Carlos Mortensen Makes History With World Poker Tour World Championship Win

Poker pro Carlos Mortensen won the World Poker Tour Championship and the $3.97 million that went with it. (AP Images)

Carlos "El Matador" Mortensen put his name in the poker history books by winning the Season V WPT World Championship this past Friday at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and becoming first person to win both the World Series of Poker Main Event (in 2001) and the WPT's championship event.

Also for the history books is Mortensen's $3.97 million cash prize, the largest in the tour's history. The pay is also the fourth-largest first place cash in poker history with only the previous three WSOP Main Event champions, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Jamie Gold, having won more for their titles.

After battling through the 639-player field and coming back from just a million in chips when down to four players, the 35-year-old poker pro who moved from Spain to Las Vegas in the 1990s found himself going into heads-up play against past WSOP bracelet winner Kirk Morrison with a slight chip disadvantage. It was an epic heads-up battle between the two, but in the end Mortensen showed why he is considered one of the best heads-up players in the world by walking away with the title.

The win puts his career tournament winnings at almost $8.5 million that translates to seventh on the All-Time Money List and second on the WPT All-Time list, just barely behind Canadian Daniel Negreanu.

Here are the final places and payouts:

1. Carlos Mortensen $3,970,415

2. Kirk Morrison $2,011,135

3. Paul Lee $1,082,920

4.Guy Laliberte $696,220

5. Tim Phan $464,110

6. Mike Wattel $309,405  

In October of this year, the World Poker Tour will head to Mortensen’s home country of Spain for the first time.  The event is being held at Casino Barcelona as part of the sixth season of the show and Bodog is offering players a unique opportunity to be part of this momentous occasion.

The "Player’s Choice" qualifiers will give winner’s the opportunity to choose to use their prize packages to participate in a WPT or WSOP tournament, as well as other events that become available. Satellites are going on daily in the Bodog online poker room for as little as a dollar, so head over to Bodog.com and get in on the action.