Winamax

Mustapha Kanit and Adrián Mateos Diaz join Team Winamax

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We have no less than the two most brilliant players from the Spanish and Italian poker communities joining Team Winamax today. Benvenuto! Bienvenido!

Many players have had their mind taken over by the opening of the european market for online poker. It's the same story with the Winamax staff: our team has been working towards this day and night.

Whilst waiting for the the day to finally arrive, which has still not been decided but will be an incredibly important day for European poker, Winamax is proud to reveal the names of the first two professional players who will be representing Team Winamax amongst the Spanish and Italian commiunitties.

It must be said, our two new Team Pro members have been picked right from the top of the poker tree! Right at the summit of the elite players, in the private club that is the highrollers, right at the top of the All Time Money List, where the oxygen is scarce when making a light 5-bet preflop or check/raising all in on the river.

Mustapha Kanit and Adrian Mateos

Thus it is difficult for us to hide our excitement at welcoming Mustapha Kanit and Adrián Mateos Diaz to Team Winamax. Benvenuto! Bienvenido! (Welcome, basically...). These two are nothing less that the most renowned players in their respective countries, and are amongst the most respected players in the professional circuit. Our first player comes to us from Piedmont and has been navigating the circuit with great ease (and with a smile that takes up his entire face) for nine years now, slowly raising his winnings counter through the most expensive tournaments in the world. Our second player grew up in Madrid and made the most astounding career-start in the history of modern poker, having become the youngest player to win three World Series of Poker bracelets at just 22 years of age. Both have made similar winnings in live poker; close to ten million dollars (with results which are just as impressive online), with victories in the most impressive tournaments on the international circuit (Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, Barcelona...) and reputations for being incredibly hard-working. They will for sure be a perfect fit for the team of players with the most titles in Europe.
 
Stéphane Matheu, who is responsible for recruiting these prestigious players and being the Team Winamax coach, think nothing less of them: "The Team is blowing up to huge proportions with the arrival of Mustapha and Adrián", he says. "Adding two players of this caliber to the Team will make the group aim even higher. Not to mention that these are two incredibly kind people. We are at the start of a new era, and it's very exciting!"
 
Having recruited the Spanish and Italian stars, Team Winamax is placing itself ahead of the changes ahead to be made on the European market. However, it is important to note that these arrivals represent far more than a simple marketing strategy. Mustapha Kanit and Adrián Mateos Diaz will be full members of Team Winamax: they will be wearing the colours of the brand on the biggest tournaments in the world (particularly the Highroller events in which they are regularly considered to be favourites), travel and switch tips with Gaëlle Baumann, Davidi Kitai, Romain Lewis and the others, and will regularly be producing content for the site: blogs, strategy videos and so on. 
 
"I have always had a lot of respect for Team Winamax" Mustapha Kanit tells us during a recent visit to our offices in Paris. "The notion of a Team is very real with them. Having observed them in tournaments, and having had conversations with team members whom I regularly converse with, such as Davidi Kitai and Sylvain Loosli, we can see that they are true friends and are constantly helping each other." Adrián Mateos tells us that he is "very pleased with his decision to joinTeam Winamax", adding: "I am honoured with the trust that Winamax places in me. As with everything I do, I intend to give it my all within the Team."
 
Having officially been introduced at the heart of Team Winamax in Paris, Mustapha and Adrián will be heading to Rozvadov at the end of October accompanied by their new teammates to take part in the European edition of the World Series of Poker.

Mustapha Kanit & Adrian Mateos DiazMustapha Kanit in three sentences:

 Always fair-play and in a good mood, he is known to be the most relaxed pro on the circuit
 Over 1,200 great perfomances online for over 4.5 million dollars in winnings
 A live Highroller specialist, he surpassed 9 million dollars in winnings in 2017

Click here for our full presentation on Mustapha
 

 


Mustapha Kanit & Adrian Mateos Diaz

Adrián Mateos Diaz in three sentences:

 Close to 10 million dollars in winnings in just 5 years (without counting online winnings)
3 World Champion bracelets (WSOP) won in record time
 An incredible stamina: 400 live tournaments played since 2012, including 100 finished in the money!

Click here for our full presentation on Adrián

 

The teammates are enthusiastic

Sylvain Loosli: "Adrián and Mustapha are not only very friendly players but also "crushers" of MTT highstakes. I have a lot of respect for them! They play a very unpredictable and exploitative style in poker. They know how to give their opponents a solid headache! I also respect the fact that they didn't hesitate to take risks at the start of the Super Highrollers: they ended up being very successful in these. Their arrival promises some great discussions on strategy, notably in regards to the big live tournaments which we regularly play."
 

Mustapha Kanit & Adrian Mateos Diaz

Adrián next to Patrick Bruel: a brilliant Highroller table in Las Vegas

Guillaume Diaz: "The arrival of Mustapha and Adrián is brilliant news!  They are both world-renown players and are amongst the best tournament players today. I was already admiring them before even joining the Team. Specifically Adrián, as he won the European World Series of Poker at just 19 years of age after showing his incredible talent on the final table, especially against Fabrice-soulier in the final heads-up. He has since continued to impress us with his regularly great performances and the quality of his game, with an absolutely incredible final table in EPT Monaco or even in the 2017 WSOP heads-up tournament. As for Mustapha, I can remember seeing him for the first time in EPT San Remo in 2014: he already had some fantastic results under his belt and was taking part in all the highroller tournaments with great success. More importantly, he was laughing with everyone and looked like he was in a state of perfect relaxation. I'm truly looking forward to getting to know them better on a personal level and being able to exchange ideas with them."

Davidi Kitai: "It is truly an honour and a privilege to have players of this caliber join Team Winamax. They are, in my eyes, in the top 10 tournament players in the world. Thus I am really looking forward to exchange ideas with them! Mustapha has a cool attitude: he is always in a good and happy mood. No matter the stakes, he laughs with everyone at the table and doesn't take himself too seriously. Adrián has the look of the kid who is best in the class, with his clean shirt and his angelic face, but he takes no prisoners at the table: he is undoubtebly the most aggressive player on the circuit. Being a 3-betting machine with overbets galore and a sick frequency of check/raises, he will leave you with one hell of a headache!"

Mustapha Kanit & Adrian Mateos Diaz

One of Mustapha's numerous triumphs (2016 Highroller EPT, Dublin)

Our Beligian genius has more than his fair share of stories on his new teammates, whom he has been facing for years in the biggest tournaments in the circuit. Here are just two of them:

"In terms of Mustapha, this was back in Dublin two years ago during a €25,000 Highroller. I 3-bet an amateur with two Kings, Mustapha cold 4-bets me, I 5-bet, he 6-bets, I pay, and he has 10-6 off! I win the hand, and he ends up being very short-stacked whereas I have a huge stack. The table breaks and I am eliminated not very long after before being in the money. I don't pay much attention to how the tournament continued, and the next day, as I turn up for the Main Event, I hear the presenter announce: "Congratulations to Mustapha Kanit, the winner of the Highroller!" I didn't even begin to understand, so I went to see him and congratulate him and he tells me "10-6 offsuit my friend, that’s how we win tournaments!" He's the kind of player who has an incredibly "positive karma": he is so cool, smiley and friendly that you just want to see him win!"

"The first time that I discovered Adrián Mateos was during the Main Event of the WSOP Europe in 2013, when he found himself heads-up with Fabrice Soulier. I was watching the stream on the Internet and I wanted to help Fabrice by giving him advice. I thought that I could find some tells or patterns with this young 19-year old player. I was writing some notes on a piece of paper, just to throw them away in the bin: Adrián was incredibly good at varying his game and had an impressive poker face for someone of his age. The one piece of advice I ended up giving to Fabrice was: "Good luck, you're going to need it!"

Team Winamax


Zitoune

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