Poker championship leaves Spaniard flush with cash

David Strow

Monday, May 21, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

For the second time in three years, poker's ultimate championship rests in the hands of a European.

Seven hours into a marathon final session, Spaniard Carlos Mortensen snared a king-high straight on his final card Friday night to emerge victorious in the championship game of the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. In addition to the gold bracelet of the champion, the 29-year-old poker pro from Madrid received a $1.5 million payday.

"Viva Espana!" Mortensen cried shortly after winning the final hand, holding stacks of $100 bills high above his head. Sporting a tattered fisherman's cap and blue T-shirt, the youthful-looking Mortensen appeared barely old enough to gamble legally, much less be crowned the world's best poker player.

But Mortensen has been playing poker professionally for the past four years, in casinos from the Bellagio to Paris -- the real Paris, not the casino on the Strip. He'd won his $10,000 entry fee for the World Series by winning a no-limit hold 'em tournament in San Jose, Calif., a few months ago.

"I'm not really a tournament player," Mortensen said afterwards. "But this year, I've played in three (tournaments), and I've won three. When I get to the final table, I always win."

"I had confidence in him all the time," said Mortensen's wife, Cecilia Reyes. "I told him, 'If you can (survive) the first day, you'll win the tournament.' "

Noel Furlong of Ireland won the World Series crown in 1999.

Dewey Tomko, a 54-year-old golf course owner and poker tournament veteran from Haines City, Fla., received $1.1 million for his second-place finish -- making him the first runner up in World Series history to receive a prize exceeding $1 million.

A record 613 players participated in the five-day championship event, considered by most to be the biggest prize on the poker circuit. More than $6 million in prize money was awarded to participants in the tournament.

The championship game in the 26-tournament, month-long World Series is "Texas Hold 'em," in which each player is dealt two face down cards. Subsequent rounds of betting follow after five face-up cards are dealt in the middle; first a three-card "flop," then a fourth card and a fifth card individually. Players make their poker hands from these "community" cards, plus the cards in their hands.

The championship tournament is "no-limit," meaning that players can bet and raise up to the total amount of chips in front of them, in what's called an "all-in" bet. That means a single bad hand can completely wipe a player out, something that doesn't happen in other forms of poker.

Consider that players must walk this gambling minefield for five days to win the tournament, and it becomes clear why the World Series title is so prized -- and why it's so difficult to win.

When the final table of nine began play at 12:40 p.m., it appeared that another European -- Henry Nowakowski of Frankfurt, Germany -- was poised to capture the crown. Nowakowski had won Europe's poker championship in 1997, and started with $1.08 million in chips, more than any other player. Mortensen was No. 2 with $873,000.

Being the chip leader is a huge advantage in no-limit poker. It means you can force another player to bet his entire bankroll on a single hand, without risking all of your own bankroll. As a result, it's easier to bluff players out of pots.

But the field of opponents wouldn't make it easy. Sharing the table with Nowakowski was Phil Hellmuth of Palo Alto, Calif., 1989 World Series champ; Tomko, who had made the final table in the World Series some 20 years ago; and Mike Matusow of Henderson, a former Sam's Town dealer who captured the U.S. championship for no-limit hold 'em last year.

Still, Nowakowski seemed quite relaxed, joking with the other players and the dealer. The veteran Hellmuth also appeared quite at ease, often stepping away from the table to chat with friends in the audience, even lying down on the floor during a break to catch a quick nap.

Other players were deadly serious. Phil Gordon of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., often cradled his head in his arms between hands, almost as if engaged in silent prayer. Tomko simply stared straight ahead with a face of stone, constantly shuffling his chips with his right hand.

Nowakowski did his best to use his chip advantage to start knocking out players -- but on this day, the cards refused to fall his way.

Nowakowski first called an "all-in" bet by Matusow. Nowakowski held two jacks, one of the strongest starting hands in hold 'em. But Matusow held a pair of kings, meaning that Nowakowski could win only if a third jack appeared among the community cards. Rising to his feet, Matusow openly prayed that it wouldn't.

"Please, God!" Matusow cried.

Someone was listening to the 33-year-old Matusow, because another jack never appeared. Matusow was back in the game with a much larger stack of chips, and Nowakowski's once-sizable lead had taken a severe hit.

The hand appeared to rattle Nowakowski, who stopped cracking jokes and began betting far more aggressively than he had been.

About an hour later, Nowakowski faced off against Gordon, who had gone all-in after a nine, five and seven had been dealt in the center. Nowakowski called and showed an ace and a king -- another extremely powerful hand -- but Gordon held a nine and a seven, giving him two pair. Nowakowski received no help from the final two cards, and Gordon took the pot.

On the very next hand, Nowakowski went all-in himself, and was called by Hellmuth. Nowakowski showed a pair of sevens, but Hellmuth held two jacks. Another seven never appeared, and Nowakowski had to settle for a seventh-place finish.

For awhile, some in the room thought Matusow might keep the poker crown in the Las Vegas Valley. Matusow was playing aggressively and winning -- and letting the crowd know it.

On one hand, Matusow beat out Gordon for an $860,000 pot with a full house. He turned to friends in the crowd and declared, "I'm going to win this tournament!"

But Mortensen, who had quietly been building his stacks with smaller wins, had other things in mind.

In one of the most dramatic showdowns of the tournament, Matusow and Mortensen began facing off before even a single community card was dealt. Matusow bet $60,000, then Mortensen raised $150,000. Not to be outdone, Matusow raised another $350,000 -- but Mortensen went all-in.

Matusow faced a tough decision. He held an ace and a queen, considered a powerful starting hand. But Mortensen's betting suggested that he held even stronger cards. Several minutes ticked by, and finally, Matusow reluctantly threw his cards away.

A grinning Mortensen flipped over a queen and an eight, a weak opening hand. As the crowd roared its admiration of the bluff and Mortensen held his hands up in triumph, Matusow shook his head in disgust.

"I knew he thinks I'm bluffing, so he counter-bluffed," Mortensen said. "I knew he didn't get the cards when I went all-in."

With his bankroll now badly reduced -- and the thought of the brazen bluff still in his head -- Matusow exited the tournament just 20 minutes later, losing to a pair of kings held by Hellmuth.

Matusow had tears in his eyes when he left. Afterwards, he admitted he couldn't stop thinking about Mortensen's bluff.

"You can be the best player in the world and never get here (to the final table)," Matusow said. "I wanted this so bad. It's not about the money. Everything I've made in my whole life is from poker."

By this point, Mortensen had accumulated a stack of chips totaling nearly $3 million -- a mountain of $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 chips rising more than a foot from the table. Now holding a big advantage over the other players, Mortensen began moving in for the kill. In a 30-minute period, Mortensen knocked out Hellmuth and Gordon. Both Hellmuth and Gordon held strong cards when they went all-in -- but each time, Mortensen's were just a bit stronger.

But while the attention was being focused on Mortensen, Tomko was quietly building a chip stack of his own. Tomko knocked out Stan Schrier of Omaha, Neb., shortly before 7 p.m., setting up a showdown with Mortensen.

Mortensen was the favorite, with a 2-1 advantage in chips. But Tomko had experience on his side.

"Of course he (Tomko) can win," Ferguson said shortly before the heads-up match started. "He's only down 2-1, and this guy is playing beautiful today."

As Binion's security guards began stacking $1.5 million in $100 bills between the players, Ferguson said the money never enters the players' minds at this point.

"You can't think about the money," Ferguson said. "It's just your opponent, just the chips, just the cards. It happens automatically."

Mortensen methodically tried to wear Tomko down, putting down an opening bet of $100,000 with every hand. By doing so, Tomko could never tell if Mortensen held powerful cards or was simply bluffing by his bets.

But Tomko wasn't backing down easily. Several times, Tomko would meet those bets with huge raises -- several as high as $600,000 -- and Mortensen would quickly fold.

After 20 minutes of back-and-forth, however, Mortensen was ready to try to take Tomko out.

A jack, ten and three were dealt in the center, and Mortensen bet $100,000. Tomko raised $400,000, but Mortensen responded with an all-in bet. Tomko called, and the entire room rushed to its feet to see if Tomko would survive the showdown.

Tomko couldn't knock out Mortensen with the hand. But if he could win, he would pull nearly even with Mortensen in chips -- a situation that probably would favor the experienced Tomko.

Tomko showed a pair of aces, the strongest starting hand in hold 'em. At this point, it gave Tomko the lead, for Mortensen did not have a pair.

But Mortensen held a strong hand himself -- a queen and a king, both clubs. Since the jack and ten in the center were also clubs, Mortensen could beat Tomko if one of the next two cards was a club. In addition, Mortensen now had four cards to a straight -- ten, jack, queen and king -- so a nine or an ace would also win him the hand.

The fourth card was a three of diamonds, giving Tomko two pair. But the final card was a nine of diamonds, giving Mortensen a straight and giving him the crown. Mortensen pounded his fist on the table and shot to his feet, his fists thrust into the air in triumph.

It was an almost uncanny repeat of the 2000 game, when Ferguson won the title when a nine fell on the final card.

So what does a youthful poker champion do with a $1.5 million payday? That appeared to be the last thing on Mortensen's mind as family, friends and well-wishers surged around poker's newest king.

"I don't know what I'll do now," Mortensen said.

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