Juan Carlos Mortensen (born April 13, 1972, in Ambato, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian professional poker player of Danish descent and the first South American Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker. Mortensen is known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style. Poker career World Series of Poker Mortensen moved from Spain to the United States in the late 1990s to play poker. He won $1,500,000 at the 2001 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He defeated a then-record field of 613 players, including a very tough final table that included professional players Mike Matusow (6th), 1989 WSOP Main Event champion Phil Hellmuth (5th), Phil Gordon (4th), and Dewey Tomko (2nd). In the final hand, Mortensen's out-drew and defeated Tomko's , when Mortensen's hand improved to make a straight. Mortensen won his second career bracelet at the 2003 World Series of Poker in the $5,000 Limit Hold'em event, earning $251,680. He defeated professional player Mark Gregorich heads-up to win the title. At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Carlos made three final tables. He finished in ninth place in Event #2 (No Limit Hold'em) winning $71,617. He would once again finish in ninth place in Event #6 (NL Hold 'em) earning him another $73,344. He came up just short of winning his third bracelet in Event #33 (Razz), where he finished runner-up to fellow professional James Richburg earning him $94,908. Mortensen finished in 10th place in the 2013 WSOP Main Event, being the "Final Table Bubble Boy." Mortensen was considered to be the last big-name poker professional to win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker, until Koray Aldemir in 2021. As a result of the poker boom, which ignited itself two years after his win, when Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event, the fields in that tournament have increased exponentially making it extraordinarily more difficult for individual players to maintain consistent success in it. A few other big-name players have made the final table in the post-boom years since his victory, but none of them have managed as of 2017 to win the Main Event. World Series of Poker bracelets World Poker Tour In 2004, he won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for $1,000,000. Mortensen won the Season Five World Poker Tour championship event for a $3,970,415 first place prize, his largest tournament cash to date,