Mortensen vs Tomko
World Series of Poker, Main Event, 2001. The final hand.
Heads-up for the 2001 world title
The hand
Dewey Tomko and Carlos Mortensen. Blinds 20K / 40K.
Before the flop
- Blinds 20K and 40K. Tomko has the button.
- Tomko calls.
- Mortensen raises to 100K.
- Tomko calls.
The flop
Mortensen bets 100K. Why
Mortensen. A draw this big plays well as the aggressor: a bet can win the pot now, and if Tomko raises there is room to move all in.
- Tomko raises to 500K.
- Mortensen moves all in. The famous decision
Tomko calls all in. Why
Tomko. Aces are ahead of every draw and every one-pair hand here. Even against the biggest draws they are the favourite, so folding is never right.
Mortensen had the big draw, and the river nine completed his straight.
The turn
The river
The flop
The famous decision
Mortensen. Against most hands this draw is close to even, and against an overpair it is not far behind. All in wins the title now if Tomko folds, and has both cards to come if he calls, where a call would leave him to bet the turn.
The result
Mortensen wins at the showdown with Straight, King high.
- TomkoA♠A♥
- MortensenK♣Q♣Wins
Why it is famous
On the final hand of the 2001 Main Event Carlos Mortensen moved all in with king-queen of clubs, a flush draw and a straight draw, over Dewey Tomko’s raise with aces. Tomko called at once. The turn missed, and the nine on the river made Mortensen’s straight and won him the $1.5 million first prize.
What to take from it
A big draw is worth an all in: it can win the pot at once, and when called it still has many cards to win with.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The preflop is told two ways: Tomko limps and calls Mortensen’s raise to 100,000 (CardPlayer, 2001), or Tomko raises to 100,000 and Mortensen calls (CardPlayer, 2009). This hand follows the 2001 account. Both agree on the flop. The stacks are about 4.1 million for Mortensen and about 2 million for Tomko (CardPlayer, 2001), of 6.13 million in play. Whether there was an ante is not documented, so the pot is not shown. The size of Mortensen’s all in is not given.
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