Gus Hansen

Gus Hansen was born in 1974 outside of Copenhage, Denmark.  He grew up playing sports, especially tennis. Early on he was introduced to backgammon and instantly took to it. This took him to New York, touring backgammon and gin rummy clubs and hanging out with various poker players. Needless to say, he was introduced to the world of poker at that time.

In 1996, Hansen played in his first World Series of Poker, regardless of the fact that he had never really played No-Limit Hold’em before. He was knocked out on the first day. From there, he started to practice more and test new plays and styles. To this day, he still likes to mix things up.

By 1998, he found himself playing more poker than backgammon and frequented the Las Vegas scene.  Hansen won the WPT's inaugural event in 2002, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Later that year, he won another event, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold' em Championship at the WPT's L.A. Poker Classic.

During the WPT's second season, Hansen won the invitation-only Bad Boys of Poker tournament and, in early 2004, earned his fourth WPT title at the Caribbean Adventure tournament. That same year he also placed third in the Bellagio Five Diamond tournament.

Hansen reached yet another final table during the WPT's third season, but ended up with a third place finish in the Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament. Those four WPT wins and five final table appearances earned him an induction into the WPT's Walk of Fame the first year they launched it.

In 2005, Hansen made it to the final table at the FullTiltPoker.Net Poker Invitational from Monaco and won the Grand Final of the inaugural Poker Superstars Invitational. He continued his luck in 2006 when he made television history in the second season of High Stakes Poker. There he took down the show's biggest pot ever ($575,700) by defeating poker pro Daniel Negreanu. Then, in September, he took first place at the FullTiltPoker.com London All Star Challenge, winning $100,000.

In January of 2007, Hansen won the Aussie Millions Main Event - the biggest tournament outside of North America - and took home his biggest prize ever, $1.2 million.

When not playing tournament poker, Hansen’s a regular in the "Big Game" at the Bellagio, competing in up to 13 different poker games. He currently plays at Full Tilt Poker online. Recreationally, he plays golf, tennis, soccer and squash. He’s also still a backgammon expert and always looking for a challenge.

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