Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen is at it again. Last year, the Full Tilt Poker pro ran the tables, and already this year, he is looking to out pace himself. Working primarily the Pot Limit Omaha and Draw Poker games, Hansen has absolutely dominated the competition. In Draw Poker alone, Hansen has pulled in $1.8 million since November 2010. Since January 1, 2011, Hansen has already won $3 million total in online poker. Presently, this makes him 2011’s biggest winner by far. He remains extremely active on Full Tilt Poker. The past week has seen Hansen playing just under 3,000 hands, some included in his sessions with Rui Cao, Jared Bleznick (harrington25), and rumprammer.
Keeping up his breakneck pace is almost impossible. However, if Hansen were to continue, he would profit almost $20 million on Full Tilt in 2011! At the moment, Hansen’s closest competition is FISHosaurusREX who has only $882,000 in 2011 winnings.
Hansen is placed at 16th in poker’s All Time Money list with north of $9 million in live tournament earnings. Notably, his cash game is known as his weak spot, with the Dane’s cash games generating a loss equal to his tournament winnings. The past 6 months, however, Full Tilt players have been exposed to an entirely different type of Gus Hansen in the cash games. Players such as Dan Cates and David Benyamine have lost a combined total of $1.5 million in Pot Limit Omaha games to Hansen. We have yet to see even the halfway point of 2011, however, and it remains to be seen how far Hansen takes his comeback.
Draw Poker has shifted the balance of power in the top table limits, with established pros being ousted by new names. Some of the more prominent big name losers of 2011 include Tom Dwan (durrr) and Phil Galfond (OMGClayAiken), each seeing their bank rolls dip more than $1 million.