The Great Dane Of Poker

Poker pro Gus Hansen, or “The Great Dane”, as he has been nicknamed by his poker fans, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1974, as Gustav Hansen. He was an all-round sportsman, with his main talent being in tennis, and started his professional career as a backgammon player. He quickly became one of the best backgammon players in the world, and moved to New York to try and make his living there.

Due to limited opportunities in his field he quit and discovered poker as an exchange student at the University of California in 1993, with Texas Holdem being his specialty. It didn't take him long to master the game and discover his own unique approach to playing it, and he became widely known for his wild method of betting.

WPT Title Grabs By The Magician

One of poker's most interesting top poker players, Antonio Esfandiari, formerly a profession magician, is a bona fide superstar in the card-playing community. Poker pro Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari was able to comeback from a short-stack to beat out a tough field of poker pros at the final table and win the coveted title – his second WPT win.

The Magician entered the final day in fifth out of 6^th place with nearly a third of the chips possessed by chip-leader Vanessa Rousso. However, Esfandiari was able to regain the form that had him near the top of the leader-board since Day 1 of the tournament, before nearly being eliminated with about 10 players remaining.

The final table for the WPT Five Diamonds will likely go down as one of the strongest in poker history featuring six talented professional players. In the end it was Esfandiari who would hold his hands up in victory, and pocket the $870,000 that was awarded to the winner of the tournament.