This hand occurred during the recent Triton Poker Series Cash Game Invitational I. The seven-day series touted the who’s who of international high-stakes cash, including Adrián Mateos, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Rob Yong, Ferdinand, Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, Handz, Elizabeth Chen, Elton Tsang, ST Wang, Tan Xuan, Tony G, Brian Kim, and the CEO of Triton Poker Paul Phua.
The game was held at Maestral Resort and Casino in Montenegro, with blinds of $2,000/$5,000 with a $5,000 big blind ante. This hand pitted Adrián Mateos against Paul Phua and ST Wang.
In the video above, Mateos talks through the hand moment-to-moment, providing exclusive insight into the thought process of one of the most successful and feared players on the tournament circuit playing in a nosebleed cash game.
The biggest cash game hand of his career
Adrián Mateos is ranked eighth on the all-time money list with over $50M in tournament cashes. He’s also ranked second on the 2024 Global Poker Index for accumulated points and is less than 200 points behind the red-hot Jesse Lonis leading the way.
Mateos felt very comfortable in one of the highest stakes cash games he’s played and approached it similarly to how he would most tournaments.
“I think it's way more similar than people think, especially during this Triton game,” shared Mateos. “We play with an ante, so it's really similar to tournaments. I approach the game similar to the earlier stages of tournaments.
“The key factor is that people play a bit looser preflop in cash games, so you must adapt your range post-flop. Playing a bit more aggressively post-flop is profitable because people typically have wider ranges that mean less strong hands.”
A game of mistakes
“I'm pretty confident playing this big cash game, even if it’s some of the biggest pots I’ve ever played. I don't think about the money when I'm playing a hand. I just think about strategy and what's the best decision I can make at that moment.
“Every day, I wake up, try to play my best and improve. I constantly review my hands, see the mistakes I made, and try to make fewer mistakes or perhaps smaller mistakes. And I always say the same: poker is a game of mistakes. The people who make the least mistakes are the people who are going to win. I just try to be a better player every day.”
A career-high run in 2024
Mateos is on an otherworldly heater this year with two seven-figure wins at Triton High Roller events, a first, second, third, and fourth at the recent Cyprus Super High Roller Bowl, and a deep finish of 317th in the WSOP Main Event - which may have gone very differently if his pocket aces hadn’t been cracked by 
all-in preflop for a six-million chip pot on Day Five.
“I want to be on the top of the all-time money list eventually. It's something I want to achieve. I follow the rankings. I also want to win the GPI this year, because I'm really competitive. Let’s see how the year plays out.”
You can check out the full episode from the Triton Poker Series Cash Game Invitational I here, and follow Adrián Mateos on X.
