Carlos Mortensen became the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) all-time money leader at $5.75 million after taking down the Hollywood Poker Open on Wednesday. Mortensen is now just one of two players to own three WPT titles.
Mortensen leapfrogged PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu on the money list and is now tied with Gus Hansen as the only players to have tasted victory three times on the WPT circuit. Mortensen took down the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship during Season 3 and also won the Season 5 WPT Championship. His first place performance at the Hollywood Casino, located outside of Cincinnati, earned him $393,000.
Nineteen hands into final table play, Jerry Payne was ousted from the WPT Hollywood Poker Open in sixth place, earning $88,000 from the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Payne moved all-in with Q-10 over the top of a raise by Mike Mustafa, who held A-K. The board ran out five cards eight or lower and Mustafa claimed the chip lead from Mortensen.
Ravi “govshark2” Raghavan was the next casualty. Raghavan moved all-in pre-flop and Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo re-shoved. The action folded around and Raghavan flipped up pocket fives. However, Calo showed pocket kings and was a 4:1 favorite. Calo added a Broadway straight draw by the turn to send Raghavan packing. The Hollywood Poker Open marked Raghavan’s first in the money finish in a WPT tournament.
Two hands later, Chris Bell hit the skids in fourth place for $125,000. Bell committed his final chips with A-9 and ran into Mortensen’s pocket fours for a race. The 6-5-4 flop with two diamonds gave Mortensen bottom set, but a third diamond in the turn gave Bell a glimmer of hope for a flush. However, a black ten hit the river and Bell was ousted. Wednesday marked Bell’s third WPT final table and his first since the 2006 Borgata Poker Open.
The three survivors were about even in chips and traded blows until Calo was eliminated in third place. Calo pushed all-in on a flop of 5-4-2 with 5-4 for top two pair and Mortensen gambled with pocket threes for an open-ended straight draw. Mortensen ultimately spiked another three on the river to make a set and send Calo out of the Hollywood Poker Open. Mortensen and Mustafa were nearly dead even in chips entering heads-up play.
On the 131st hand of final table play and about 60 hands after Calo’s elimination, Mortensen doubled up after flopping the nuts with 8-7 on a board of 10-9-6. Mustafa held 10-9 for top two pair and a running J-3 gave Mortensen the win, crippling Mustafa to just three big blinds. After doubling up twice, Mustafa was ousted after calling all-in with pocket sixes against Mortensen’s K-10. Mortensen flopped a ten and never looked back, claiming his third WPT title. Here’s how the final leaderboard looked:
1st Place: Carlos Mortensen – $393,820
2nd Place: Mike Mustafa – $223,623
3rd Place: Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo – $167,717
4th Place: Chris Bell – $124,966
5th Place: Ravi “govshark2” Raghavan – $105,234
6th Place: Jerry Payne – $88,791
Following his win in the first ever Hollywood Poker Open, Mortensen told WPT officials about the tournament’s final hand: “Mike doubled up a couple of times to get back to 720,000. If he won that pot, he’d be at 1.4 or 1.5 million. I got one of my favorite hands, king-high. I won all three [WPT] titles with king-high.”
After a trip to Bucharest, the tournament series will return on April 18th for its annual end-of-season WPT Championship. The $25,000 buy-in tournament emanates from the Bellagio in Las Vegas and crowns a winner on April 24th. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.
