Adrian Mateos, 2018 U.S. Poker Open Champion?

To prepare for the first-ever U.S. Poker Open, PokerGO spent the week polling fans to find out who the poker world thinks will claim the USPO Championship. The preliminary polls pitted sixteen of the world’s best players against one another, in groups of four, with each poll advancing one player to the U.S. Poker Open poll finals. The final four faced off and when the dust settled, the fans crowned Spain’s Adrian Mateos the 2018 U.S. Poker Open Champion.

The people have spoken and they've picked @Amadi_17 to win the first-ever U.S. Poker Open!
Will 🇪🇸 claim the #USPO title? Find out this week on PokerGO! https://t.co/WfZ9minwqQ pic.twitter.com/86VXo8wsFH

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 1, 2018

The reigning GPI Player of the Year drew nearly half the votes in the finals, despite being up against three of the most successful players in the game. Poker Hall of Famers Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel advanced through their preliminary polls with sizable margins of victory, while Bryn Kenney had the toughest journey to the finals. Isaac Haxton and Nick Schulman pulled in decent numbers, but couldn’t escape the Group of Death.

Over the last few years, Mateos has been just as successful as his U.S. Poker Open poll finals opponents. Mateos won his third WSOP bracelet last year, which was live streamed on PokerGO, and through 2017, “The Conquistador” cashed for nearly $6 million. So far this year, Mateos has continued to crush. He final tabled the PCA Main Event and then finished second in two Lucky Hearts Poker Open High Rollers to push his 2018 earnings over $1 million.

If Mateos can continue to churn out results during the U.S. Poker Open, he’ll add another major title to his growing resume and put himself in a position to defend his Player of the Year honors from last year. To find out if your votes crowned the correct U.S. Poker Open Champion, watch the entire high stakes series on PokerGO and be sure to follow Poker Central and PokerGO for exclusive USPO content.