01-18-07, LearnTexasHoldem:
WSOP Profile Carlos Mortensen
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In Love with Poker
Carlos fell in love with poker a few days after his 26th birthday while tending bar in Spain. He saw a group playing Texas hold'em and decided to try it. Like many champions first starting out, he lost in the beginning, but this only doubled his resolve, and he came back and started a winning streak.
Carlos became so successful playing poker in Spain that he busted all his opponents and decided to move to the greener shores of the United States. After struggling initially, he found success there too, but was only in America on a temporary visa and had to go back to Spain. He repeated this process a few times, his confidence growing with each performance.
2001 WSOP Main Event
2001 would prove to be the golden year for Juan Carlos Mortensen. He won a preliminary tournament at the L.A. Poker Classic that was good for over $100,000, then won the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event, which is now a World Poker Tour stop. Carlos was sure he was ready for the WSOP.
And ready he was. Carlos didn't know it, but when he made the final table of the 2001 main event, he was facing a veritable murderers row of up-and-coming poker stars. Seated with Carlos at that table were players such as Phil Hellmuth Jr., Phil Gordon, Mike Matusow and Dewey Tomko.
Carlos outplayed them all, right down to the final hand against Tomko. Tomko had pocket aces, but he let Carlos see a flop with the Kc Qc, and when that flop came Jd Tc 3c, giving Carlos a monster draw, with a huge flush possibility and open ended straight chances, he figured it was good enough to roll the dice. All the chips went in, and a nine on the river made Carlos the champion. (Interestingly, it was the second year in a row that a 9 on the river determined the winner. The year before, Chris Ferguson paired his 9 against T.J. Cloutier's AQ to win it all)
An Historic Double
Carlos Mortensen continues to make his presence known in the poker world. He finished third in the third Poker Super Stars Invitational tournament, and is a mainstay of many World Poker Tour, and World Series of Poker events. In April 2007, Mortensen became the first player in the world to win both the WSOP Main Event and the $25,000 World Poker Tour championship at the Bellagio.
Mortensen's WSOP Titles:
2001: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - $1,500,000
2003: $ 5,000 Limit Hold'em - $ 251,680
More WSOP Player Profiles:
Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
Phil Hellmuth
Chris Ferguson
Daniel Negreanu
Phil Ivey
Chris Moneymaker
Greg Raymer
Jamie Gold
Annette Obrestad
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