Gustav Hansen was born February 13, 1974 in Copenhagen, Denmark is one of the most popular professional poker players. Before becoming a poker pro in 1997, Hansen was a master backgammon player and tennis champion when he was younger. Gus refers to himself as a professional gambler and often takes proposition bets on anything, for example athletic challenges like running. Gus Hansen began playing poker when he was an exchange student at The University of California at Santa Cruz in 1993. Known for his very unique style of play, which is viewed as being very loose and very aggressive. Often Gus Hansen plays any two cards before the flop and will raise or bluff with them unpredictably, which often makes his opponents make mistakes. For example, players often call or raise when he bets which gives him great action on his good hands.
He has won over $5,000,000 in live tournaments. At the World Series of Poker, Gus Hansen cashed in the 2004 main event when he took 150th place, and in 2007 Gus Hansen made another great main event showing by finishing 61st and collected $154,194 for his efforts. Gus Hansen greatest success is on the World Poker Tour as he has captured three WPT titles, a feat no one else has accomplished.
Gus Hansen also won the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament the first year it was held and collecting $1 million dollars by winning the final table amongst of some of the biggest pro names in the sport. During the second season of High Stakes Poker, Gus Hansen beat Daniel Negreanu in the second biggest pot, $575,700, that the show has ever had after he flopped a set of fives to Daniel's set of sixes and spiking quad fives on the turn when the case five came out. Unfortunately, Gus Hansen loses much of what he has won playing in the "Big Game" at the Bellagio and through sports betting, both of which have accounted for him losing several million dollars.
People Magazine voted him as the "Sexiest Poker Player" in the 2004, 50 Sexiest Men Alive issue.
Gus Hansen popularity comes from his perceived reckless style which has been well documented on television. However, he recently has stated that his perceived style does not accurately reflect how he plays, because he is usually controlling the situation and plays much more conservative then what the television makes his opponents believe. This incorrect perception adds to his tournament success as many opponents assume he has two random pocket cards and therefore overplay their own hands but find out that Gus Hansen was actually playing a legitimate hand instead.
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