Poker Masters - The Introduction

He was born in 1974 just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark and grew up playing a lot of sports, especially tennis.

He was always fascinated by numbers and math. He was introduced to backgammon and really took to it. He practiced intensively until he was ready to test my skills around the world. He ended up in New York, touring backgammon and gin rummy clubs, and hanging out with guys like Huckleberry Seed and Phil Laak. It was during this time that he was introduced to various types of poker, including Stud games.

He played my first World Series of Poker in 1996 but, looking back, he had absolutely no chance of winning, as he had never really played No-Limit Hold 'em before then. After being knocked out on the first day, he decided to start practicing more, testing new plays and experimenting with different styles. Experimentation and mixing-up my style has been part of my game ever since.

By 1998, he found myself playing more poker than backgammon, and making more frequent trips to Las Vegas. When the World Poker Tour kicked off in 2002, he had developed a loose, aggressive style that immediately paid off, both in terms of money and recognition.

He won the WPT's inaugural event, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Later that year, he took down another event, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold' em Championship at the WPT's L.A. Poker Classic.

During the WPT's second season, he won the invitation-only Bad Boys of Poker tournament and, in early 2004, earned my fourth WPT title at the Caribbean Adventure tournament. he was also in contention for another title that season, but had to settle for third place in the Bellagio Five Diamond tournament when my pocket 10s failed to hold up against my opponent's A-Q.

He reached another final table during the WPT's third season, but ended up with a third-place finish in the Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament. All in all, those four WPT wins and five final table appearances earned me induction into the WPT's Walk of Fame the first year they launched it.

In 2005, he decided to play fewer tournaments in order to focus on my cash game. Still, even with the reduction in tournament play, he made it to the final table at the FullTiltPoker.Net Poker Invitational from Monaco and won the Grand Final of the inaugural Poker Superstars Invitational.

He had another memorable year in 2006. First, he made television history in the second season of High Stakes Poker when he took down the show's biggest pot ever ($575,700) by defeating Daniel Negreanu's 6-6 with my 5-5 on a board of 9-6-5-5-8. Then, in September, he took first place at the FullTiltPoker.com London All Star Challenge, winning $100,000.

He was having a good year so far in 2007 as well. In January, he won the Aussie Millions Main Event - the biggest tournament outside of North America - and took home my biggest prize ever, a whopping $1.2 million.

When not playing tournament poker, he am a regular participant in the "Big Game" at the Bellagio battling it out in as many as 13 different poker games with players such as Phil Ivey, Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, and David Benyamine.

Online, he often play high-limit Pot-Limit Omaha games or Omaha 8/B Limit games on FullTiltPoker.com. On occasion, he can also be found in low-stakes Limit Hold 'em and Razz games, along with low-limit SNGs and some of FullTiltPoker.com's larger tournaments.

If he wasnot playing poker, there is a good chance you can find me on the golf course, the tennis court, the squash court or playing soccer with my friends, as he find that playing sports and working out help him maintain the physical stamina needed to be a successful poker player.

He also provide poker commentary for both Danish and American television shows, and is always ready to play a high-stakes backgammon match against anybody who would like to challenge him.

He is currently residing in Monte Carlo, Monaco where he spends a lot of time with his family, including his one-year old niece Sally, who he believes will be my first poker protégé.


GUS HANSEN'S BEST POKER TIPS AND STRATEGIES:


ClICK HERE TO WATCH MORE..................................