Gus Hansen Online Poker Losses Now Surpass $20m

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Friday, September 12th, 2014 | Written by Charles Washington

Danish poker pro Gus Hansen has long been the subject of endless articles related to his wild swings, but ultimately huge losses when playing online poker cash games. Towards the end of 2010, for instance, Hansen went on an $8 million upswing to reduce his losses on Full Tilt Poker to just $2.5 million, but since the site went back online in November 2012 “The Great Dane” has proceeded to lose a staggering $17 million on Full Tilt Poker, taking his total losses to $20,395,597 as of today, making him by far the biggest loser in the history of online poker.

Tournament specialist

During the poker boom which took place in the early to mid-noughties, Gus Hansen’s super aggressive “new-school” style of play served as an inspiration for a whole new generation of poker players, not least because he almost seemed to be able to win at will. Between May 2002 and April 2003, for instance, Gus captured three WPT titles, and has since gone on to add another WPT title, as well as a WSOP bracelet, and an Aussie Millions Main Event title to his impressive tournament resume.

The 40 year-old may now boast $11,258,052 in tournament winnings, ranking him 19th on poker’s ‘All Time Money List’, but the last couple of years haven’t been that kind to Gus having earned just $30,605 in 2013, and a mere $17,376 so far this year. For a poker pro it is important to concentrate on their own areas of expertise, and many believe its Hansen’s propensity to play and lose against the world’s best at online cash games which may also have negatively impacted his confidence and therefore his tournament results.

Signed As Sponsored Full Tilt Pro

Being one of the most liked and respected players in modern poker, Gus Hansen was quickly snapped up as a sponsored pro by Full Tilt Poker, and when the site reopened in 2012 Hansen once again was signed, this time around as FTP’s first brand ambassador. Full Tilt Poker has always been noted for its competitive cash games which over the years have attracted some of the biggest winners in the game, including Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Tom Dwan, to name but a few.

However, being a tournament specialist doesn’t necessarily transfer into great cash game skills, and the last time Hansen’s Full Tilt account was in positive territory was way back in 2009, according to highstakesdb.com. Hansen has also failed to adapt to changes in the online poker game over the years, and admits to having “just about the worst game selection in the world,” as well as not using any HUD or tracking software deemed as essential tools for any online poker pro. As Gus explains “it seems like I should. I don’t know much about Holdem Manager and Poker Tracker, but it looks like I should learn more.”

Losing Run Continues

As a result, Hansen continues to lose thousands of dollars every week on the site, and in spite of attempts to adapt his game and approach accordingly, seems destined to keep on plunging further into the red. Given an indication as to some of the frustrations experienced from losing huge amounts on a daily basis, Hansen wrote the following after a particularly brutal session earlier this year:

“Well, right now, I’m not very f***ing positive, I can tell you that! I mean, I had another big losing session last night, so I need sleep and exercise. Actually, I’ve been on a long losing streak, so I have to look away from the results and look at how I’m handling myself and how I play. I have to dig deep and find a way to get back on top of things. This might include even a longer break from poker just to clear my head.”

Is Gus Hansen Broke?

Not surprisingly, many poker enthusiasts have wondered how Gus Hansen has been able to lose more than $20 million online and still manage to stay afloat.

Outside of playing poker, Gus Hansen founded online poker site Pokerchamps.com along with Tony G and Erik “Erik 123” Sagstrom, with the threesome subsequently selling their venture for $17 million in 2005. Since then, Gus has invested some of his money in his own poker website, theplayr.com, has written a book entitled ‘Every Hand Revealed,’ and continues to receive sponsorship money from Full Tilt.

Nevertheless, the truth is that no one really knows how much money Gus Hansen still has left or for how much longer he will be able to continue losing cash at Full Tilt’s virtual tables. In the meantime, Hansen could probably profit from the advise given to him in an article written on pokerjunkie.com, which states:

“If someone told me they were steadily losing money over the years playing poker, I would tell them to either move down in stakes, step away for an extended period, or leave poker altogether. Yes, Gus has accomplished more than any of us will ever accomplish in poker, but at the same time, he has lost more money than most any of us will ever see. Perhaps it is time to put the “Great Dane” to sleep, at least when it comes to poker.”