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.
Gus Hansen’s Other Activities
Hansen has been on various poker TV shows, such as Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker, and is currently on the Professional Poker Tour. During the second season of High Stakes Poker he won the fifth largest pot in the show’s history when he beat Daniel Negreanu. He was also the first winner on Poker After Dark, where he outlasted many other big name porker pros like Phil Hellmuth. Apart from being a TV celebrity, he also has written a book which tells of the hands he played while going for the win at the main event of the Aussie Millions; the book is called Every Hand Revealed. He was also an entrepreneur, as he was a founding partner and poker pro of the site pokerchamps.com. He made quite a profit when the British company Betfair bought the website for about $15,000,000. His success brought the attention of
Full Tilt Poker
and is now part of their team, being sponsored by and also playing through their website.
Gus Hansen’s Overall Accomplishments
His most notable experience came from when he played in the WPT tournaments. This is where he won 3 titles, got to 7 final tables, and had 9 money finishes. At the WSOP he managed to win a bracelet along with 8 money finishes. At the EPT he has gotten to 1 final table and 2, money finishes. As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings were over $9 million. He will continue to improve, and since poker is a numbers game, he should not be taken lightly.