Carlos Mortensen Wins Third World Poker Tour Title

By Ryan Lucchesi and Rebecca McAdam

Carlos Mortensen made history on March 24 when he won the World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open $10,000 no-limit hold’em championship event. It was the third time that Mortensen has won a WPT title, and it ties him with Gus Hansen for the most WPT victories ever.

Mortensen won his first title at Festa al Lago in 2004, and he became the only player to win both the World Series of Poker main event title and the WPT Championship during his career when he captured the marquee WPT title in 2007.

The Ecuadorian came into the final table with the chip lead and then proceeded to beat four young online professionals and Chris Bell, who was appearing at his fourth WPT final table. The tournament was small, with a turnout of 143 players, but Mortensen ensured that the first WPT event in the Midwest was a success by providing a compelling story line. He became the most decorated player in WPT history in the process, and also increased his career earnings to more than $9.6 million.

This is how the players were positioned going into the final table:

The start of the final table played out with the three short-stacks falling in the first 37 hands. Jerry Payne exited first in sixth place ($88,791) when his Q-10 ran into the A-K of Mike Mustafa.

Ravi Raghavan moved all in preflop next with pocket fives. Unfortunately for him, Frank Calo was eager to make the call with pocket kings. The board changed nothing, and Raghavan was awarded $105,234 for fifth place.

Two hands later, Bell took his shot at doubling up when he moved all in with A-9 preflop. Mortensen made the call with pocket fours, and found a third four on the board to win the hand. He left the event in fourth place ($124,966).

Each of the survivors had now claimed an elimination at the final table, and their chip counts were as close as possible entering threehanded action. Mortensen led the way with 1,458,000, and Calo was just 1,000 behind him. Mustafa was last in the chip standings, but he was just 55,000 behind Calo. Just over two big blinds separated the final three in a gridlock.

An extended period of threehanded play came to an end when Mortensen raised to 90,000 from the small blind preflop, and Calo made the call from the big blind. The flop was dealt 5 4 2 and Mortensen bet 150,000. Calo thought for a moment and then moved all in. Mortensen made the call, and they flipped over their cards:

Mortensen: 3 3
Calo: 5 4
Turn and River: 8 and 3

Mortensen rivered a set of threes and won the hand to grow his stack to 2,249,000. Calo was eliminated in third place, and he took home $167,717 in prize money.

Mortensen held a slight lead heading into the heads-up final, and he soon increased this lead to a 3-1 chip advantage. Mustafa fought back when he made a check-raise worth 660,000 on an A Q 9 7 board to win a pot worth 880,000 uncontested. Mustafa then moved ahead slightly, but Mortensen soon doubled up to take a commanding lead — he moved all in with 8 7 on a flop of 10 9 6, and Mustafa made the call with 10 9. The turn and river brought the J and the 3, and Mortensen doubled up to almost 4 million.

Mustafa was crippled with just 180,000 after the hand, and although he did manage to double up twice after the big hit, he essentially lost the tournament when Mortensen doubled up.

The final blow came when Mortensen raised to 730,000 preflop and Mustafa made the all-in call.

Their cards were:
Mustafa: 6 6
Mortensen: K 10
Board: J 10 3 J 5

Mortensen won the hand and the tournament with a king-high flush. Mustafa was eliminated in second place and took home $223,623 for his efforts, while Mortensen was awarded the top prize of $393,820, along with his third WPT title.

Final-Table Results:
First Carlos Mortensen $393,820
Second Mike Mustafa $223,623
Third Frank Calo $167,717
Fourth Chris Bell $124,966
Fifth Ravi Raghavan $105,234
Sixth Jerry Payne $88,791

Not long after this, the first ever World Poker Tour Bucharest took place at the Novotel Bucharest City Centre Hotel in Romania, where 161 players turned up for the €3000 + €300 buy-in main event, creating a prize pool of €449,450.

Carlos Mortensen was not going to miss out on this one, and proved to be in top form as he went deep in yet another WPT event. Unfortunately however he could not quite get there and went out on the final table bubble after shoving with A-K and being beaten by pocket jacks. The eventual champion was Guillaume Darcourt, a 37-year-old businessman from France. He won the top prize worth €125,846 along with a $25,000 seat in the WPT World Championship.

The unstoppable Ecuadorian is making all the right moves, tying with Gus Hansen for most WPT take-downs, and nudging Daniel Negreanu off the top spot for number one earner in the history of the WPT. Mortensen is now also up for WPT Player of the Year, and with so much left of 2010, he is definitely one to watch as anything could happen.