Negreanu and Adrian Mateos listed as co-favorites at +1200.