With over $7.2 million in career tournament earnings, Full Tilt sponsorship and a combined total of ten WPT final tables including four WPT titles, it seems fair to say that there is more to this intimidating and unpredictable player’s game than just luck
Famed for more than just his tournament play, Hansen is a regular in Full Tilt’s nosebleed cash games – played for stakes so high they will make your nosebleed.
This year alone he has experienced six-figure swings in the space of just a few days and has won and lost pots of over US$250,000 without even breaking a sweat. After posting losses of over US$5m for 2009 Gus is currently up over US$1m for 2010 – now that’s a lot of gamble…
One of the reasons Gus cuts such an intimidating figure at the felt is that he is prepared to act on his reads and push any edge, however small, extremely aggressively. The difference between Gus Hansen and a regular player is the fact that Gus isn’t afraid to gamble, push his percentile and do his utmost to accumulate chips, but he also knows when to pick his spots.
“I have to be a bit more careful picking my spots now because people out there have read my book… so they tend to have an idea what my thought process might be. I think that I am adjusting and still finding the good spots, they might be a little fewer but then, they might be a little better,” says Gus.
Born near Copenhagen, Denmark, Hansen has always been interested in games, strategy and competition. A former youth tennis champion, he also pursued a career as a professional backgammon player back in 1992 in New York before discovering poker. But just what was it that attracted him to the game?
“Well, obviously the money” deadpans Gus with a wry smile. “I like games in general, my dad was a bridge player, I like to play bridge, I like to play chess, I like to play backgammon. Poker was a new game for me, I mean I had to learn that a flush beat a straight but apart from that it was just sit down and play.
“I learnt the rules and played a little here and there. I had a bankroll from my backgammon career and basically started playing more and more and I think like in 1998 I really took it up.”
And it is good that he did, for without that, poker would be bereft of one of its most original and unconventional minds. While some regard him as a shaven-headed poker deity, others regard this ‘crazy Scandie’ with a mixture of fascination and bemusement. There is however, a method to his madness.
“I’m a big math guy. I like the math. I think that you can find a lot of help in numbers, you might not entirely base your decision upon that but it’s good to have a guideline to be able to say: Ok, well at least I know if my hand isn’t the best right now I have a 30% chance to improve. Numbers are good to have in the back of your mind and I have a very mathematical approach to the game,” says Gus.
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