Mateos Went 13th, 13th, 13th, Then Won. Poker Masters Retires Seat 13.

Event 6 of the Poker Masters started this week with one chair in the room that does not count. Seat 13 has been taken out of play at the PokerGO Tour's high roller series, wrapped in a black cloth, and parked at the end of the feature table with a brass plate that reads "13th: A. Mateos x3." Tournament staff say the chair will remain in the room through the final event of the series.

The decision follows a stretch in which Adrian Mateos finished 13th in Event 1, 13th in Event 3 and 13th in Event 4, each time one place short of the money in a $10,500 field. The three exits came with aces against nines, ace-king against jack-nine and ace-seven against nines. Mateos has six WSOP bracelets and more than $70 million in live earnings, and by the end of Event 4 he had paid roughly $31,500 to learn where the money line sits.

How It Started

Floor staff now announce the bubble by saying the table is "one short of Adrian," and hand-for-hand play is now "Mateos play" on the tournament clock. Directors call the label temporary and say it has proved difficult to remove from the software. A series official described the retirement as a courtesy to the other players rather than to Mateos. "Nobody at 14 wants to look at that seat," the official said. "Nobody at 12 wants to inherit it either."

The series has also adopted a rule that applies to one player. If Mateos goes out in 13th a fourth time, he is paid from a fund set aside for exactly that, an amount the tour declined to disclose and could not confirm existed. Players at the feature table have asked that the fund stay unfunded. "It is the only thing in the building anyone is afraid of," one player said, gesturing toward the covered chair.

Then came Event 5. Mateos was one of 85 entries in the $10,500 no-limit hold'em event, with a prize pool of $850,000, and he did not bust on the bubble. He did not bust at all. He closed out the final table by holding pocket aces against Nick Schulman's ten-nine of hearts, and the river missed Schulman's double-gutshot and flush draws. The first prize was $229,500.

The series considers the matter closed, and has declined to say whether Seat 13 will return to circulation. Staff report that the cloth has been removed twice for cleaning and replaced both times before play resumed. A tournament director, asked whether the plate would be updated to reflect the win, said the plate is accurate and will stay as it is. Mateos was last seen walking past the covered chair on his way to the cage, and took the long way around.