Gustav “Gus” Hansen is a professional poker player chiefly known for his success in live poker tournaments, and for both winning and losing huge amounts in high-stakes cash games.
As of 2017, Hansen has three WPT titles and one WSOP bracelet. He also won the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event, and was the first season (2004) winner of the Poker Supertars Invitational Tournament.
Data from 2017 show live tournament winnings of more than $11,250,000 for Gus Hansen.
He was a member of the original Team Full Tilt, and then re-signed as the first brand ambassador when Full Tilt Poker was reborn under new management.
In 2004, Hansen was included in People magazine’s list of the world’s 50 Sexiest Men.
Short facts about Gus Hansen
Birth name: Gustav Jacobsen
Nickname: The Great Dane
Born: 13 February 1974, near Copenhagen in Denmark
Current residence: Monaco (since 2003)
Background
Hansen was a youth tennis champion.
Before becomming a professional poker player in 1997, Hansen was a world-class backgammon player. (In 2008, he joined the commentary team for World Series of Backgammon, a high-stakes televised backgammon tour.)
Hansen started playing poker at the Ocean View Card Room in Santa Cruz, California while he was an exchange student at the University of California in Santa Cruz.
Poker tournaments
WSOP
Hansen has one WSOP bracelet. He won the £10,350 No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads-Up at the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe and collected £288,409 in prize money.
Another notable WSOP cash by Hansen is the $154,194 he got for his 61st place in the 2007 WSOP Main Event.
World Poker Tour
Hansen was the first player in the world to win three WPT open tournaments. In 2004, he was inducted into the World Poker Tour Walk of Fame, alongside James Garner and Doyle Brunson.
At the season 6 WPT Championship, Hansen lost the heads-up to David Chiu, but his second place was still enough to capture $1,714,800 in prize money.
Hansen won the inaugrual WPT Bad Boys of Poker invitational event.
Aussie Millions
In early 2007, Hansen captured a 1.5 million AUD first prize by winning the $10,500 Aussie Millions Main Event in Melbourne.
In 2008, Hansen’s book about the event, “Every Hand Revealed”, was published.
Poker Million IX
Hansen won the Poker Million IX tournament in 2010, beating Tony Bloom heads-up to earn the $1 million first prize.
EPM: The London All Star Challenge
Hansen won the inaugural EPM event (London All Star Challenge) in 2006, earning a £53,600 first prize.
Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament
Hansen won the inaugural single-table $400k Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament, capturing the $1 million first prize.
PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup
The Danish team that won the PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup in 2006 consisted of Hansen, the poker pro Theo Jørgensen and the professional footballer Kim Christofte.
Poker After Dark
Hansen was the first winner on NBC’s TV show Poker After Dark, beating opponents such as Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed to win $120,000.
In 2018, he returned to Poker After Dark to play Pot Limit Omaha.
Cash games
Hansen is a regular at the Big Game held in Bobby’s Room at Bellagio in Las Vegas, and he has also appeared in the GSN TV show High Stakes Poker. During the second season of HSP, Hansen was involved in one of the largest pots in the history of the show; a $575,700 pot that he won against Daniel Negreanu with 5-5 against the opponent’s 6-6 on a 9-6-5-5-8 board.
Despite his huge wins from poker tournaments, Hansen has encountered financial difficulties from time to time, reportedly due to him incurring large losses in high-stakes cash games. As of March 2015, he had lost over $20 million on Full Tilt Poker.
Private betting
Hansen loves to wager on things, and is known to involve himself in various eccentric prop bets – especially with other professional poker players. One of the more well-known challenges was the boxing match between Hansen and fellow Danish poker pro Theo Jørgensen.
Business ventures
- Hansen was a founding partner and house professional for the poker site PokerChamps.com, which launched in 2003. In 2005, the company was acquired by Betfair for over 100 million Danish kroner (circa €13 million).
- Gus Hansen has contributed to the “Going All In” instructional series of DVDs. His episode, which is called Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen, was released in 2005.
- Hansen launched ThePlayr.com in 2007. It was a poker forum, poker news and poker strategy website. Hansen sold his interested in the site in 2008.
- Hansen launched GusHansenTV in 2009, a free poker channel broadcast online.