Gus Hansen on Returning to Tournament Poker
Gus Hansen, one of the early stars of televised poker during the "boom" years, has made a return to tournament poker for this summer's World Series of Poker.
The "Great Dane" joined the field for the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, and while doing so took some time to talk with PokerNews about what he's been up to and how tournament strategy has evolved and advanced over recent years.
Hansen first made his mark on the poker world by winning the first ever televised World Poker Tour event back in 2002, with his unorthodox and aggressive style while winning the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic making a big impression when the show was first aired in the spring of 2003.
Hansen would go on to win two more WPT titles as well as a bracelet during the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe while amassing over $10 million in tournament winnings. Hansen has shifted his focus to high-stakes cash games, however, and hasn't recorded a tournament cash since 2014.
Hansen discussed with Sasha Salinger how playing a variety of games in the high-stakes cash game rotations might have prepared him for the eight-game mix format of the PPC, though he acknowledges that as far as tournaments are concerned, the game has advanced beyond where it was when he played tournaments more regularly.
"Obviously, I think it's fair to say that in the no-limit game, at least the tournament game, I'm a little bit outdated because I haven't followed the curve and there's a lot of really talented and good players there," says Hansen.
Take a look below and hear Hansen explain why he prefers cash games and the mixed-game format, how split-pot games like seven-card stud hi-lo and Omaha hi-lo provide special strategic challenges to players, as well as his thoughts about veganism, meditation, drinking, and degeneracy.
