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Gus Hansen
About Gus Hansen
Gus Hansen (Gustav Hansen) has gained world fame since he became the WPT all-time money leader – he won the first season of WPT at both the Bellagio Casino and the Commerce Casino. In the second season of WPT he won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and cashed in $455,000. He is considered very aggressive, known to ‘play his opponent’s cards’ rather than his own, and is a very talented No-Limit Hold’em tournament player. Before he entered the poker world Gus was a ranked backgammon player known as Mama Lustra Spillertruppen #9601 in the Danish backgammon circuit.
Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, he started playing poker in Santa Cruz, California and today plays in the larger buy-in events. Gus likes to play aggressively cards that are considered unplayable by most players. Poker pro Freddy Deeb said about Gus that he “played very bad”, right after he mowed him down on the way to winning his first WPT title at the Bellagio. He did the same to Andy Bloch – in an early hand Gus was in the Big Blind with 4-2 offsuit and checked the flop which was 9-8-5, then bet as a 10 was dealt on the Turn. Andy, with an A-8 (middle pair and top kicker) called. When a J hit on the River, Gus bet again and Andy folded, sure that Gus hit the straight. It is mainly because of plays like these that Gus has earned, and rightly so, the reputation of a player to be feared. He puts the pressure on the other players, forcing them to decide if they want to risk their stacks to see if he was bluffing. As Gus puts it, “Not to say that I am a great player or anything, but somebody has to win.”
The Great Dane seamlessly utilizes two contradicting playing skills – knowledge of mathematical probability, and reckless aggression. He knows that, more often than not, the statistical probability is that his opponent’s hand is no better than his own and also that everyone wants to improve their hands on the flop. With this playing system his cards are often irrelevant. As Gus says, “It's always nice to have a good hand, but the cards are not always there for a good hand.... and if your opponent is not going to call, it doesn't matter what you hold. So that, in a sense, is playing your opponent's cards. You sense that he might not call this, I'm just gonna take a big chance and bluff at it... “ Of course, sometimes he pays the price when it all goes wrong but Gus is well aware of his flaws as well as his strengths, “One of my strengths is that I definitely make mistakes that other - I would call them solid poker players - wouldn't make, but I definitely also make some good plays that they probably wouldn't dream about.” At an early stage in his career, his opponents often considered him naive or ‘just lucky’. To that Gus says, “I love that they think I'm lucky. I don't mind at all… let them just think I'm lucky. I think it helps me if, if people think I'm a little bit crazy because there's definitely rationale behind a lot of things I do. They might seem wacky but I'm not totally crazy... just a little bit.”
In 2004 Gus was one of the first World Poker Tour Walk of Fame inductees, alongside movie actor James Garner, and poker legend Doyle Brunson.
About Gus Hansen and Poker Champs
During the past years year Gus Hansen have dedicated a great deal of his time to the creation of the best Poker software on the net - which he truly believes Poker Champs.net is turning out to be. During his years of playing Poker Gus Hansen has always been focused on the actual game and not the surroundings.The team at PokerChamps has made a great effort in redefining online poker to reflect the essentials of what Poker is all about - features, promotions, software, are all top notch at Poker Champs.
"In my belief, Poker software should care about the fast and precise execution of the game and not about displaying as many unnecessary graphics on the screen as possible. When I watch online Poker today, I either see an attempt to create the look of a real poker room, by displaying graphics of the players, a dealer, a chip rack and chairs, or the attempt of making Poker look like a comic-strip by using abstract cartoon like presentations of players.
To me this is not the way it should be. Playing on a computer vs playing in a real Poker room will never be the same. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages - but if you try to mix them you will get something that doesn't fit any of the environments."
PokerChamps focuses on the strengths of the computer and the advantages that well designed software and graphics will give to the Poker playing experience. PokerChamps have no comic book or caricature players, no Caribbean Island backgrounds, not even a chip rack or a dealer. Instead they have a well designed poker system which focuses on User Interface, Cards, Players Info, and Chips. You can even play with their innovative 4x4 layout, playing 4 tables simultaneously.
Poker Champs software will continue to expand with improved functionality and even better interfaces in the coming years, but will always keep the actual Poker Play in focus.