Poker Tournament Results

32nd Annual World Series of Poker

Juan Carlos Mortensen

Tournament Report

YOUNG SPANISH PRO IS NEW WSOP CHAMP ON LAST CARD DRAW-OUT A 29-year-old poker player from Madrid, Spain who’s been a pro for only four years is the new world champion of poker. Carlos Mortensen scored a dramatic victory in the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 no-limit hold’em championship event when a nine on the river gave him a king-high straight, beating the pocket aces held by veteran player Dewey Tomko. This is the second year in a row that a draw-out river nine has decided the championship. Last year Chris Ferguson, with A-9, caught the same card to outrun T.J. Cloutier’s A-Q. The more than $3 million in the pot would have given the chip lead to Tomko, who also finished second to Jack Strauss in 1982. Mortensen won his seat in the WSOP event with a victory at the Bay 101 Shooting Star. He also has a win in a limit hold’em event at the L.A. Poker Classic this year. Mortensen’s win was no fluke: he played tremendous poker. In a key hand, he delivered a big hit, financially and emotionally, to Mike Matusow. With six players left, Matusow made it $60,000 to go before the flop. Carlos raised $150,000. Mike came over the top for $350,000 more. Carlos moved all in, Mike folded and then Carlos showed him a Q-8 offsuit. Mike jumped up and walked around in obvious anger. “I knew he was on a bluff,” Carlos said later. I could feel it.” This year’s World Series broke all records for entrants and prize pool money, with all events but two exceeding last year’s numbers. It was also the first year that there were nine players at the final table instead of six, and the first time the event ran for five days instead of four. The fourth day started with five tables, with all players in the money, and it was after 1 a.m. before it got down to the final nine. Players who didn’t make the final cut included a 76-year-old Osage Indian, Larry Wood, finishing 18th, and Charles Glorioso, a Roman Catholic ordained priest from Shreveport, Louisiana, finishing 12th. Henry Nowakowski of Frankfurt, Germany, the 1997 European champion, came to the final table as chip leader with $1,078,000, followed by Mortensen with $873,000. Play was relatively cautious at first, with only one all-in bet called for the first several dozen hands. On hand 58, John Inashima, a California, player whose specialty is short-chip survival, was down to $140,000 when he tried to stay afloat by stealing the blinds with an all-in raise on the button. He had only 10-5 of hearts. Steve Riehle, an electrician playing his first WSOP event, blew his circuits by calling with A-9 of spades and spiking a nine on the river. As action heated up, one-time chip leader Nowakowski lost a lot of them in a $950,000 pot when Matusow bet all in with kings and Henry called with jacks. Soon after, Riehle cashed out eighth. He moved in for $195,000 with J-J. Carlos called with A-K offsuit and made a flush. Carlos now had the chip lead with about $900,000. Nowakowski took another hit when he had A-K and lost a pot of nearly $1 million when Phil Gordon, with 9-7, flopped two pair. The German pro lost his last $800,000 when he moved in with pocket sevens and Phil Hellmuth beat him with pocket jacks. Stan Schrier, who owns a new car dealership in Omaha, picked up a $540,000 pot when he bet all-in into a three-diamond board and showed 10-8 of clubs when he wasn’t called. “That’s gambling,” he said. With blinds at $10,000-$20,000 with $4,000 antes, Carlos had increased his chip lead to $1,920,000, followed by Hellmuth with $1,170,000. Tomko doubled up and put Matusow on the ropes when his two kings beat Mike’s tens. Mike then went all in for $200,000 with pocket eights and Hellmuth put him away with pocket kings. The 1989 champion, making his seventh final table at the WSOP, later got busted by Carlos. On a flop of Q-9-4, Phil, with Q-10, bet $60,000, Carlos, with Q-J, raised $260,000 and Phil moved in for another $600,000, losing after a jack turned. By now Carlos had about $3.8 million, a stack of chips, as guest announcer Wilford Brimley put it, “that a wolf couldn’t jump over.” Dewey chopped him down some by moving in for $683,000 with A-10 of spades. Carlos called with K-Q and lost when the board came 9-7-6-5-3. But then Carlos moved past the $4 million mark when he busted Phil Gordon. Gordon, who sold his softwear business so he could backpack around the world, moved in for $900,000 with A-6 of diamonds and Carlos picked him off with Q-Q. Dewey then eliminated Stan. He bet $170,000 and Stan moved in with Q-10 of spades. Dewey had pocket kings, and he was now heads-up with Carlos, who had slightly better than a 2-1 chip lead. A half-hour break was taken while the photographers snapped away and the $1.5 million in cash was piled in huge stacks on the table. They resumed play at 7:30. It was to last another half-hour. With fewer options, Dewey, a 54-year-old golf-course owner and gambler who learned patience when he was a kindergarten teacher, played cautiously, and there were no big swings. . On the final hand, Carlos made a standard pre-flop raise to $100,000 with K-Q of clubs. A flop of Jd,10c,3c, gave him draws to an open-end straight and a flush. He bet another $100,000. Dewey, with pocket aces, raised $400,000 and Carlos moved in. Dewey called with the rest of his $1.5 million. A three of diamonds turned, and then a nine of diamonds on the river gave Carlos his winning king-high straight, a $1.5 million payday, a gold bracelet and the title of World Poker Champion.