Gus Hansen : Poker Player

Gus Hansen

In Gus Hansen's case, there is no rags-to-riches story to delight readers. Born in Copenhagen in 1974, Gus Hansen lived a full life before becoming a poker professional. He played tennis, he competed in several sports and was generally successful in his athletic undertakings. He also played backgammon.

He got hooked on poker in 1993, while an exchange student in California. He started playing in the Ocean View Cardroom in Santa Cruz, and soon became well-known for his aggressive style. He's been known to go all in on pocket cards he had never even bothered to look at. He might be a huge thorn in the side of his opponents, but the audience loves his style of play. Being as popular as he is, he is present at every major televised event.

He moved to the U.S. in 2000 (to New York) in an attempt to make a living off playing professional backgammon. Things didn't quite work out the way he planned though, so he ended up playing poker instead.

Besides poker, he's also a passionate gambler. He's been known to bet on various sports, and he has admitted losing a lot of money on his sports-betting ways. He's also lost money on live cash games before.

Even though he has no WSOP bracelets to show just yet, he's been a constant presence at WSOP events in the past few years. In 2004, he reached 150th place in the WSOP main event, in 2006 he made a final table in one of the WSOP events. 2007 saw his highest ITM finish in the WSOP main event, when he placed 61st, pocketing $154,194 in the process.

It appears that - as years go by - he's getting closer and closer to the grand prize, and given his ability and skill, it wouldn't be a surprise if we saw him champion in a year or two.

The WPT saw him win three of their open tournaments, as well as their Bad Boys of Poker invitational. He's also won main events in the EPM (European Poker Masters) and Poker Surperstars.

In 2003, he launched PokerChamps.com, an online poker site where he was a co-owner, and where he acted as the house pro, too. The site was sold to Betfair in 2005, for about 15 million US dollars.

Currently, Gus Hansen is under contract with Full Tilt Poker and that's the only place you'll find him playing poker online.