About Cecilia Reyes-Mortensen

Name	Cecilia Reyes-Mortensen
Current Residence	Las Vegas Nev.
Birth Place	Amazonas, EC

It took a petite Spanish woman to finally knock out Lennox Lewis - knock him out of the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event that is. Don't be fooled by the pretty face and blonde curls. Cecilia Reyes-Mortensen hits hard when she sits down for some Texas Hold'em.

Reyes-Mortensen was born in Amazonas, Ecuador. She lived in Ecuador until the age of 18 when she moved to Madrid, Spain. There she studied Dramatic Arts and worked several jobs to pay her way through school.

In Spain she also met fellow Ecuador native Carlos Mortensen who she eventually married, and it was he who introduced her to poker just a couple months before she finished up her degree.

While Carlos embarked on a full-time poker career, Cecilia also worked on her game and became a part-time player while working as well. Not only did she learn from her own game, but she learned a lot about poker from the many hours she spent watching and supporting Carlos while he played.

In 1998, the couple moved to the United States where Carlos could more fully follow his poker career ambitions. It paid off for him with a World Series of Poker Main Event win just a few years later in 2001.

It wasn't long after that that Cecilia began to follow her husband into full-time professional play.

Her first recorded cash in a tournament came in spring 2002. Since then she's accumulated more than $230,000 in tournament cashes. That includes making the final table of a WSOP event in 2004 as well as in 2005 when she came in fourth in the Ladies Only Event.

Her quick rise to the top of tournaments and in the female ranks caught the attention of the World Poker Tour. She was invited to play in the WPT Ladies Night where she went up against Jennifer Tilly, Aidiliy Elviro, Marsha Waggoner, Terresa Gallagher, and returning champion Isabelle Mercier.

She went into the Ladies Night using her same aggressive style. She and Jennifer Tilly bluffed and bullied the other four women at the table as much as they could. The tactic eventually won Tilly the title, while Mortensen took fourth place and gained respect as a pro player instead of a junior pro player.

In 2006, Reyes-Mortensen's profile was much lower than in the previous couple of years. She cashed in a couple of events including the WSOP Main Event, but other than that she was pretty quiet on the tournament trail.

Her low profile could party be the result of her divorce from Carlos Mortensen in 2006. Hopefully her separation from him won't be the poker world's loss as her aggressive style and interesting play have poised her to become one of the best female stars in poker.

Trivia

• Known for her aggressive style
• Placed fourth in the 2005 WSOP Ladies Event
• Fourth in the 2005 WPT Ladies Night Out