Adrian Mateos dominated the 2026 Triton Poker Invitational, topping the 137-entry field to win an astonishing $6,370,000. Mateos nearly doubled his previous career high score, which he earned with a second-place finish in a $200,000 Triton Montenegro event in 2024.
With the win, Adrian Mateos moved from 10th to 7th on the all-time money list, becoming just the eighth player with over $60 million in career earnings. Mateos, just 31 years old, joins an illustrious group of players that includes Bryn Kenney, Stephen Chidwick, Jason Koon, Mikita Bodyakovsky, Justin Bonomo, Isaac Haxton, and Dan Smith.
Haxton was also at the final table and had a chance to become the fourth player in history with over $70 million in earnings. Instead, he finished ninth for $635,000.
$200K Triton Poker Invitational final table action
Day 2 started with just 12 players remaining, following Jason Koon’s elimination in 13th place to mark the end of Day 1.
Estonia’s Ilya Nikiforov was the first to go, with Linus Loeliger and Danilo Velasevic being bounced out to form the official final table.
Final table chip counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Anatoly Zlotnikov | 12,550,000 | 84 |
| 2 | Maher Nouira | 6,025,000 | 40 |
| 3 | Eelis Parssinen | 5,450,000 | 36 |
| 4 | Kiat Lee | 4,700,000 | 31 |
| 5 | Andre Berg | 4,250,000 | 28 |
| 6 | Adrian Mateos | 2,650,000 | 18 |
| 7 | Alexey Loxuyk | 2,625,000 | 18 |
| 8 | Isaac Haxton | 1,525,000 | 10 |
| 9 | Ben Heath | 1,325,000 | 9 |
Haxton was the first player eliminated after his was cracked by the massive chip leader, Anatoly Zlotnikov.
Alexey Lozuyk limped in with from under the gun, and Zlotnikov called with a very underrepped . Eelis Parssinen also called behind with . Haxton jammed his pocket kings for 10 bigs from the big blind, and Zlotnikov called him off.
The board ran out , and Haxton had to settle for a ninth-place finish for $635,000.
Though Zlotnikov went up to about 15 million in chips, he would lose a couple of massive hands to go down to fifth place with just over five million.
Shortly thereafter, Parssinen got his last 3.5 big blinds in with from the small blind, called off by Kiat Lee’s in the big blind. Lee flopped a set of deuces and the Finnish superpro was out in eighth place for $797,000.
Mateos’ first big break came with the elimination of Kiat Lee. Zlotnikov virtually jammed 3.5 million of his 5,000,000-chip stack with from UTG+1. Lee jammed for 3,775,000 from the button with . Mateos woke up with from the small blind and went in for his last 4,100,000. Zlotnikov called it off, leaving himself with two big blinds behind.
Though the turn gave Zlotnikov a flush draw, the river was a , and Mateos let out a rare roar as he shot all the way up to 12.8 million. Lee took home $1,085,000 for his seventh-place finish.
Maher Nouira, who came into the final table in second, was the next player eliminated, taking home $1,466,000. After Zlotnikov’s ace-eight cracked his pocket kings, he ran his from the small blind into Mateos’ for his final seven bigs.
While the flop was , Nouira soared into the lead when a hit the turn. However, the joy was short-lived as the river gave Mateos the win, sending him up to 15.7 million – twice as many chips as his nearest competitor.
The high-flying Zlotnikov finally saw his luck run out in fifth place. His final five bigs went in with from the hijack, with Mateos calling off . The board ran out eight-high, and the Russian earned an impressive $1,890,000.
After Ben Heath’s pocket jacks bested Andre Berg’s pocket sixes, it was a tight-knit three-horse race. However, after a few hands, Heath jammed 12 bigs from the small blind with into Mateos’ . Mateos won the flip, and it was heads-up against invitee Alexey Lozuyk. Heath collected a $2,877,000 payday, the second-largest score of his career.
Lozuyk went in with an ever-so-slim 35-to-33 chip lead over Mateos, but it was two hands that virtually decided it all. Mateos made a straight against Lozuyk’s second pair to take a two-to-one chip lead.
The Belarusian closed the gap to three-to-two when he got it in great with against Mateos’ for 80% of the chips in play.
However, Mateos would deliver the cruelest of bad beats, as the board ran out . The Spaniard let out a huge fist bump as he collected a massive $6,370,000 payday.
Adrian Mateos reacts
Adrian Mateos, a pretty humble person who usually lets his cards do the talking, couldn’t hide his excitement in his postgame interview.
“Right now I’m pretty happy,” Mateos told Triton Poker staff. “This is the biggest score of my career.
“These tournaments are super special for me, and I always come super motivated to play these Invitationals. It feels amazing to win the third title and one of these huge tournaments.
“I ran super hot today; everything went my way, and I got the trophy. There were many hands where I felt a lot of pressure and a ton of emotions, but I think it’s good to feel the emotions and then perform after that. I also think I played great, so I’m super happy with my performance.”
With half the field being invited VIPs, the dynamics were certainly far different than a regular Triton tournament. Yet Adrian Mateos claims to enjoy the fresh tournament field.
“It’s a bit different than the other tournaments. The first day is really tough with all the top pros in the world battling, and then on Day 2, we mixed things up. Some of the VIPs played amazing, while some of them are a bit less experienced, but that creates different dynamics that made this way more fun.
“For me, I like these types of tournaments when the dynamics change a lot. I like adapting my game, and it worked out really well for me.”
$200,000 Triton Poker Invitational final table results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | $6,370,000 |
| 2 | Alexey Lozuyk | Belarus | $4,316,000 |
| 3 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | $2,877,000 |
| 4 | Andre Berg | Norway | $2,357,000 |
| 5 | Anatoly Zlotnikov | Russia | $1,890,000 |
| 6 | Maher Nouira | Tunisia | $1,466,000 |
| 7 | Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $1,085,000 |
| 8 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | $797,000 |
| 9 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $635,000 |
