Gus Hansen going Full Tilt

The name Full Tilt Poker should be pretty familiar to any of you with an interest in online gambling.

Since launching in 2004, Full Tilt enjoyed a meteoric rise to become one of the biggest online poker sites in the world. They then took a much publicised tumble at the hands of the DOJ and FBI during poker’s Black Friday crackdown.

Fast forward a few years and they’re back up and running under new management, new ownership (Canadian gaming giant Amaya Group) and with new licenses in Malta and the Isle of Man.

Can you imagine all the backroom wheelings and dealings that would have taken place from shutdown in 2011 to relaunch?

One of the new management’s first orders of business during the re-construction process was to get their much celebrated stable of Full Tilt Pros re-signed. You know these guys…the ones who manage to make a lot of final tables at the big tournaments and who are always wearing a baseball cap and t-shirt emblazoned with their sponsors’ logo.

The first guy to re-signed as brand ambassador for the reborn Full Tilt was Gus Hansen. That was October 2012.

Gus has a very impressive poker CV, a string of big tournament victories to his name and total live tournament winnings of over $11,200,000.

But here’s the amazing thing…presently he’s Full Tilt’s biggest loser. Daylight is second and third.

According to online poker win/loss tracking site Highstakesdb, Gus’ net losses at his sponsor’s website are now approaching $20 million. His net position is becoming a regular reporting item at many poker websites these days.

Gus Hansen’s wins & losses at Full Tilt, source: Highstakesdb

His most successful period of play since originally opening his account is August 2011 to October 2012 while the site was not taking bets.

The world of high stakes poker and the individuals who occupy it is one I won’t even pretend to understand. Maybe Hansen has covered these losses (and then some) playing backroom high stakes cash games, or from his numerous other business ventures. He certainly hasn’t covered them from his tournament wins.

The losses raise another question. What does it take to get a Full Tilt sponsorship these days? I am completely capable of losing that much playing online poker, so long as anyone is stupid enough to extend me the credit.

Does this have ANYTHING to do with live dealer games?

Could well do.  I’ll leave it at that for the time being, and direct you to this thread in the forums so you can join your own dots.