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With poker’s new millennium in full swing, the stars we know today continued to assert themselves at the World Series of Poker. 2001 saw a bevy of familiar names taking titles, then a few more at the final table of the Main Event.
Former world champions Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Berry Johnston and Scotty Nguyen each added to their hardware collections, Nguyen twice. Barry Shulman, David “Dragon” Pham, Paul Darden and a young Allen Cunningham were all winning their first bracelets. Howard Lederer, Steve Zolotow, Erik Seidel and Jay Heimowitz had done this dance before, but it was still just as sweet.
The final table was an epic one. While it played down from nine players, the final six included Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Mike Matusow, Dewey Tomko and the little known Carlos Mortensen. Needless to say, the talk flew like pigs on a frozen day in hell.
Matusow, Hellmuth and Gordon went out 6th,5th and 4th respectively, none of them quietly. When Stan Schrier went out third, only Mortensen and Tomko were left. Tomko had done this before, with a second place finish nineteen years earlier at the hands of Treetop Strauss. With first paying $1,500,000 and second $1,098,925, this was more about the title for Tomko than the money.
Mortensen held a 2:1 chip lead when he raised the hand that would ultimately win him the championship to T100,000 with Kc-Qc. Tomko found himself sitting on As-Ah, but instead of raising decided to try to trap his younger opponent. What he didn’t realize was that the Jd-10c-3c would actually make him a slight underdog. Mortensen had flopped four clubs and an open-ended straight draw.
Again, Carlos bet out T100,000, but this time Dewey was waiting, raising to T400,000. Mortensen paused, then moved all-in watching as Tomko quickly called for his last T1.5 million. The race was on, and 3d on the turn bode well for Tomko, but as had happened nineteen years earlier, his opponent hit their straight draw on the river. 9d gave Carlos the hand and the championship.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
