The Danish poker player Gus Hansen is not just very good at his game, he was also something of a tennis pro’ when he was young, and he plays the guitar every chance he gets. He has gotten his share of attention for the many beautiful ladies surrounding him.
Hansen lives in Monaco the major part of his time and does a lot of gambling in Las Vegas. But he misses his Copenhagen. His gambling career began with a big interest in backgammon. It was in backgammon that he reached the World Championship in Monte Carlo, a competition that he has participated in eight more times since that. It was in connection to his first contest that he started to realize that it was in the US that he could really get a chance to engage in his gambling interest – and make the big bucks. Already when he moved to Santa Cruz it became obvious that he was popular among the women and Hansen is still considered one of the most attractive bachelors in the US.
It was in Santa Cruz that he came in real contact with the poker, which he has loved from the first moment on.
With his experience from playing backgammon he was used to figure out the odds. He also claims that he rarely gets nervous and that it has helped him when it comes to keeping a good poker face.
In 1996 he moved to New York. At this time he was still mainly focused on backgammon. But soon he started taking more and more interest in Seven Card Stud and Gin Rummy. A couple of years after his move he quit playing backgammon altogether. Instead he started to become a well-known name among the best and newest poker players. What really made him stand out from the group was his aggressive play, in combination with the large amounts of money that he earned.
More and more often he headed for Las Vegas where the resistance was a bit harder. Around the poker tables there were players seated that had a totally different calibre from the ones in New York, and Gus Hansen didn’t win as much as he had grown used to. Soon, however, he had adjusted to the climate and started to spend most of his time in the city. And that was probably a good move, because 2002 things were about to change. Gus participated in the World Poker Tour, that he won the first contest in. His bluffing and aggressive game gave him a lot of attention and he started to become something of a star on the poker sky.
Not too soon he had gotten his second and third World Poker Tour-bracelet, and was considered by many to be the best poker player during 2002 and 2003.
Gus Hansen has also won the “Bad boys of Poker”, where he played against some of the most skilled pro’s. He is in the Poker Hall of Fame and gets to sit in the most exclusive, private games where you need to pay quite a lot in buy-in. When he is in Las Vegas – and that is often – he is staying at the Bellagio. Otherwise he is living in Monaco where he has several friends, both within the poker and the tennis field.
