Carlos Mortensen
Juan Carlos Mortensen was born on April 13, 1972 in Ambato, Ecuador. When his parents moved to Spain when he was 15, he started to play poker. He was into games, such as chess and pool which he’d play at clubs with his friends. One day one of his friends came back from a trip to America and told Mortensen he should give up other games and play poker. The club he was a bartender at began to play a cash game on some nights. The first game he played Carlos lost $100. He couldn’t sleep, all he could think about is what he did wrong. The next time they played he won, and the next time, and the next time, and the next time
The money he was winning helped sway Mortensen to pursue a professional poker playing career, starting with tournaments in Europe. At the time poker was illegal in Spain, so games were not only hard to come by he had to risk getting arrested. But he had unbelieveable success nonetheless.
“After a few months, there was no game because I was winning so often. Since there were no more players, I decided to come to America.
[December 2004 Issue, Card Player Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 27]
He moved to Atlantic City with his then wife and poker player Cecilia Reyes-Mortensen; they are now seperated. Initially, Mortensen had trouble with English, but he believed that helped his poker game.
“Because I didn't understand English, I really had to pay attention to people. If you are a good reader, you can almost feel what people are doing; you can look in their eyes and see it on their faces.”
[December 2004 Issue, Card Player Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 27]
Initially, he came to America with a bankroll of $2800, and for those who don’t know, you shouldn’t be a professional poker player if your bankroll is that small. Soon he had lost half of it, and still had a hotel bill to pay and food to eat. However, Mortensen didn’t lose his cool, by the end of three months he had a bankroll of $10,000. After the he had to move back to Spain for immigration reasons.
Back in Spain Mortensen became so well respected the players there paid for him in his wife to go to Las Vegas so he could play in the World Series of Poker in 1999. Although he didn’t win it, he ended up making over $20,000 in cash games during the trip.
The high point of Mortensen’s career came in 2001, when he won the World Series of Poker, defeating an honorable opponent Dewey Tomko, a fellow pro, to win 1.5 million dollars. Mortensen also won the L.A. poker classic that year for about $115,000, and a tournament in the bay area for almost $50,000; it won him his seat to the WSOP that he won.
Mortensen is known for his aggressive style. In the 2001 WSOP, he reraised before the flop with Queen-Eight suited to Mike Matusow, who raised back, a move that Mortensen instantly said all in to. Matusow instantly folded and Mortensen showed his bluff. Mortensen now has almost 4.5 million in career live tournament winnings.
Common Misspellings: Carlos Mortenson, Carlos Mortonson, Carl Mortensen
Learn more about Carlos Mortensen at Full Tilt Poker.
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