Gus Hansen is one of the most recognizable faces in poker, mainly due to his aggressive playing style, and looks that the ladies seem to love. Gus, also known as “The Great Dane” is from Denmark, but now resides in the high stakes gambling capital of the world, Monaco. Hansen is not only an amazing poker player, but he has experienced success in other competitive arenas as well. As a young man, Gus was a world class backgammon player, and a very good tennis player. Hansen turned to poker full time in 1997.

Gus is known for loving to gamble both at the poker table, and on table games, sports, and prop bets. Hansen is willing to take a bet on just about anything, as long as the odds are right. A cool an calculated player, Hansen relies heavily on his phenomenal understanding of numbers. Gus plays an aggressive game, putting a lot of pressure on his opponents. That is the method to Gus’ madness; make your opponent come to the decision of whether or not they want to risk their whole stack to find out if Hansen is bluffing. Gus is a player that plays A LOT of hands, and novice players will often find themselves puzzled by what Gus does, but for Gus, it works and works very well.

While Gus has had quite a bit of tournament success, he has also supplanted himself as one of the best high stakes cash game players in the world in both Hold Em and Pot Limit Omaha. Gus is often featured on TV’s “High Stakes Poker”, and has been involved in some of the most memorable hands in the history of the show.  One notable hand was one in which he was involved with Daniel Negraunu. When the turn yielded a second 5, Daniel made a full house, but much to his disappointment, that same card gave Gus quads, with which he took down a $575k pot. With Hansen’s aggressive style, he experiences some heavy swings to his bankroll. Between poker and prop bets, Gus Hansen has had more than a couple million dollar swing days. Gus can often be found playing at the highest limits online as well. He is a regular at the $200/400 PLO tables on FTP, the site that sponsors The Great Dane.

While Hansen has been eluded by a World Series of Poker bracelet, he does have several cashes. Gus finished 10th at the 2006 Tournament of Champions, and has a couple of main event cashes as well.

Though World Series of Poker success has dodged Hansen, he has had quite a bit of success in other tournament arenas. In 2004, Gus was honored with being inducted into the World Poker Tour hall of fame. Gus was inducted for his great WPT success, holding 3 WPT titles, winning the 5 diamond World Poker Tour in 2002, the LA Poker Classic in 2003, and the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure tournament in 2004.

Hansen’s single biggest tournament victory came at the Aussie Millions event in 2007, for a $1.5 million win. He also had a $1 million finish by winning the PokerStars invitational in 2005.

Off the table, Gus has written one book titled “Every Hand Revealed.” This book goes in depth in each hand that Gus played on his way to winning the Aussie Millions event. You will often see Gus speaking into a recorder at the table, as he likes to document each hand. Gus also enjoys playing gold, and other sporting activities in his spare time.