Kirk Morrison - 19.45 million
Carlos Mortensen - 12.8 million
WPT $25,000 Championship - Bellagio
WPT Championship Main Event
Day: 6
Event Info
WPT $25,000 Championship - Bellagio
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
$25,000
Prize Pool
$15,495,750
Entries
639
Level
33
Blinds
800,000 / 1,600,000
Ante
300,000
Players Left 1 / 639
Filter
(1)
Kirk Morrison - 19.45 million
Carlos Mortensen - 12.8 million
"Carlos is one of the top 3 heads-up players in the world. Behind myself of course," mentioned Gavin Smith. "He's got the edge. There's nobody in the world that I'd rather play less than Carlos Mortensen heads-up."
"I've played with both players and they are great. This final will be fantastic," mentioned Daniel Negreanu.
This is a significant moment in poker and it's extra special that Mortensen could mount one of the greatest comebacks ever at a WPT final table at the taping of the 100th episode.
In television, the 100th episode is the key milestone in a show's history. It has very important implications for syndication rights, as a show can be broadcast five days a week and not repeat an episode for 20 straight weeks. And syndication deals are generally worth millions and millions of dollars for a show's producers.
There was also a nice video presentation of the WPT's 100 greatest moments, which was essentially clips of the 100 champions as they won their respective tournaments. It was nice to watch, particularly for those of us who were present for many of those moments.
The World Poker Tour is very important to the sport of poker, and here's hoping they have at least another 100 episodes in their future.
Reminder: In heads-up play, the button has the small blind, and acts first before the flop.
2004: Martin de Knijff - $2,728,356
2005: Tuan Le - $2,856,150
2006: Joseph Bartholdi - $3,760,165
2007: ??? - $3,970,415
Hand #89 - Kirk Morrison has the button, he limps for 400,000, and Mortensen checks his option. The flop comes 7-7-5, Mortensen checks, Morrison bets 400,000, and Mortensen calls. The turn card is a Q, Mortensen bets 700,000, and Morrison folds. Mortensen takes the pot.
Hand #91 - Kirk Morrison has the button, he limps for 400,000, and Mortensen checks his option. The flop comes
with two spades, Mortensen checks, Morrison bets 400,000, and Mortensen folds. Morrison takes the pot.
, Morrison checks, Mortensen bets 400,000, and Morrison folds. Mortensen takes the pot.
Another difficult aspect of heads-up to overcome is the fact that you are forced to play every single hand and focus during every moment of play. During full tables, it's possible to take a hand or two off and space out after mucking a hand.
The player who displays the best mental toughness usually prevails heads-up.
, and both players check. The turn card pairs the board with the 
, Mortensen bets 1.6 million, and Morrison calls. The river card puts trips on the board with the 
, Mortensen bets 4 million, and Morrison studies Mortensen for several long, quiet minutes. If Morrison calls, this pot will be worth 13.3 million, and could swing the entire tournament.
Morrison finally calls, showing A-J for trip tens with an ace kicker. Mortensen shows K-2 for trip tens with a king kicker. Morrison makes an extremely difficult call to win a huge pot and take a big lead in the final stage of this tournament.
