Spaniard Adrian Mateos had a great 2024 on the live tournament circuit, being the biggest winner with profits of over $13M and achieving the biggest prize of his career ($3.2M). He also stood out on the virtual tables, achieving his two best sessions and adding new victories at the WCOOP and SCOOP.
In mid-January he was interviewed by Radio Marca's "Marcador" program and there he spoke about his results obtained last year, the Hendon Mob All Time Money List ranking, Alejandro Lococo 's triumph in the Bahamas and his goals for 2025, among other topics.
Mateos' Interview with Radio Marca
These were the questions that were asked to Adrián and the answers that the man from Madrid gave:
—Does being the least known number one in Spain worry you a lot or are you satisfied with the total and absolute recognition of the poker world?
— Well, I spend my time thinking about the things I can change, and that's not up to me. Whatever comes, I'll accept it and move on with it. I'm very happy with my life as it is right now, so it's not something I'm worried about.
— 28 titles, 4 WSOP bracelets, over $52M won live and over $13M with 3 titles in 2024. How do you explain to people that in this game you have to make the right decisions without thinking only about the money?
— The format I play is open tournaments, at a competitive level, and you have to think that you have a certain amount of chips with which you try to finish as high as possible. You have to make decisions based on what is mathematically most correct, or with psychology... different factors to make those decisions. Then, whatever has to happen will happen. If your decisions are better than your opponent's, you will usually end up winning good prizes.
—Of course, you have already pointed out that there is no secret. The secret is to study more than the others, to be more prepared than the others, so that when the time comes to make those decisions, in a high percentage you make better decisions than your rival, right?
— Poker has a lot of factors to consider. It's like solving a new and different puzzle every time. Mathematical factors, psychological factors, many others that affect the decision and you have to try to make the best decision constantly. Which is much easier said than done but I try.
— It seems that things are changing, although there have been colleagues who have always defended it well in the digital media, but what do you think Adri has to change for people to recognize you more? I'm not talking about prestige, perhaps about being more or less known. But this year 2024 you have won more money in prizes than a Carlos Alcaraz... or maybe it is better to leave it as it is.
— That's how markets work and that's how life works. People are more interested in one thing than another. Today tennis is a much more well-known sport and it interests more people, and that's why it's more recognized, it's that simple. In other countries around the world poker is considered a sport, it has greater visibility in the media and even at an institutional level. When all that changes in Spain, which I don't know if it will, poker will have more recognition. I'm also a big fan of Carlos Alcaraz, I love watching him play on TV and as a tennis fan it's an honor that he's our number one. That poker is slowly growing is great news.
— The saying goes “the best is yet to come” and we think your successes will continue to come in 2025.
— The goals are still the same: win as many tournaments as possible, make as much money as possible and, above all, try to keep improving day by day. I'm already in full work mode and really looking forward to continuing to play this year. I have a lot of experience behind me and I'm more mature than in previous years, so I really want to keep up the trend and keep winning titles.
— How is 2025 shaping up? Do you have anything planned for the first third of the year, have you got it planned, or are you just looking to see what to do?
— More or less. Live tournaments are a bit later sometimes, so sometimes there are surprise trips. But more or less the bigger circuits like Triton, EPT, WSOP and some other high buy-in tournaments will be my main schedule. Then the rest of the days I work a lot from the office, playing online and studying to be very prepared for when the big moments come and to be in the best possible shape.
— Speaking of Tritons, Alejandro Lococo did amazing things at the WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas.
— Papo MC (Alejandro's nickname) is a good friend and it's clear that he's a person who is very used to pressure, both in poker and in freestyle, in rap, being on stage and he knows how to handle that pressure. I think that has been very useful for him when playing the tournament that gave out the most prizes throughout the year. That has been his competitive advantage. I told him when we were close, "this is your advantage." He's very good, he has good psychology, he reads people very well and that's very important especially at the live poker tables.
— Every career has its ups and downs. Are you mentally prepared for when the year isn’t good?
— Let's see, if it's worse than the previous one, after this 2024 it's likely (laughs).
— Yes, yes, of course it is logical. But the fact that it is worse than this year does not mean that it is bad…
— That's right. In the end, with the work you put in, it's math, you more or less calculate how much you can generate per year, and then there's also the luck factor that also influences in the short term. My results in 2025 don't totally depend on me. They also depend on how I run, on how the year goes when it comes to having a little more or less luck, I can't control that... what I can control is to increase my maximum expected value (EV) and that's what I'm trying to do, being a better player every day, and when the time comes for the tournaments, to arrive with the best concentration, the best predisposition, and that makes luck have less influence and it's quite unlikely that I have a very bad year. But you never know. You have to keep working to manage everything and when that happens, which can happen, to move on to the next year with total motivation.
— You were the youngest player to enter the Top 10 in earnings, and now you are 8th. Does it inspire you to continue climbing positions in that ranking, to become number one, or is it not something that obsesses you too much?
— Yes, it is something that I like, the thing is that I know that to become number one I need many years or a strong pinch of luck. Because in the end if I win tournaments with half a million entries, like the one Papo won, or tournaments with $100K, $200K, etc., then it has a lot of weight in the ranking. I would need to run, have a bit of luck in those tournaments to get there quickly, or the slower way which is to play for many years at a high level and that is something that I see at the moment, but life changes, what will happen to me in two, three, four years I don't know and my goals may change in the future. Today, in 2025, my goal is still to fight to be the best in the world, to try to win as much as possible, and if that goal is maintained for many years I know that I have a good chance of reaching the top of the list. But we will see, life is changing.
Adrián is one of Winamax's ambassadors . You can find out more details about the room in this review:
— Fortunately, poker is increasingly moving away from the usual clichés that have little to do with reality, right?
— Like everything in life, in the end, it is easy to talk from ignorance. Anyone who knows poker from the inside will not be told those clichés. I don't know if knowing it is for everyone, but those who like it should enjoy it.
— Have you considered developing professionally in another discipline or do you focus exclusively on the world of poker?
— Another of my passions is the world of investment and economics. It's something I really like, something I spend a lot of time on, and in the past I tried to do many things at the same time until I realized that it's better to stick to your last and that I'm better at dedicating myself 100% to poker. If at some point I decide not to dedicate myself exclusively to poker, I'll definitely try things in other sectors that interest me and I'll try to do them as best as possible. I think I'll always have that mentality of giving 100% of myself, no matter what I dedicate myself to. Today it's poker, but the door is open, and you never know what can happen in your life. For now, I'm fully focused on this, giving it my all to get the best possible results.
— If someone wants to know a little more about you, what do you recommend they see about you?
— The best format to learn how poker works from the inside and how a professional poker player thinks is "The Mind of a Pro", which is a fantastic Winamax production. It takes a lot of work: we spend a lot of days recording, editing, and I think it's the best. Then, if you just want to see pure poker, Triton is where the best in the world play and the audiovisual content is of the highest quality. At any of the latest Triton festivals I will appear at the final tables competing against the best. Very big prizes, very good players, and a very good quality of management, enjoyable for the spectator.
Mateos' Fantastic 2024 Results: Live and Online
Adrian was the top live tournament winner in 2024 with $13.1M in earnings. He earned this money with 35 cashes, 21 final tables, 5 runner-up finishes, and 3 titles. He also earned his biggest live win by finishing second in Triton Montenegro NLH $200K Event #11 for $3.2M. He placed third in the GPI Player of the Year rankings and first in CardPlayer Player of the Year.
Mateos' biggest live payouts in 2024:
- 2nd Event #11 NLH $200K Triton Montenegro – $3.2M
- 1st Event #7 NLH $50K Triton Montenegro – $1.7M
- 1st Event #5 NLH $30K Triton Jeju – $1.1M
- 11th Event #2 Triton Million $500K WSOP Paradise – $985K
- 4th Event #39 High Roller $50K WSOP 2024 – $681K
- 3rd Event #24 Super High Roller $50K EPT Cyprus – $555K
- 10th Event #55 Super High Roller $250K WSOP 2024 – $506K
- 4th Event #5 NLH $100K Super High Roller Bowl Cyprus – $420K
- 3rd Event #7 NLH $40K Triton Jeju – $381K
- 2nd Event #7 NLH $25K EPT Paris – $277K
He also had his best year online and achieved the two best sessions of his career. On May 9, he managed to win $480K with five final tables and on May 29, he surpassed that mark by winning $950K with victories in the SCOOP and in ACR for $483K, which was his biggest online loss so far. During 2024, he also won his fifth title in the WCOOP and reached seven first places in the SCOOP.
Highest online payouts:
- 1st Main Event $2.5K ACR Poker – $483K
- 1st Event 120-H NLH $25K SCOOP PokerStars – $456K
- 6th Event #29 GGMillions $25K WSOP Online GGpoker – $305K
- 1st Event 52-S $10K World Festival GGpoker – $177K
- 1st 4-H NLH $5K SCOOP PokerStars Event – $144K
- 2nd Event 16-H NLH $10K SCOOP PokerStars – $139K
- 2nd Event 22-H NLH $5K SCOOP PokerStars – $136K
- 3rd Event 54-S $25K World Festival GGpoker – $104K
- 1st Event 75-H NLH 6-Max $1K WCOOP PokerStars – $61K
- 4th Event 38-M NLH $1K WCOOP PokerStars – $48K
