Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen was born Gustav Hansen on February 13, 1974 outside Copenhagen, Denmark. Gus is a professional poker player who lives in Monaco.

Before turning to playing poker professionally in 1997, Hansen was a world class backgammon player and a youth tennis champion.

He was known for being a sports enthusiast throughout his teens, competing in several indoor and outdoor sports as a successful junior athlete.

In 2000, he moved to New York City, and tried to make a living playing professional backgammon, but found the field too small for his taste.

He calls himself a professional gambler and has been known to take private bets on various personal athletic challenges other than poker and professional sports.

Hansen started playing poker in Santa Cruz, California while he was an exchange student at The University of California at Santa Cruz in 1993.

He is notorious for his extremely loose, aggressive play. He has a reputation for raising or bluffing with almost any two cards, which leads to opponents calling or raising his bets when he has a legitimate hand.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,770,000.

Personal Quote

I really like poker and of course they are different games, but it's all poker. If you know how to play one game then you know how to play them all. It's just different rules. In all games you have to be aggressive, keep your opponents guessing, and be able to read people well. I like stud a lot, I like triple draw, and I like no limit holdem. I like all kinds of games. I like poker.