Another Good Week for the Great Dane

This year Gus Hansen has been more volatile than the U.S. economy. He had a weak start to the year but quickly rallied and was up more than $2 million coming out of the peak spring poker season. And then…Hansen crashed like the stock market online. By the time the WSOP Europe rolled around in September, Hansen had fallen out of the black and racked up more than $2 million in losses. The Dane got a much needed boost to both his bankroll and his ego when he won his first bracelet in Event 4 of the WSOPE at the end of September. And then…Hansen crashed again.

Proving just how scary October can be, Hansen posted a massive $1.5 million loss at the beginning of the month, pushing him close to $4 million in the red for 2010. Many poker news sources were predicting that Hansen would be the biggest loser this year. Ever since, Hansen’s been putting in long hours at Full Tilt, primarily at the high stakes CAP PLO tables. His hand counts have even exceeded those of notorious grinder Tom Dwan.

Hansen once again rallied, winning back close to $600,000 in the second week of October, and in the middle of this week he set the poker forums on fire after milking fan favorite Luukie21 Wednesday night. Hansen was feeling so good he even donated some of his proceeds to his fellow high stakes players, and he still came out ahead another $582,000. With his early October losses nearly forgotten, Hansen continued to post smaller wins at various tables all the way through the wee hours of Sunday morning. Even as this article was being written, Hansen’s Sunday earnings at the $500/$1000 table climbed another $100,000.

It’s worth noting that one of the online players that put the hurt on Hansen at the beginning of the month is riding their own roller coaster – while Hansen was getting a refund from Luukie21 on Wednesday, his former opponent, DrugsOrMe, was getting squeezed for an end of the night loss of $103,000.

If the last weekend of October is as kind to Hansen as this weekend was, then he might actually finish the month ahead. His annual earnings are another story, though his overall losses are now down to around $2 million again. It’s not a friendly number, but it puts Hansen more than a million away from the current “biggest loser” (Brian Townsend).

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