Gus Hansen

Gus Hansen Profile
	Nickname: The Great Dane Full Tilt Username: Gus Hansen Web: www.fulltiltpoker.com Birthdate: February 13th 1974 Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Tournaments Won: 6 WSOP Bracelets: 0 Total Winnings: $5,795,817

Some people say Gus Hansen is a lucky player but it’s also said that you can make your own luck. In the 2007 Aussie Millions tournament, Gus was short-stacked going into the heads up against newcomer Jimmy Fricke. A few hands later and it was Fricke down on the chip count. Holding a 7♣ 9♣, Fricke called Hansen’s bet and Hansen swallowed hard as the flop was made. The cards came out 6♣ 8♦ Q♦ and Gus, with almost three times as many chips, made a bet. Fricke, looking at an opened ended straight draw, decided to go ‘all in.’ Immediately, Hansen called and turned over his cards, A♣ A♥. ‘Sick,’ Fricke is heard to say but Hansen, seeing that Fricke’s hand is far from dead, strokes his closely cropped hair; a sign of self-reassurance. The turn didn’t ease Hansen’s worries as a 2♣ put Fricke on a flush draw as well. ‘That’s a sweat,’ Fricke deadpanned while Hansen tried to ease his tension with a neck stretching exercise. The river was a 9♠ and Gus’s pocket aces had held up, earning him $1.1 million. He looked relieved and a little embarrassed as he shook Fricke’s hand. ‘Well played,’ Hansen said. ‘I had good hands,’ he added humbly.

As well as being considered lucky, another accusation levelled at Gus is that he is a reckless player and there are times when he plays hands that seem to fly in the face of rationality. In the Poker Superstars 3 final qualifying round, he went ‘all in’ or made large bets for the first thirteen hands, often without looking at his cards. He won the first nine hands, shared the chips in the tenth before losing the thirteenth, having built up a massive chip lead. But there was a method behind this madness as Gus had to take first place to qualify while his opponents, Chris Moneymaker, Phil Ivey and Freddy Deeb had to take second, third and fourth places respectively. The players at the table were cagey about risking everything allowing Hansen to take many pots that would have otherwise been contested. Gus did get lucky when he knocked out a disgruntled Phil Hellmuth but his early chip lead was enough to see him take first place and qualify, his audacious tactics paying off.

Hailing from Copenhagen in Denmark, Gus was a sporty child who enjoyed playing football and tennis. He also, like many poker professionals, had a passion for maths, which he used to calculate probabilities when playing backgammon. At 19, having learnt English from his Pink Floyd albums, Gus went to study at the University of California in Santa Cruz as an exchange student. Despite being underage, it was during this two-year period that he was introduced to Texas Hold’em in the local casinos. Two years later, Hansen had to return to Denmark as part of his homeland’s compulsory military service program where he trained in first aid and emergency rescue. In 1996, he returned to the US, to the East coast this time, where he toured the New York backgammon clubs. That year, Hansen made one brief foray to Las Vegas for a no-limit World Series of Poker tournament but he was knocked out on the first day. Back in New York, Gus met future pros Huck Seed and Phil Laak and began to concentrate his efforts on poker, trying to develop a playing style. For the next few years, he experimented with a mixture of approaches from tight to aggressive and he discovered that it was a combination of playing systems that suited him best, in addition to confusing his opponents.

In 2002, with his inimitable method well practised if not quite perfected, Hansen was ready for the big tournament stage once more. He took first place in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, part of the newly inaugurated World Poker Tour. The following year he proved that the WPT was his stage by winning the L.A. Poker Classic and another half a million dollars. Three in a row beckoned at the second Five Diamond Classic but this time he had to settle for third place. Just over a month later he took top prize in the WPT Caribbean Adventure and then, having turned 30, he won the WPT invitational Bad Boys tournament. The three wins at WPT open event remain a record and saw Gus Hansen inducted into the WPT Walk of Fame along with Doyle Brunson and James Garner. During this time, Hansen also put some of his acumen and money into helping set up the online site Pokerchamps.com which was sold for around $15million in 2005. He joined Team Full Tilt at Fulltiltpoker.com afterwards.

Since then, Gus has not played in many tournaments but has fared well when he has, winning the first televised Poker Superstars Invitational, the European Poker Masters in London and in 2007, the Aussie Millions. In April 2008, he took his largest tournament payout of $1.7million for a second place finish, once more in a WPT World Championship event. Despite all this money flowing into Hansen’s bank account, rumours have abounded that he as not as solvent as may be expected. This may be because of Gus’s penchant for playing in cash games and he is a regular at the Big Game at the Bellagio which often involves $1million pots.

Whatever the truth behind Hansen’s finances, he is still enjoying the lifestyle of the rich and famous, travelling the globe from his base in Monte Carlo. Gus is fond of sport and plays golf and football believing his fitness is important to his poker, giving him stamina for the increasing field sizes of major tournaments. He shares this ideology with Howard Lederer and the pair often train together at the gym. Hansen has also been voted into People magazine’s top 50 sexiest men alive and on top of all that he is a bit of a poker philosopher. When talking about the reasons for his success he says, ‘I play the players, not the cards,’ adding that it is important to ‘learn to understand and read yourself before trying to understand or read anyone else.’

You can play online poker with Gus Hansen at Full Tilt Poker.

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