Although he has been around in professional poker circuits for more than fifteen years, Gus Hansen had never been able to win a World Series of Poker bracelet until now. The Great Dane, as he is known, started playing poker professionally in 1997 and has three World Poker Tour titles but the golden bracelet turned out to be an elusive prize for him.

The World Series of Poker Europe High Roller Heads-up event gave Hansen the opportunity to achieve his goal of winning a bracelet, plus the £288,409 prize. With this victory, his total winnings in poker tournament have surpassed the $10 million mark. The competition gathered 103 poker players and the final game was a heads-up with the best-two-of-three format in which Hansen beat American player Jim Collopy.

“I’ve been playing in the WSOP since 1996 when my good friend, Huck Seed, won the Main Event,” Hansen said. “I’ve had a lot of attempts since then and come close a couple of times. I’m also surprised it came in a heads-up event.” The WSOP Europe High Roller Heads-up event was hosted by the Empire Casino.

Gus Hansen currently lives in Monte Carlo but he was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and he has also lived in cities such as New York, Santa Cruz and Las Vegas. Besides playing poker in international poker tournaments, Hansen appears in television shows such as the High Stakes Poker and Late Night Poker.