The Scoop -- Gus Hansen

Gus Hansen is hands down the most successful player in World Poker Tour history. He's won four titles, including the 2004 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the 2003 L.A. Poker Classic, the 2002 Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, and the invitation-only Bad Boys of Poker. He also finished second in the 2008 WPT Championship. Surprisingly, he has not had the same success at the World Series of Poker. Hansen sits down with Adam and Diego to talk about it.

Diego Cordovez: In the first week [of the WSOP], Erick Lindgren and David Singer both won bracelets - guys who were among the best players never to have won a bracelet. You are the best player never to have won a bracelet. You've won a lot of WPTs, big money, and everything; is it important to you to do?

Gus Hansen: Well, it's always been hyped up, the bracelet thing, and to me, it's kind of like a poker tournament is a poker tournament. I just came in second in the World Poker Tour final event. I was looking to win, but I came in second, still a very good result. But I'd rather take a win in that tournament than win the $10,000 mixed event here [WSOP]. I mean, I think it's a bigger accomplishment to win that event, even though to win here would have given me a bracelet, and the other one would have given me a World Poker Tour bracelet. To me, it's a little bit hyped.

Adam Schoenfeld: They give out bracelets like Chiclets now.

GH: Really, the thing is, I'm not trying to diminish the legend of Doyle Brunson. He's been here for years and he's still going strong. He's 72, and he's still a great player. I talked to Eli Elezra, we were playing deep in the mixed event, and it seemed like Doyle never got a run going, but he was just hanging in there, hanging in there, and hanging in there. I mean, it was impossible to get rid of him. He just knows how to play all the games, he's been around for a long time. He knows how to deal with the Internet young bucks who just push on the raise button all the time, but there is also a difference between winning a bracelet in 1985 and in 2008. Fields are much bigger and the average player is much better, so nowadays, picking up a lot of World Series of Poker bracelets is very tough. Allen Cunningham and Phil Ivey have done pretty good at picking up four or five in the last couple of years.

AS: Yeah, Allen has won one three years in a row.

GH: Obviously, a very strong performance from them. I would love to catch up, but I don't play quite as many tournaments as the others. I still think of no-limit hold'em tournaments as my strongest game; that's where I can really make a mark.

DC: Do you think it is just the way the chips have fallen, or is there something about the World Series structures or tournaments that are different, because you've won everything else. You won the Aussie Millions, the WPTs, so …

GH: I think the structure is fairly comparable; there might be slight differences in the way they start out the tournaments; maybe they [WPT] start a little slower, but as the tournament progresses, they are very comparable, so I don't think there is that much of a difference. I think maybe the motivation is a tad bit different. If we take Mr. 11, Phil Hellmuth, he has won a World Series of Poker bracelet and … [thinking] no, he has not won anything else [laughing]! No, he did win the NBC Heads Up, but he's very motivated. He would love to get number 12. I'm sure he's down there grinding it out playing the $1,000 rebuy, playing the $1,500 tournaments, whereas I'm probably more motivated to play a $10,000 World Poker Tour or €10,000 European Poker Tour event. That's more up my alley, so I think the motivational factor also means quite a bit.

AS: Phil defines his whole being as a man by bracelets. You might be a little more well-rounded in that sense [laughing].