Gus Hansen
Gustav Hansen, also known simply as "Gus", was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 13, 1974. He had grown up playing many different kinds of sports, and he especially enjoyed playing tennis. During his youth he was always captivated by numbers; that is when he was first introduced to backgammon. He practiced until he got confident enough that he could win and set out to tour the New York backgammon and gin rummy clubs. It was at this time that he came into contact with various styles of poker, including Stud games. He tried his luck at the 1996 World Series of Poker tournament, but he was knocked out on the first day. He had no experience playing No-Limit Hold'em, so it came as no surprise. He didn't let this defeat get to him; instead it motivated him to start practicing all the other kinds of poker games until he got better at it.
Gus Hansen History
He made his first appearance in the 1996 WSOP No-Limit Hold'em event, but that did not go as well as he thought. Due to his lack of playing time and poker experience, he decided to continue practicing and playing poker; in the end he played more poker than backgammon. He showed back up on the radar in 2002, when he participated in the World Poker Tour inaugural No Limit Hold'em event; which he won. Later on that year he won the No Limit Hold'em championship at the WPT 's L.A. Poker Classic. This is when he name, and playing style, started gaining popularity. He won yet another WPT tournament in 2004. During this year he also started joining and playing various cash games and smaller tournaments around the US. He joined and has played in various World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour tournaments as well.In 2004, at the WSOP main event, he managed to finish in the money. That same year in the EPT event he got to the final table. Hansen was proud of being from Danish descent, and even played on the Danish team in 2006 at the PartyPoker.com PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup tournament; he played with fellow Danish players, Theo Jørgensen and Kim Christofte. He went on to play in the 2007 Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia where he beat all 747 opponents to win $1,500,000 Australian dollars. He finally managed to win his first bracelet at the 2010 WSOPE playing in the No Limit Hold'em High Roller Heads-Up event, winning a total of £288,409 ($451,880). That same year he beat Tony Bloom at the Poker Million IX tournament, winning $1,000,000.