Carlos Mortensen moved to the United States from Spain in the late 1990s to pursue a career as a professional poker player. By 1999, he had made his way to the the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas for the first time, but it wasn't until a year later that he recorded his first cash, earning $22,575 for a seventh-place finish in a $3,000 + $80 No-Limit Hold'em event, which was eventually won by Swedish legend Chris Bjorin.
A year later, using the ultra-aggressive style that would become his trademark, the man the poker world would come to call "El Matador" took down the WSOP Main Event, becoming poker's World Champion and forever etching his name into the annals of poker history.