Full Tilt Poker, which is on the verge of being re-launched in the European online poker market, announced that it has appointed Gus Hansen as its first ambassador. Although the online poker room will bring many more international professional poker players on board, the face of the re-launched online poker room will be Gus Hansen.
Before the US federal government crackdown, Gus Hansen was part of Team Full Tilt. The original investors in Full Tilt Poker and the first members of its Team Full Tilt were Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, and Andy Bloch. When Full Tilt Poker was yet in its infancy, professional poker players such as John Juanda, Clonie Gowen, Erik Seidel, Mike Matusow, and Jennifer Harman formed part of its sponsored team of players. The above-mentioned players became part of the Team Full Tilt for the online poker room’s first two years in business and featured in TV ads, TV shows sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, and promotional material.
Gus Hansen was introduced into Team Full Tilt in July 2006, the first professional poker player to be added to the original group of sponsored pros. Allen Cunningham arrived shortly after Hansen while Patrik Antonius was added in June 2008 and Tom Dwan arrived in November 2009. High stakes online poker games played by Antonius, David Benyamine, Dwan, Ivey, and others provided plenty of entertainment to the online poker community, night after night.
Although Hansen is a cash game expert, he has been very successful in live poker tournaments too and has won more than $11 million in the course of his poker career. He emerged as the champion of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic 2002 and also of the WPT LA Poker Classic 2003, which made him richer by more than half a million dollars. In 2004, he won the WPT PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure and won close to half a million dollars. Besides finishing in the third place at the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, he also emerged as the runner up of the WPT World Championship in 2008.
Regarding Hansen’s return to Full Tilt Poker, Sarne Lightman, head of marketing at Full Tilt Poker, said,
Gus is one of the best-known and most respected names in the poker community. Gus has always embodied the best characteristics of the Full Tilt Poker brand and we are thrilled to have him return as an ambassador.
