WSOP Paradise and the Triton Poker Series have produced some big winners this winter, but the man who really piqued our curiosity was a runner-up.
But then, not all second-place finishes hit the same. Take Ecuadorian-born Houston resident Gabriel Andrade, runner-up in the $250,000 Triton Invitational, and his 'consolation prize' of over $5 million.
If you watched his run to that incredible finish on the Triton Poker livestream, you'll have been won over by his energy and fun-loving character. We spoke with him afterwards and what was meant to be an interview about his experience in the tournament evolved into something so much bigger – a story that starts with Andrade finding his first poker game in a pool hall during the Moneymaker boom.
'$550 for one junkie decision was pretty good'
“So, I was a sick puppy," Andrade says. "I was a degenerate that saw this footage [of the 2003 WSOP] just like everybody else and said, 'What the f*** is that? Where do I get some of that junk?'
"I walked into a pool hall where I looked to play pool – I was never good – and then I saw these 12 guys at a pool table dealing cards. Of course, I joined. The game was $50 a pop, winner takes it all, and we leave 50 for the guy who sacrificed and dealt.
"I was going to school and making maybe $100 a day delivering pizzas and trying to pay for my college, and then I won it, so $550 for one junkie decision was pretty good, and there you go. I was glued to poker as an amateur.”
Andrade began playing $1/$2 and then $2/$5, then got invited to play in and help run a private game, where he says he was one of the best players in the game. In 2007, after finding success in the game, he decided to go pro.
“I said f*** it, and I went for it, and it was not what I expected," Andrade explains, "because the swings of poker when you have the rent in the middle is a different sport."
That realization led to Andrade working on his game, and by 2008, he was successfully playing in higher-stakes cash games, some of which he still plays in today.
“I was not a world-class player, but I was way better than the idiots that I was playing with," Andrade says with a trademark smile. "Those are my friends. If you guys are reading, I love you guys. They are very rich people, and they were just playing for the junk of it, and if you sit down with a little bit more patience, you were able to profit big.”
Perkins' prodigy
Despite success in the game, Andrade says life had its rough patches back then, and it was only when he began being backed by a very well-known poker-playing businessman that he was able to truly thrive.
“A great friend of mine, I can say almost family, muscled me to back me – Billy Perkins," says Andrade. "Bill was my first backer, and he changed my life. I was struggling with a backer who only wanted to give me $5K in the best game ever. I was like, ‘We need several bullets,' and he wanted to put two bullets in. Billy was like, ‘Yeah, here's a million.’
In 2010, after crushing the game and building his bankroll with Perkins' help, the game ran into issues and reopened in a new location with a new game runner.
Andrade was happy to continue the backing arrangement, but Perkins opted to let Andrade go out on his own. With all profits now going exclusively into his pocket, Andrade’s bankroll took off.
The game changes for Andrade
Andrade continued to play regularly in the game for years, but eventually the game runner began demanding winning players give him a piece of their profit. This didn't sit well with Andrade, who had been a consistent winner in what he says was one of the biggest cash games in the world.
By 2017, Andrade had much more going on in his life and he decided to take a break. A move that would end up causing him a considerable problem.
“When you play those stakes, it's very political, to say the least," Andrade says. "I’d made good enough money, and I entered a deep introspection about my existence as a human, and I grew a lot. I went into six months of meditation and personal growth, and I figured out that I had the opportunity of a lifetime – I had enough money to go wherever the hell I want.
"I was young, and I had a girlfriend that I liked and I wanted to travel the world. In 2018, I told the game runner, ‘Hey, in 2019 I'm going, and I don't know when I'm coming back,’ and he was like, ‘No, you're not. You're not gonna leave this money.’ I said ‘Yes, some of us don’t live for the money, we live for life.'”
No longer welcome in the game
Andrade left Texas and travelled the world for eight months with his then-girlfriend, who became the mother of his son, whom he says is still his best friend, though they’re no longer together.
When he returned to Houston looking to get back into the game, he found that he was no longer welcome. To play poker, Andrade had to return to smaller-stakes public games – and the transition was tough.
“It was very hard to go to low stakes because I was playing high stakes in the best environment in a private place where nobody can cheat you, and then you go play $5/$10 and you just wanna shoot yourself.”
A baby and a monster are born
Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic threw another wrench into Andrade’s poker career. His son, Alcione, was born, and he decided to transition into poker tournaments. In April 2021, Andrade earned his then-largest career score of $195,955 at the Lone Star Poker Spring Series, and his tournament career was off and running.
Less than six months later, he finished second in a $3K event at the 2021 World Series of Poker for another $229,848, with several more five-figure cashes soon to follow.
But while he was finding success in tournaments, he really wanted to get back into a good high-stakes cash game – but remained unable to do so.
“Scummy cash games, very few seats in the good games, and that forced me to really pay attention [to tournaments] in 2023 and 2024. Last year prepared me for this year. By February of this year, I told everybody – I’m already a monster.”
![Andrade heads-up in the $250K Triton Invitational at WSOP Paradise.]()
Andrade heads-up in the $250K Triton Invitational at WSOP Paradise.
The monster is unleashed on Paradise Island
That monster’s preparation had led to an incredible 2025 with over $600,000 in cashes ahead of the $250,000 buy-in Triton Invitational at WSOP Paradise.
Andrade was on the invitee side of the unique tournament, which saw half the field filled by those invitees, primarily business types, who then invited a professional poker player to join them.
Day 1 was contested with the invitees on one side of the room and the professional players on the other side, with the survivors merging for Day 2. Andrade explained how his application to play in the event was accepted by Triton.
“I have the best relationship with a lot of VIPs," explains Andrade. "I have business investments, and I'm not a high-profile player. I'm starting to get recognized, but I'm not Stephen Chidwick or Jason Koon, so I definitely don't deserve to play on that side, and they approved my application.”
He might have been a VIP, but his poker experience at high levels meant the $250K Invitational wasn't out of his comfort zone. He related it to taking a test.
“When you actually study for a test, there's no fear. I remember being in tests all my life, and I never knew sh*t because I never studied, so I was trying to do the minimum to pass or trying to memorize everything [on the] last night – and then you are sh*tting your pants because you don't know the answers.
“Yes, Stephen Chidwick will put me in a different position than the players that play at lower stakes," explains Andrade, "but if we both have 17 big blinds, there's not too much you can do, and if I'm the chip leader, I know what to do. If I’m the middle stack, I know what to do; if I have 12 big blinds, I know what to do. If I gain one round of big blinds, I know what that does.
"So, was I feeling pressure in the Triton? Nope. I know the answers. I've had to go with one pair for I don't even wanna say the amount. And you develop this cold-blooded mode. The big cash games I played gave me that cold blood, and when you have that, and you actually study for the test, you go with confidence.”
'The worst seat draw in the world'
While confident in his abilities, Andrade wasn’t blind to the poker talent around him, especially at the start of Day 2 when he hit his new table and, in his words, “the worst seat draw in the history of the world” that included Bryn Kenney and Sean Winter.
“We had maybe $500 million in earnings at that table, except for me, who had two million at that time, and I was like ‘Holy moly, I'm going to hell.’
"And this is the luck of tournaments," says Andrade. "They come and say we're gonna draw a table to break. Which table breaks? Number 13! And I land in a much better situation with people playing wild. Somebody doubled me up… and when you get [the chips], the game gets much more simple.”
That seat change was the beginning of Andrade’s surge to the final table, and his second-place finish for $5,240,000 – by far his largest career tournament score.
It's a huge score, but, for Andrade, it was bittersweet. His cash game background has brought him much financial success. Andrade now wants his poker results to reflect on him in a different way, for his son.
“You have to set an example," he says. "You cannot just tell your son, ‘Hey, you can be a champion.’ You have to prove it. When we have the conversation now with my son, there's not gonna be a doubt even though I didn't win [the Triton Invitational] because now I have a few trophies to show him. It's gonna be a better conversation, showing him how life beat me up, and I never surrendered.”
Andrade will head home from Paradise for what he says will be an extra peaceful Christmas with his son and girlfriend, Antonia, thanks to this holiday payday.
As for poker, he assures us that his Triton debut won't be the last we see of him on that tour, with his sights already set on a Triton PLO title in 2026.
Additional images courtesy of Triton Poker.
