A month before its re-launch, Full Tilt Poker has announced that Gus Hansen has been chosen as the first ambassador for the beleaguered online poker room. More “international pros” will be brought on board, but it is Hansen who will be the face of Full Tilt Poker.
This will be Gus Hansen’s second tour of duty with Full Tilt. While the poker room had scads of “red pros” and “Friends of Full Tilt,” Hansen was a member of the exclusive “Team Full Tilt.” Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, and Andy Bloch were amongst the first investors in the company and, consequently, were the original members of Team Full Tilt. John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Clonie Gowen, Eric Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, and Mike Matusow hopped on board in the very early days of the poker site and they, along with the first group, became known as the Full Tilt Pros for the first couple years of the site’s existence, appearing in commercials, promotional materials, and on Full Tilt-sponsored television shows. When online poker players saw their faces, they thought Full Tilt Poker.
Hansen was added to the team in July 2006, his signing announced in a special public event at the Rio during the World Series of Poker. He was the first pro added to Team Full Tilt since that core group. Allen Cunningham followed shortly thereafter, joining up in October of that year. Patrik Antonius became a team member two years later in June 2008 and Tom “durrrr” Dwan was added in November 2009.
Gus Hansen was one of the most railed players on the site, as he threw thousands of dollars around every night in the nosebleed stakes games on Full Tilt. For many, the games between him, Ivey, Dwan, David Benyamine, Antonius, and others became nightly entertainment.
“The Great Dane” is a cash game fiend, but he has also had a lot of success in live tournaments, having won over $11 million in his career. He leapt onto the live tournament scene a decade ago, winning the 2002 World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic and then, less than a year later, he won the 2003 WPT L.A. Poker Classic. Both paid over half a million dollars. The following year, he took down the WPT PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure, a win worth just under half a million bucks. In between, he finished 3rd at the WPT Bellagio Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. He has three other top ten finishes on the World Poker Tour, including a runner-up at the 2008 WPT World Championship.
Hansen also has one World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, earned in the 2010 WSOP Europe £10,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads-Up event and won the Aussie Millions Main Event back in 2007.
Said Hansen in a press release:
“I’m very excited to represent the industry’s most authentic poker brand. Full Tilt Poker has the best games, most innovative software and the strongest poker community; to me this feels like coming home.”
Full Tilt, which will rise from the dead on November 6th, is also obviously excited to have Gus Hansen back in the fold. Full Tilt’s new Head of Marketing, Sarne Lightman, said, “Gus is one of the best-known and most respected names in the poker community. Gus has always embodied the best characteristics of the Full Tilt Poker brand and we are thrilled to have him return as an ambassador.”