Let’s start by making something clear: this player’s real name is Juan Carlos Mortensen. He explained recently that when he first arrived at the United States he spoke no English, and he must have spoken too quickly when he introduced himself, as he soon found everybody calling him just “Carlos”. Now you know how to greet him if you ever come across him in a tourney!
Suave, handsome and very successful, Mortensen was born in Ecuador of a Spanish mother and Danish father. The Mortensen family moved to Madrid, Spain, where Juan Carlos studied Physics and Mathematics and met Cecilia Reyes, whom he married and eventually divorced.
Mortensen remembers the day he started playing poker and the $100 he lost on that fateful April night changed the course of his life forever: as he came back determined to recover his money, he started a winning streak that is still not over. After a few months nobody would play him, so he decided to try America, where he was so successful that he and Cecilia decided to move and pursue poker careers. Mortensen won the Main Event at the 2001 WSOP – he is the only Hispanic player to win it so far – and has not looked back.
Famous for building complex structures with his massive stacks of chips, Mortensen has lifelong winnings of over $8,560,000; two WSOP bracelets and the unique distinction of having won the WSOP Main Event and a WPT Main Event (an honor he shares with Doyle Brunson.) Young Mortensen is a Full Tilt Pro that is poised to honor his nickname of “El Matador” and become a legend of poker in his own right.