Gustav Hansen, originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, has to be both one of the most recent and most recognisable figures on the major tournament circuit. Having played such a small number, his unexpected set of results have made him a near overnight poker icon, especially as his super-aggressive risk-taking style makes for great TV. Having turned his attention to poker while studying in Santa Cruz, California (where the action is, apparently, as fast and loose as you’d like) he seems to have absorbed the aggressive tactics on display and made them his own. We have already, due to him, the concept of ‘playing a Gus,’ or a rag hand, very strongly, where the read of an opponent or a tactical usage of chips are the most important factors. Ask any young player new to the game to name five players, and Gus Hansen is liable to be one of them.
It’s not obvious that he has done his young fans any huge favours by giving them such an idiosyncratic style to emulate, though – to get away with playing like Gus, you probably need to have both his read and his underlying grasp of the mathematics of situations, or you’re likely to lose quite a few chips along the way. He admits his style leads him into occasional trouble or towards an early exit, but he plays to win, and the WPT has seen him do that on three occasions. He won the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, the California Poker Classic and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in quick succession, as well as placing third in two other WPT events. He has amassed somewhere around the $2 million mark in tournament winnings.
Coming from a backgammon background (he was previously a ranked player) he knows all about the importance of equity and calculated risk in a game involving both skill and luck. This together with his obvious fearlessness makes for an intense combination and ‘crazy’ playing style which whips his opponents, fans and detractors alike, into a frenzy. One thread I found on the internet discussing him ran to over 500 posts, and people were sharply divided in their opinion – he is, according to them, either a ‘genius’ or a ‘lucky nutter.’ I doubt any of them would like to find him at their table on the WPT.
The tall figure of Gus with his grade 0 haircut does not grace that many tournaments worldwide, but he certainly stands out from the crowd. If you find yourself sat next to someone pulling off gravity-defying chip tricks while attempting to build a huge stack through sheer force of aggression, it’s probably the Great Dane. Not a shouter or a misbehaver, Gus sits calmly (most of the time) with full concentration on the game – perhaps not what you’d expect from someone with the style he exhibits. You might recognise his funny arm-flex thing from his WPT wins, but compared to other well-known maniacs he’s positively sedate.
