Poker Player Profile – Gus Hansen Poker Player

Gus Hansen, known as the Great Dane, is a poker player who excels in both live poker tournaments and online poker. He has yet to win a WSOP bracelet.

Entry To Poker

Gus Hansen is also known as “The Great Dane” because he hails from Denmark. Apart from engaging in competitive sports as a child, Hansen learned to play poker during a summer camp. His interest in mathematics led him to backgammon. In 1993 Hansen moved to California as an exchange student and played poker at the Ocean View Card Room in Santa Cruz. Later he moved to New York to try and make a living in backgammon and gin rummy clubs. There poker players like Huckleberry Seed and Phil Laak convinced him to play poker. Hansen played his first WSOP event in 1996. He began to play poker professionally from 1997.

Live Poker Tournaments

Hansen has not lived up to his reputation in the WSOP tournaments. He has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. He has however excelled in the WPT live poker tournaments. He won the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas in the inaugural season in 2002. The prize was more than half a million dollars. In 2003 and 2004 also he won a WPT event each year. When the WPT Walk of Fame was launched Hansen was inducted into it. Today he is the only player to have won four WPT titles. Two of his biggest wins have been in other live poker tournaments. Hansen won $1 million in the Poker Superstars Invitational in 2005 and $1.5 million at the 2007 Aussie Millions. Hansen’s total live tournament earnings are about $5.9 million. He has had 6 first place finishes and 21 cashes.

Hansen has done a fair bit of poker television. He has featured in the Professional Poker Tour and the second season of High Stakes Poker. He was the first winner on Poker After Dark. Since 2005 Hansen has been slective in his poker tournaments and has been concentrating on poker cash games. He is a regular at the “Big Game” at the Bellagio with some other poker professionals.

Online Poker

Hansen is a member of Team Full Tilt at the Full Tilt online poker room. As a part of his commitment he plays a number of cash games and also online poker tournaments. However, he is always in the news for the high stakes cash games he plays with the other poker professionals. Very popular are the $500-$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha games that routinely result in million dollar swings.

Other Poker Achievements

Hansen is active in sports, which he believes helps his poker. Early in 2009 he had a prop bet with Theo Jorgensen that covered boxing and other sports. Hansen is also a compulsive sports bettor and loses heavily. In 2009 he authored a book “Every Hand Revealed” based on his win at the 2007 Aussie Millions.

Hansen has started a number of poker related business ventures including PokerChamps.com, which was sold to Betfair, and ThePlayr.com, a poker strategy web site. He has a stake in Full Tilt Poker. Hansen’s latest venture is GusHansenTV.

Hansen lives in Monaco and enjoys the jet-setting life of a bachelor.