Gustav Hansen was born on 13, February, 1974, close to Copenhagen. Even before he became a pro poker player in 1997, Hansen was a world ranked backgammon player and a promising tennis player. “The Great Dane” discovered his passion for card games during his scholar trips, where the awards were usually of one Dane corona. In 1993, Hansen moved in Santa Cruz, California, improving his skills as a poker player at a local casino.
Name: Gustav Hansen
Nickname: “The Great Dane”
Date of birth: 13.02.1974
Residency: Copenhagen, Denmark
- He is the only poker player to win 4 World Poker Tour tournaments.
- He earned almost 7 millions of dollars during his career.
- He was the winner of Aussie Millions in 2007.
- He plays online at Full Tilt Poker.
In 1995, Gus had to come back to Denmark for the obligatory military stage. In 2000, he moved to New York, trying to earn his living by participating at backgammon tournaments, but soon this field was too small for his ambitions, and the Dane oriented for poker. Hansen considered him to be a “wicked better” and is fascinated by numbers and mathematics, acknowledging the fact that he bets for sport events such as athletics. Hansen is often mistakenly characterized as an aggressive player, when in fact his style is mixed, equilibrated, him being active and precautious depending on the situation.
The first big event the Dane won was Poker Tour in 2002, when Gus won half a million of dollars, this being the first clue to his value. Then he won the 10,000$ No-limit din Los Angeles WPT tournament. Gus won the tournament due to the WPT Bad Boys of Poker invitation. The fourth WPT tournament he won as the Caribbean Adventure, when Gus entered the history as the only player to ever win 4 World Poker Tour tournaments.
On the 27 of April 2008, Hansen went second placed at the sixth season of WPT, winning 1,7 millions of dollars. Starting with the year of 206, the Dane decided to be more selective when it comes to his participation at tournaments. Gus won against Daniel Negreanu the biggest prize in the “High Stakes Poker” history, of $576,000. The Aussie Millions tournament, the biggest tournament outside North America, proved to be the winning pot for Gus, as he left with 1,2 millions of dollars. Hansen relaxes with playing golf, football, squash and tennis with his friends.
His athletic physique brought him a nominalization within the top that People magazine realized featuring the sexiest men alive in 2004. Hansen was one of the founders of pokerchamps.com, website that was launched in 2003 and bought by Betfair Bristish in 2005 for 15 millions of dollars.
