Interview with Carlos Mortensen

Carlos Mortensen will be playing at the final table of the $1,500 No-Limit event later today. I chatted with Carlos to see how he would be approaching this final table.

JG: How are you feeling coming into today’s final table?

CM: I feel great. To beat out 2,700 people and make it to the final table – it’s a great feeling. I like my chances to win. There’s not a lot of strong players [at this final table]. I think for five of the others, this is there first time cashing in the World Series. So I like my chances to win this tournament.

JG: You had a lot of chips at one point in yesterday and then you lost most of them. What happened?

CM: I went to dinner with 660,000 in chips, which was more than a two-to-one advantage over the player in second. When I came back from dinner I started losing chips. I lost half of my stack. After that I had to wait for a hand and it never came. I got down to 80,000 with 10 players left, and then I caught a hand – pocket Aces. It was a three-way pot, so I tripled up. I now have 337,000, which is enough. The average is 450,000, I think.

JG: Given the type of players you’re up against, do you think you’ll play a little faster or a little slower than you normally would? Or will you just see how things develop?

CM: I’ll want to see how things are going at the table. I don’t have too many chips to play with. One raise will be almost my entire stack, so I may have to wait for a hand.

JG: You’re a World Champion. Can you tell me what winning another bracelet would mean to you?

CM: I have two bracelets right now. To win at this point, when the tournaments have 1,000 or 2,000 players would be a great feeling.

JG: Given the size of the fields, do you think that winning tournaments now is tougher than when you won the World Championship in 2001?

CM: In this tournament the good thing is we start with 1,500 in chips, so a lot of players bust quickly. In the Championship, we start with 10,000 in chips, so the good players stay around for a long time. I think if you get lucky in these tournaments and get some chips early and then play well, you can make it through to the final table. It’s hard, but it’s not as hard as people think to make it through 2,700 players.

You’re just playing ten-handed tables, and you can’t worry about the other 2,600 people. Just play hours and hours and make the right decisions.

JG: Do you still get nervous at this point in your career? Did you sleep well last night?

CM: I slept fine. It’s just one more tournament. I expect to play more tournaments and make more final tables.

JG: Good luck.

CM: Thank you.

[Note: Carlos lost three races and was eliminated in 9th place.]