WSOP: Adrian Mateos Wins Second Bracelet, Rafael Lebron Wins First
At just 21 years, Adrian Mateos has established himself as one of the best No Limit Hold’em tournament players in the world. At 19 he won the WSOP Europe Main Event. He followed that up by winning the European Poker Tour Grand Final at 20. Now, just days before his 22nd birthday, Mateos has a second WSOP bracelet after winning the $1,500 Summer Solstive event on Friday at the 2016 World Series of Poker. And while Mateos was further establishing himself as one of the best young players, Rafael Lebron won te first bracelet of his career just four days after finishing second in another event.
Event #33: Adrian Mateos Wins $1,500 Summer Solstice No Limit Hold’em
Only two players returned for Day 5 of the $1,500 buy-in Summer Solstice and after just two hours of play, Adrian Mateos beat Koray Aldemir heads-up for the second bracelet of his career and first victory on U.S. soil.
“It feels very good to win. It’s especially important for me to win one here in Las Vegas,” Mateos said. “It’s like a dream come true to play in this tournament because I have been wanting to do this in Las Vegas for a long time.”
Mateos, who calls Madrid home, is one of three just Spaniards to win a WSOP bracelet joining Carlos Mortensen and Cesar Garcia.
The event, which featured 90-minute levels instead of the standard 60-minute levels, drew 1,840 players.
Final Table Payouts
- Adrian Mateos – $409,171
- Koray Aldemir – $252,805
- Alessandro Borsa – $182,835
- Ralph Wong – $133,588
- Jon Turner – $98,617
- Jackson White – $73,563
- Ronald McGinnity – $55,455
- Stephen Ladowsky – $42,252
- David Tovar – $32,540
Event #37: Jiaqi Xu Wins $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha
Jiaqi Xu started Day 3 of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha in the middle of the pack, with the seventh biggest stack among the 16 remaining players. Over the course of the ten hours of play on Friday though, Xu found himself at the final table, and eventually posing with his own WSOP bracelet.
“The cards fell my way at the right time,” Xu said. “I knew that if I could get deep I would have a chance and things went right for me.”
England’s Jeffrey Duvall finished second for $131,128.
Pallas Aidinian matched Kindergarten teacher Lisa Meredith for the best finish by a female so far at the 2016 WSOP with her third place finish. She earned $91,369.
Final Table Payouts
- Jiaqi Xu – $212,128
- Jeffrey Duvall – $131,073
- Pallas Aidinian – $91,369
- Joshua Pham – $64,654
- Tommy Le – $46,452
- Richard Austin – $33,895
- Jon Ho Christensen – $25,123
- Thibaut Klinghammer – $18,922
Event #38: Rafael Lebron Comes Back to Win First Bracelet in $3,000 Six Max Limit Hold’em
Just four days ago Rafael Lebron finished runner-up to Viatcheslav Ortynskiy in the $3,000 Six Max Pot Limit Omaha event. On Friday he got past the runner=up finish to win the $3,000 Six Max Limit Hold’em event, even if he wasn’t – by his own admission – the biggest threat at the table when it began.
“I wasn’t the best player at the final table at all,” Lebron said. “I might have been the worst. But, I got lucky. This was my day.”
Lebron outlasted a final table that included reigning Main Event champion Joe McKeehen, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Matt Matros and eventual runner-up Georgios Zisimopoulos to win the title.
Lebron, who plays mostly cash games in Washington State, this has been the trip of a lifetime.
“I only play about once a year,” Lebron said. “Sure I’ll come back again next year, as long as I haven’t spent all the money.”
McKeehen finished fourth for $46,489 and his second cash of the 2016 WSOP.
Final Table Payouts
- Rafael Lebron – $169,337
- Georgios Zisimopoulos – $104,646
- Brad Libson – $68,896
- Joe McKeehen – $46,489
- Matt Matros – $32,172
- Alex Queen – $22,848
Event #39: Star-Studded Final 21 in $10,000 Six Max No Limit Hold’em Championship
After a bubble that took nearly four hours on Friday, the $10,000 Six Max No Limit Hold’em Championship ended up with just 21 players remaining, including some of the best tournament players in the world.
Nick Petrangelo leads the way with 1,946,000 chips, just ahead of Vanessa Selbst who finished with 1,942,000. Those two have clearly outpaced the rest of the field as Justin Bonomo, who finished with 1,278,000, is the only other player to crack the seven-figure chip stack mark.
Other top players still in contention for the bracelet and the $665,709 first place prize money include Jonathan Little, Jack Salter, Scott Seiver, Davidi Kitai and Chris Ferguson.
Two players who were once ranked #1 on PocketFives, Steve Gross and Paul Volpe, also bagged up chips on Friday.
While the remaining players are almost all all-stars, the topic of conversation on Friday was the incredibly long hand-for-hand play while on the bubble.
Some of those who made it past the bubble but did not advance to Day 3 include Amit Makhija (44th – $14,848), Jason Wheeler (40th – $16,078), Jake Schindler (35th – $17,986), Jonathan Duhamel (28th – $20,767) and Patrick Leonard (26th – $20,767).
The remaining 21 players return Saturday at Noon PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Nick Petrangelo – 1,946,000
- Vanessa Selbst – 1,942,000
- Justin Bonomo – 1,278,000
- Jonathan Little – 963,000
- Jack Salter – 883,000
- Gilbert Diaz – 870,000
- Scott Seiver – 860,000
- Martin Kozlov – 766,000
- Brandon Steven – 675,000
- Eric Worre – 668,000
Event #40: David Gee Leads $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Final Table
A new event on the WSOP schedule for 2016, the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw is down to just seven players with David Gee holding a commanding chip lead. The event, which includes rotations of Ace to Five, Deuce to Seven and Badugi, drew 236 players.
Gee bagged up 803,000 while the player closest to him, Damjan Radanov, finished with jut 514,000 after Day 2.
The only bracelet winner at the final table is Australian Gary Benson.
Tony Lazar, once a member of “The Crew” along with Dutch Boyd, Brett Jungblut and Scott Fischman is the short stack.
Final Table Chip Counts
- David Gee – 803,000
- Damjan Radanov – 514,000
- Christopher Vitch – 376,000
- Sigi Stockinger – 357,000
- Gary Benson – 344,000
- Michael Schiffman – 342,000
- Tony Lazar – 196,000
Event #41: Monster Stack Draws 4,054 Players on Day 1A
Event #41: Day 1A of Monster Stack Draws Just 2,420 Players
The lower buy-in “gimmick” events continue to see smaller fields than they did in 2015. Day 1A of the $1,500 Monster Stack drew just 2,420 players, down roughly 20% over the 3,027 that played Day 1A last summer.
Leading that group with 253,300 is Gregory Alexander. While Alexander is leading the way, the most talked about player in the top 10 after Day 1A is T.J. Cloutier. The six-time WSOP bracelet winner, who will turn 77 later this year, finished with 180,800 – the fourth biggest stack.
Other prominent names to make it through to Day 2 include Erik Seidel, Anton Wigg, Kevin Boudreau, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Cate Hall and Mohsin Charania.
Saturday could be an even bigger field as Day 1B drew more than 4,000 last summer.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Gregory Alexander – 253,300
- Andrew Moreno – 239,900
- Ernest Smith – 212,400
- TJ Cloutier – 180,800
- Mohammad Moeini – 177,500
- Mohammed Ladek – 161,800
- Spencer Tep – 157,600
- Fabian Ortiz – 153,000
- Anna Antimony – 148,200
- Antonio Bassani – 146,400
Event #42: 40 Players Advance in $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
Exactly 400 players showed up for the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em shootout with 40 of them moving on to Day 2. Included in that group of players who not only advanced to Day 2 but also recorded a WSOP cash were Maria Ho, Michael Mizrachi, Tom Marchese, Andrew Lichtenberger, Antonio Esfandiari, Faraz Jaka, Jordan Young, Stephen Chidwick, and 2015 November Niner Zvi Stern.
The final 40 players will play four-handed on Saturday with the winner of each table advancing to a ten-handed final table to be played on Sunday.
