Juan Carlos Mortensen (born April 13, 1972, in Ambato,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

) is an

ian professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player of

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

descent and the first

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Main Event winner of the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

. Mortensen is known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style.

Poker career

World Series of Poker

Mortensen moved from Spain to the United States in the late 1990s to play poker. He won $1,500,000 at the

2001 World Series of Poker The 2001 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe. Preliminary events Main Event There were 613 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a non-online casino a ...

(WSOP) Main Event. He defeated a then-record field of 613 players, including a very tough final table that included professional players

Mike Matusow Michael Matusow (born April 30, 1968) is an American professional poker player residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow's nickname of "The Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table. Matusow began playing poker seriously ...

(6th), 1989 WSOP Main Event champion

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record sixteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Even ...

(5th), Phil Gordon (4th), and

Dewey Tomko Duane "Dewey" Tomko (born December 31, 1946, in Glassport, Pennsylvania) is an American former kindergarten teacher turned professional poker player, based in Winter Haven, Florida. Tomko was the runner-up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1 ...

(2nd). In the final hand, Mortensen's out-drew and defeated Tomko's , when Mortensen's hand improved to make a straight. Mortensen won his second career bracelet at the

2003 World Series of Poker The 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe. Preliminary events Main Event There were 839 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar ca ...

in the $5,000 Limit Hold'em event, earning $251,680. He defeated professional player Mark Gregorich heads-up to win the title. At the

2006 World Series of Poker The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with satellite events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. 40 more events in various ...

, Carlos made three final tables. He finished in ninth place in Event #2 (No Limit Hold'em) winning $71,617. He would once again finish in ninth place in Event #6 (NL Hold 'em) earning him another $73,344. He came up just short of winning his third bracelet in Event #33 ( Razz), where he finished runner-up to fellow professional James Richburg earning him $94,908. Mortensen finished in 10th place in the

2013 WSOP The 2013 World Series of Poker was the 44th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada between May 29 – July 15, 2013. There was 62 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 No L ...

Main Event, being the "Final Table Bubble Boy." Mortensen was considered to be the last big-name poker professional to win the Main Event at the

, until

Koray Aldemir Koray Aldemir (born 1990) is a German professional poker player of Turkish descent, born in Berlin and now residing in Vienna, Austria. In 2021, he won the World Series of Poker Main Event for $8,000,000. Aldemir first played poker while at a f ...

in 2021. As a result of the

poker boom The poker boom was a period between 2003 and 2006, during which poker, primarily no-limit Texas hold 'em, but also other variations, became considerably more popular around the world. During the boom years, the online poker player pool at least doub ...

, which ignited itself two years after his win, when

Chris Moneymaker Christopher Bryan Moneymaker (born November 21, 1975) is an American poker player who won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP). His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a worl ...

won the Main Event, the fields in that tournament have increased exponentially making it extraordinarily more difficult for individual players to maintain consistent success in it. A few other big-name players have made the final table in the post-boom years since his victory, but none of them have managed as of 2017 to win the Main Event.

World Series of Poker bracelets

World Poker Tour

In 2004, he won the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...

(WPT) Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for $1,000,000. Mortensen won the

Season Five A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

championship event for a $3,970,415 first place prize, his largest tournament cash to date, and his second career WPT title, making him the first player in professional poker history to ever win the World Championship events at both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour. In 2010, Mortensen won the Season Eight WPT Hollywood Poker Open. With this win, he passed fellow professional

Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu (; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. In 2014, independent poker ranking service Global Poker Ind ...

for first place on the all-time WPT money list, and tied

Gus Hansen Gustav Hansen (born 13 February 1974) is a Danish professional poker player from Copenhagen, Denmark who has lived in Monaco since 2003. In his poker career, Hansen has won three World Poker Tour open titles, one WSOP bracelet and the 2007 Auss ...

for most WPT titles with three.

Other poker tournaments

Mortensen has made the prize money in the

World Heads-Up Poker Championship The World Heads-Up Poker Championship (WHUPC) was an annual elimination-format poker tournament of heads-up no limit Texas hold'em matches. The tournament was co-created by Late Night Poker's Nic Szeremeta, PokerInEurope's Jon Shoreman, and gaming ...

, and was a semi-finalist in the second season of the

Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament The Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament was a series of no limit Texas hold 'em poker tournaments. The first season is available on NTSC DVD. It airs on Fox Sports Net in the United States, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and Ftn in the United Ki ...

. Mortensen had a good run at the 2007

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

Main Event in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

finishing 11th, going out to Joshua Prager after making a straight on the turn, but defeated by a flush on the river. In 2006, he and his wife, fellow poker player Cecilia Reyes Mortensen, divorced. As of August 2017, his total live tournament winnings exceed $12,100,000. His 21 cashes as the WSOP account for over $3,200,000 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
, worldseriesofpoker.com

References in Pop Culture

Mortensen is mentioned fictitiously in the hit US television show Gossip Girl, during Season 3 Episode 6 "Enough About Eve". In the episode Mortensen is referred to as Lily Humphrey's former lover with whom she spent a Summer in Monte Carlo. It is also mentioned in the Episode that Serena, Lily's daughter, was taught to play Poker by Carlos using Necco Wafers as chips.

References

External links

GENEALOGY, family origins of Carlos Mortensen
in the Mauricio Alvarado-Dávila's genealogical database for Ecuador.
World Poker Tour – profile

Hendon Mob tournament results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortensen, Carlos 1972 births Living people Ecuadorian people of Danish descent Ecuadorian poker players World Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Main Event winners Poker Hall of Fame inductees