27 Dec 10

Biography Special: Gus Hansen

Today, we're telling you a bit about Gus 'The Great Dane' Hansen: Globetrotter and athlete, 'Sexiest Poker Player' and eccentric contemporary.

If you ask a poker player about Gus Hansen, you will probably hear the attributes 'crazy', 'aggressive', 'unreadable', but also 'very successful', and 'great player'. Without a doubt, Hansen is one of the most successful poker players of all times, and one can say without exaggerating that he laid the foundation to the poker boom in the Scandinavian area. However, this wasn't really planned.

Gus (in the middle of the picture to the right) was born on February 13th 1974 as 'Gustav Hansen' in Copenhague. While he was a child and teenager, he was into a lot of sports activities. In tennis, he belonged to the best players of his country. However, in the changing rooms and in the summer camps, somebody always had cards with them so that Gus collected his first experiences with the card games.

After finishing his studies in Denmark, Hansen went abroad like many of his fellow countrymen. In 1993, he lived in Santa Cruz, California, where he first got in touch with the game of poker. In a local casino, he watched the players, began to deliberate about the game and thus created his own style.

Backgammon and Gin Rummy

After a one year stay, the Dane went back to his home country for his civil service, but already back then, Hansen had made up his mind to return to the USA. This time, however, his destination was New York City, and his intentions still hadn't anything to do with poker. Instead, he wanted to hit the backgammon and gin rummy clubs.

After his return, he became a very successful backgammon player. Meanwhile, he was also accompanied by two really known figureheads of poker on his tour: Phil Laak and Huckleberry Seed (picture on the right). Eventually, it were these two who brought Hansen to the game of poker.
Hansen's first poker experiences were made mainly in Stud. Driven on by his fascination for the game, Hansen took a shot at the WSOP in 1996 without ever having played NL Hold'em before. As expected, he was eliminated early, began to doubt his game and pondered what he could have done differently.

"I play my opponents, not my cards."

Since then, Hansen plied between New York and Las Vegas all the time. With the money he won with backgammon, he was able to try out different strategies and new games in poker. This is probably how Hansen's playing style came to life as he had meanwhile realised that it is up to him to switch gears during the game and adapt to his opponent.

Thus it doesn't surprise that Hansen once said the meanwhile famous line "I play my opponents, not my cards". Little by little, his poker game improved and in 1998, Gus was so successful that he gave up on backgammon and fully concentrated on poker.
In 2002, Gus had honed his game and developed the known 'loose and aggressive style'. Thus the Dane set off to join the newly started World Poker Tour and he immediately had his breakthrough, winning the very first WPT event. The win in the '$10,000 NL Hold'em tournament was followed by further top finishes in the WPT season which found its successful conclusion with another triumph at the '$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship WPT Poker Classic Event'.

WPT Hall of Fame

Due to these excellent performances, he had the honour of being the first player to enter the WPT Hall of Fame in 2004, alongside poker legend Doyle Brunson and Maverick actor James Garner.

By that time, Hansen had already won his third WPT title at the Caribbean Adventure. These successes earned him the nickname 'The Great Dane', and even though no further official win at a WPT event has been added, Hansen is still the player with the most WPT titles. His win at the 'Bad Boys Tournament' is not officially added to his title collection by the way, as it was a pure invitation-only tourney.

Nevertheless, Hansen was not only successful at the World Poker Tour:

Picked Tournament Wins
Year	Series	Tournament
2007	Aussie Millions	Crown Aussie Millions Championship
2006	EPM Season 1	London Poker Masters
2004	WPT Season 2	Caribbean Adventure
2003	WPT Season 1	L.A. Poker Classic
2002	WPT Season 1	Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Besides these successes, Hansen has further top finishes, for instance a second place in the 'WPT Five Star World Classic Poker Classic' in April 2008, where he just barely missed his shot at the fourth title. Overall, his tournament winnings are estimated at  $7,200,000.
The win at the Aussie Millions 2007 had even more value attached to it. Throughout the event, Hansen had a small recorder with him which he used to keep notes on about most of his hands for a later analysis. Later on, he collected all his insights, and a new bestseller was born - in 2008, his book "Every Hand Revealed" was released to the public.

With this book, he created an oeuvre which was a real 'one of its kind' on the market. When asked why he released such a publication, he said that he wanted to show how to win a tournament, what deliberations he went through, and that you need more than just the luck of always running into the opponents' kings with your own pocket rockets.
Since 2005, Hansen plays in less tournaments. He picks his participations more consciously, and so his wins are probably worth even more.

The main reason for the decrease in tourneys is the fact that Hansen can be found much more often at the cash game tables. Ever since, he is a regular participant in the 'Big Play' in the Bellagio (picture on the right), where he faces known greats like Phil Ivey or Barry Greenstein in 13 different poker variants.

However, Hansen also gets some attention online. "The Great Dane" is a Team FullTilt Pro and can be found on the highest limits. Besides NL Hold'em, he prefers Omaha, mostly in the variant PLO.

When Gus (origin of photo material: Full Tilt Poker) isn't sitting at a poker table, he can probably be seen playing golf, football or tennis. Despite his poker career, he never gave up his love for the different sports. In Hansen's opinion, he would most likely have tried to become a professional athlete if he had had no luck at poker.

The Vice of Sports

His big interest in sports is at the same time his biggest vice as well. Hansen bets on diverse sports events, and loses "so much money" by his own account that "he would prefer to stop".

"Sexiest Poker Player"

Nonetheless, his sports activities also have their positive effects. In 2004, People Magazine named him the "Sexiest Poker Player", and thus voted him amongst the 50 sexiest men of the world. Female heart throb Hansen is single, and on his own account enjoys this life "to the fullest".

Hansen's 'first Poker Protégée'

Meanwhile, the Dane lives in Monte Carlo and tries to spend as much time as possible with his family. Amongst other things, he undertakes a lot with his one-year old niece, which will probably become his 'first poker protégée'.