Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.
Results from the fifth annual World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio:
1. Carlos Mortensen, Las Vegas, $3.97 million
2. Kirk Morrison, Wichita, Kan., $2 million
3. Paul Lee, Los Angeles, $1.08 million
4. Guy Laliberte, Montreal, $696,000
5. Thien Phan, Arcadia, Calif., $464,000
6. Mike Wattel, Phoenix, $309,000
They are two of the most competitive, most demanding and most lucrative poker tournaments in the game.
The main event of the World Series of Poker, which commands a $10,000 buy in and has drawn oversized fields in the past several years, has determined poker's consensus "world champion" since its inception 37 years ago.
The World Poker Tour Championship, with its $25,000 buy in and fields laden with top professional players, has emerged as another highly anticipated event in its short five-year history.
This past weekend at the Bellagio, tournament circuit pro Carlos Mortensen achieved a unique feat that might well remain that way for some time, becoming the first player to win both a World Series main event and a World Poker Tour Championship title.
Mortensen, who moved from Spain to Las Vegas in the 1990s to focus on his poker career, finished atop a field of 639 entrants - including a TV final table of six Friday night - to claim the fifth annual World Poker Tour Championship and its $3.97 million top prize.
Mortensen, 35, added the trophy to his 2001 World Series of Poker main event championship, where he collected $1.5 million at Binion's Horseshoe for beating 612 other entrants.
"Anything less than first place would have been disappointing," Mortensen said after outlasting runner-up Kirk Morrison ($2 million) in an extended heads-up match. "The world championship events only come around one time a year, and right now I'm the only one (to have won both). It's history."
World Poker Tour founder Steve Lipscomb, impressed by Mortensen's commanding table presence, said he suspected Mortensen would make a run as the field was being whittled to its final table.
"I was watching Carlos play when there were still two tables left, and I said to myself, 'There's an iconic guy. That guy is a player,' " Lipscomb said.
Because the number of players competing in the World Series of Poker main event has increased so dramatically - 8,773 last year, 5,619 in 2005 - we might not see another "double winner" for years, if ever, Lipscomb said.
"To get all the way through such a tough field, who knows when we'll see this again?" Lipscomb said. "What an historic achievement."
Mortensen, who won the final hand of the no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament just before midnight when he made a pair of jacks to beat Morrison's ace high, said he wouldn't be surprised if someone replicated his feat one day.
"I think somebody can do it again in the future.I wasn't thinking about that at all," he said. "I play for the moment, always. Each situation, each hand of poker, can be very important."
Mortensen also became the first player to surpass $5 million in Bellagio-based tournament winnings in the championship event, which is scheduled to air Aug. 8 (The Travel Channel, Cox cable channel 66) as the World Poker Tour's 100th episode. Only the three most recent World Series main events have paid more than the championship event's $3.97 million.
Mortensen used his signature aggressive, sometimes unorthodox, style of play to reach the final table - which also happened to include Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte (fourth place, $696,000).
When it was four-handed, Mortensen found himself down to about $1 million in tournament chips when there were more than $30 million in chips on the table before rallying.
During the tense heads-up part of the match, which lasted nearly three hours and about 90 hands - a marathon by poker standards - each man had the other on the ropes at least once.
"When it comes down to the end, you're looking at two guys who are basically battling it out over $2 million," the difference between first and second place, said Doug Dalton, director of poker operations for the Bellagio. "They're going to be focused on every move they're making. You're not going to see them throw it in and hope for the best.
"Especially in no-limit Texas hold 'em, every hand can potentially mean a difference of $2 million."
That didn't stop tournament director Jack McClelland from bringing some welcome levity to the proceedings.
"I know what Carlos really wants," McClelland said. "It's that official World Poker Tour poker-chip set."
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