Gus Hansen

Gus Hansen is a successful professional poker player from Denmark. He is also known as “he Great Dane” and unlike many other professional poker players, Gus Hansen is more of a professional gambler in general. Gus Hansen actually started his gambling career as a professional backgammon player, a path that many other professional poker players, such as Dan Harrington”, have taken. Gus was also a world class tennis player in his youth and was actively involved in all types of sports. This obsession for sports and gambling naturally led Mr. Hansen to becoming an avid sports bettor, a hobby that he continues to this day (although, he is admittedly not successful in this venture). After moving to the United States and finding the backgammon world to not have enough action, Gus Hansen discovered poker.

Watch Gus Hansen Play Online at Full Tilt Poker!

Gus Hansen is known as being a very loose and very aggressive poker player. He plays many hands and when he finally hits a big hand, his opponents pay him off since nobody believes he is playing good cards. This wildly loose image has earned Gus many wins in huge poker tournaments throughout his career. Gus Hansen holds the record for most tournament wins in the World Poker Tour. His first win came in 2002 as a part of the 5 Diamond World Poker Classic. This tournament had a buy in of $10k and his first place showing was worth just over half a million dollars. His second win in the World Poker tour came in 2003, when the Danish poker player won the L.A. Poker Classic for over $530k. His third and final first place showing in the World Poker Tour came in 2004 when The Great Dane won the Poker Stars Caribbean Poker Adventure. This tournament had a buy in of $7.5k and Gus Hansen won $455k for first place. Gus Hansen also has a first place showing in an invitational event called the Bad Boys of Poker, beating the likes of Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak and Paul Darden at the final table.

Gus Hansen's largest tournament payout came in 2006 when the great Dane took second place to David Chiu in the World Championship World Poker tour event which has a buy in of $25k. Despite earning $1.7 Million for his second place finish, the Great Dane was extremely disappointed he did not win since he entered heads up play with over a 10-1 chip lead. Gus Hansen also has other large tournament wins outside of the World Poker Tour. The Danish player won a cool $1 Million by winning the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and by winning the Main Event of the Aussie Millions tournament which has a buy in of $10k for another $1.5 Million. All together, the Great Dane has won a massive $7.2 Million in tournaments alone.

Gus Hansen is also an avid cash game player. Hansen has made many appearances in the television show High Stakes Poker. Hansen is famously known for winning an almost $600k pot against Daniel Negreanu. Gus Hansen held pocket 5's while Negreanu held pocket 6's. Although Negreanu hit a set of sixes and ultimately a full house, Hansen hit quad 5's and took down the massive pot. Hansen also plays high stakes cash games in the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, playing for millions of dollars per sitting. Gus is also a sponsored Full Tilt Poker professional and can be found playing the $2k/$4k Pot Limit Omaha, No Limit Hold Em and 7-Game poker games.

Hansen also wrote a very successful poker book called “Every Hand Revealed”, where he shows every hand of his Aussie Millions Main Event victory.