Gus Hansen talks about his absence from the poker world

One of the most recognised players in the poker world, Gus Hansen, gave an interview to World Poker Tour. The Danish legend talks about his past few years and his returning hunger for the game.

Hansen played at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic earlier this year and he sat down with WPT for a short interview. The 3-times champion of the series - who hasn't cash in the tournament since 2008 - lets us in on what he has been up to in the last five years and discusses the changes of the poker world.

“I really have left the poker tournament scene during the last five years,” Hansen started. “Probably a little bit random because I played the One Drop and I really enjoyed it. Even though I kind of bubbled, which is never too much fun, I thought I played pretty decent. Of course, I made a few mistakes along the way, but we all do. So, I was actually planning on coming over here no matter what, but the tournament made me feel like I would play the main event here.”

He also believes that his book "Every hand revealed" hurt his game: “What really changed a lot was after my book came out, it seemed like people just never believed I had a hand, in their mind,” Hansen said. “I don’t think I did a good job of adjusting because as we all know, I like to play a lot of hands. I made a lot of mistakes along the way not adjusting to the perceived image of me. Now, I haven’t played in a long time so maybe sometimes they believe I have something, I don’t know.”

Gus feels the huge improvement of the players, he battles against: “The good players are better and what’s probably more important is the bad players have gotten better,” he said. “You could find a lot of bad players back in the day. Now, the so-called ‘bad players’ put pressure on you, they re-raise you, do different kinds of things. It’s just tougher.”

He also hints at the end that fans can expect him to show up more often at the big tournaments, as he really enjoys competing against the best players in the world: “I have to re-discover and re-invent thing. Now that I’ve played the One Drop there and a little poker here the last couple months, I’m getting into a rhythm. I’m probably going to play more poker next year. There’s a chance you’ll see me in a couple more tournaments.”

We can only hope that the living legend gets back to the game and we can see his exciting, aggressive style at the tables. Which is your favourite "Gus-hand"?

(courtesy of world poker tour)

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