On Thursday, HighStakesDB published an article lauding that Full Tilt Poker pro Gus Hansen is up an amazing $5 million since the beginning of October. $5 million! He’s played about 100,000 hands over the last four months and, despite his first World Poker Tour (WPT) title coming nine years ago in 2002, Hansen has remained atop the industry.
During the last four months, Hansen has pulled in nearly $2 million in $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha Cap games, nearly half of that total coming at the expense of Durrrr Challenge combatant Dan “jungleman12” Cates. He’s also pulled in nearly $500,000 courtesy of Full Tilt’s David Benyamine.
In one Pot Limit Omaha hand, Hansen raised to $2,700 under the gun and received calls from the likes of Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and Scott “URnotINdanger2” Palmer. Then, Benjamin “psychobenny” Spindler pushed the action to $15,000 and Hansen, Galfond, and Palmer all called.
The flop came J-4-8 rainbow and Hansen immediately fired out a bet of $61,500. Galfond moved all-in for his last $42,000 and Spindler committed his last $12,000. When the cards were shown, Hansen held 5h-7d-4c-6c for a straight draw, Galfond held Jc-Kc-Ac-6s for top pair, and “psychobenny” tabled 2d-Ah-Ad-9s for a pair of aces. A pot of $158,000 was up for grabs.
The eight of diamonds and the seven of hearts filled out the board, giving Hansen a straight and allowing the “Great Dane” to scoop the massive pot and add to his $5 million in winnings over the last four months. HighStakesDB described the hand as “a classical example of a pot where so much money goes in pre-flop that all the players involved are committed when they hit a small piece of the flop.”
During his recent run online, Hansen has been on a tear on the live felts as well. In December, he won the Full Tilt Poker Million IX for an even $1 million. That tournament saw Hansen defeat a talented group that included Tony Bloom, reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champ James Bord, and Hendon Mob member Barny Boatman.
Hansen was a legend during the first two seasons of the WPT. He won three tournaments over that span for a combined $1.5 million, as he took down the Five Diamond World Poker Classic and L.A. Poker Classic during Season I and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure during Season II.
Hansen final tabled the Season III Bay 101 Shooting Star stop for $320,000 and the Season VI WPT Championship for $1.7 million. He has a little over $4 million in WPT earnings to his name, the fifth highest total in the series’ history. Carlos Mortensen, the only player ever to win the WSOP Main Event and WPT Championship, is the WPT’s all-time money leader at $5.7 million.
Hansen has been traveling extensively in recent weeks and is set to go on a “Religious Rampage” according to his Twitter. Among his recent destinations have been Thailand, Hong Kong, Budapest, and Denmark, the latter of which he spent the holidays in.
He was also spotted at the Australian Open tennis event last month rooting on Caroline Wozniacki.
You can play with Hansen and company at Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest online poker site.
