Who is Gus Hansen?

Gus was born on February 13th, 1974 just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark and grew up playing a lot of sports, especially tennis.

Gus has always been fascinated by numbers and math. When he was introduced to backgammon, it became a challenge and he practiced intensively until he was ready to test his skills around the world. Gus 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 Gus was introduced to various types of poker, including Stud games.

Gus played his first World Series of Poker in 1996 but, looking back, says 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, Gus decided to start practicing more, testing new plays and experimenting with different styles. Experimentation and mixing-up his style has been part of Gus' game ever since.

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

Gus won the WPT's inaugural event, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Later that year, Gus 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, Gus won the invitation-only Bad Boys of Poker tournament and, in early 2004, earned his fourth WPT title at the Caribbean Adventure tournament. Gus was also in contention for another title that season, but had to settle for third place in the Bellagio Five Diamond tournament when his pocket 10s failed to hold up against his opponent's A-Q.

Gus reached yet 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 Gus induction into the WPT's Walk of Fame the first year they launched it. To this day, Gus remains the only player on the WPT with four titles to his credit.

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

In 2006, Gus has been even more selective about his participation in tournaments and other events. Recently, he played in the second season of High Stakes Poker where he won the biggest pot in the show's history ($575,700) defeating Daniel Negreanu's 6 6 with his 5 5 on a board of 9 6 5 5 8.

In 2007, Gus continued to build on his growing list of tournament championships, bringing home $1,192,919 for his first-place finish in the $10,000 Aussie Millions Main Event in Melbourne, Australia. Gus added another $1.7 million in tournament winnings to his bankroll in 2008 when he finished second to fellow Full Tilt Poker pro David Chiu in the WPT’s World Championship at Bellagio. 2008 saw Gus take second in the WPT’s $25K World Championship event where he banked more than $1.7 million and 10th at the WSOP’s $10K World Championship Mixed event.

When not playing tournament poker, Gus is 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, Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, and David Benyamine.

Online, Gus can often be found in a high-limit Pot-Limit Omaha game or an Omaha 8/B Limit game 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.


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If Gus isn't playing poker, there is a good chance you can find him on the golf course, the tennis court, the squash court or playing soccer with his friends, as he finds that playing sports and working out help him maintain the physical stamina he believes is needed to be a successful poker player.

Gus also finds time in his schedule to 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.

Gus is currently single and resides in Monte-Carlo, Monaco where he spends a lot of time with his family.

Bankroll Mangement

by Craig Marquis

When I first started playing poker, I had no idea what bankroll management was. I just sat in whichever games were open at the stakes I wanted to play, even if I barely had enough money in my bankroll to cover the buy-in. I worked my way up the ranks by jumping to the next level as soon as I had enough money to pay for a single buy-in. This strategy worked amazingly well for a while, but once I reached stakes where the quality of play was much higher than I was used to, my lack of bankroll management almost proved disastrous.

After playing thousands of hands and building a bankroll large enough to play in almost any game I wanted, I managed to lose almost all of it in the span of a few days. Many professional poker players end up going broke multiple times in their careers, and this is almost always due to a lack of bankroll management. The players who will be around forever are the ones who have learned this lesson.

Although painful, some good did come from these experiences: I learned the importance of bankroll management. Now instead of playing at the highest limits that my bankroll allows, I play in lower stakes games where I still feel like I’m playing for a significant amount of money. Playing as low as $2/$4, $3/$6, and $5/$10 No-Limit, I’m able to play a completely objective game. Because I’m not afraid to lose a $1,000 in a single hand, I can make a lot of moves that I probably wouldn’t make at higher stakes and if I fail the loss hardly affects me. This gives me an enormous advantage over opponents who would be devastated by a $1,000 loss.

There’s an old saying that goes "scared money is dead money," and it’s true. You simply can’t consistently win at poker if you’re playing with money you’re afraid to lose. To combat this, I like to play in games with buy-ins 40 to 50 times smaller than the size of my bankroll. Ten buy-in downswings are common in poker, and it’s comforting to be prepared for such variance.

By observing proper bankroll management and playing at stakes your bankroll can handle, you’ll be able to limit the impact variance has on your game. You’ll be able to endure a ten buy-in downswing without going on tilt and you won’t be crushed when you hit the cashier button and see that your balance has dropped dramatically.

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One of the biggest problems with playing at stakes that are too high for your bankroll is not being able to minimize the impact of variance. If you choose to play in a game that could wipe out your entire bankroll by losing four buy-ins, you’re not going to be able to get involved in many situations where you only have a slight edge. Playing with this sort of restraint isn’t good for a poker player.

In an attempt to lower variance, poker players who are under rolled for the game they’re in give up a lot of their EV because they’re playing scared. If you happen to spot one of these players, you can easily exploit their fear.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I recently played heads up against a player who was obviously playing with scared money. He was one of those players looking for an excuse to fold unless he could show the nuts. Taking advantage of his tendency to fold all but the very best hands, I picked every marginal situation I could find and attacked. Any time I found a spot where I believed he thought I couldn’t possibly be bluffing, I would do just that.

In one such hand he bet $150 on the river when the board showed a pair and three cards to a flush. There was $300 in the pot, and I moved all in for my last $300. It was only $150 more for him to call, but he folded because it was a spot where he must have thought there was no possible way I could be bluffing. Discovering this weakness in his game made for a very profitable session for me, but I wouldn’t have discovered it if I hadn’t been willing to shove all my chips into the middle in marginal situations – I never would have done that if the stakes had been higher or I had a smaller bankroll.

If you are properly bankrolled for whichever game you choose to play, you’ll be able to make the optimal play in any situation that might occur without having to decide if it’s a high-variance move or not. By playing in games where the loss of ten buy-ins in a row would hardly put a dent in your bankroll, you’ll be able to maximize your EV, enjoy less dramatic swings in your bankroll, and celebrate an increase in your win rate, which in poker is a recipe for success.

Recharging for Better Results

One of the great things about poker, especially online poker, is that the game is always there when you're ready to play. It's not like being a baseball player, where you're at the mercy of your team's schedule, or like being a doctor, where you have to respond to emergency calls. With poker, you can walk away from the game for a little while, and it will be there when you get back. That's why I strongly advocate taking breaks occasionally, especially if you pick up on signs that your play isn't as sharp as it should be.

The main sign to look for is that your desire to play is waning. You should play poker when you want to play. It sounds obvious, but too many of us inexplicably keep playing even when we don't want to.

I also find that when I'm experiencing a lot of negative feelings, that's a good time for a break. If I'm feeling negative, not just from poker, but maybe from something else going on in my life, that's going to affect my play, usually for the worse.

The other thing I keep an eye out for is when I'm gambling more than usual. If I'm playing tournaments and I'm finding that I'm too willing to get all my chips in on a coin flip, that's a sign that I'm not playing my best and I need to walk away rather than let myself burn out.

Whatever your particular signs may be, the fact is that if you're consistently losing, chances are there's a reason for it. A lot of players will say, “Oh, I'm just running bad,” but it's rare that that's all there is to it.

And when I take a break, I really take a break − I totally distance myself from the game. I don't play at all for a few days. That allows me to take a step back, get a different perspective, and come back hungry to play well.


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At the 2008 World Series of Poker, a situation arose where I called upon my discipline to take a break even though a part of me really didn't want to. My favorite event was coming up − Half Omaha/Half Hold 'Em - but I could feel myself getting burned out. I hadn't cashed yet and I'd finished on the bubble three times, so I was really demoralized.

Half Omaha/Half Hold 'Em is my favorite tournament and even though I was really looking forward to it, I knew if I played, I wasn't likely to do well and I would make myself tired for other upcoming events. So instead of playing, I headed to Malibu for a couple of days and visited a friend; I went to the beach and totally distanced myself from poker. And the first event I played when I got back was Event #29, $3,000 No-Limit Hold 'Em, and I placed third for a payday of more than $165,000, my biggest live tournament cash to date.

Basically, I liken a poker player's mental processing to a battery: when a battery's life runs low, you need to recharge it. And the best way to recharge is to take a little break from the game. You'll find that some of your best results come when your mind is fresh and when you're playing because you truly want to be playing.

Matt Vengrin