Last week he proved his competitiveness once again on a high-stakes poker scene that's been less than kind to him over the past couple of years.
A solid 600k profit earned last week takes him to the plus side of the ledger for the first time since his return from the summer break.
The same can't be said for Chun Lei "samrostan" Zhou, however, who is sliding faster and faster and is now down more than $6m this year.
Gus Likes His Chances; Isildur Comes Back, Too
If you look at the big picture, the results of the 40-year-old Dane are pretty devastating.
He’s lost $15 million online since November 2012. In the first week of August he burned another $1.5m and the poker community wondered if he could go on much longer.
But just like his bankroll, his ego seems to know no limits. He keeps coming back to try and prove to the world that he can compete on the highest levels.
The last eight days were like balm for his soul. Mixed games in particular are now going his way.
Most of the time Hansen played Alexandre Luneau, Alexander Kostritsyn and Daniel Cates. All three of them have been top players this year, so they can afford to give a little.
Swedish icon Viktor Blom has also made it to the top five players of the week. Over the year, however, Blom is currently beyond good and evil and it doesn’t look like he’s going to dominate the headlines of online poker anytime soon.
Samrostan goes Laliberté
A lot more attention is moving to Chinese player Chun Lei Zhou. Nobody knows where his money comes from, but everybody knows where it goes.
Chun, playing as samrostan, has now become the largest whale in online poker. Slowly but surely, he is becoming the new Guy Laliberté. With another $700k down the drain last week he's now lost over $6m in 2014 alone.
Playing as patpatman on PokerStars he lost around $2m. Before 2013 his nickname on Full Til Poker was patpatpanda. Under that name he lost $2.6m. Since 2013 Chun has now lost more than $9.5 million online.
Over the course of three years the losses of Zhou, who is still not even 30 years old, amount to $14m. That’s the world of Laliberté.
Biggest Hand of the Week
The largest pot of the week – and third-largest pot of the year – played out between Alexander Kostritsyn, Daniel Cates and Gus Hansen.
The game was $300/$600 NLHE during a Mixed Game session. Hansen opened the pot UTG. Kostritsyn then started a raising war and the chips of both players went all-in pre-flop.
Hansen had $166k in the pot and Kostritsyn had him slightly covered. The board was dealt twice and these were the hands at showdown:
Alexander Kostritsyn:
Gus Hansen:
A classic set-up between two monsters with Hansen in dominating position.
Board 1:
Board 2:
On the first board, Hansen was probably already fearing the worst after the flop brought Kostritsyn a flush draw. But eventually the Great Dane was able to win a full pot and this one was worth $334k.
Biggest Winners of the Week
Gus Hansen: $+611,960 Mikael punting-peddler Thuritz: $+542,206 Denoking: $+339,132 SanIker: $+209,454 Viktor Isildur1 Blom: $+205,772
Biggest Losers of the Week
Chun samrostan Lei Zhou: $-568,803 Cort thecortster Kibler-Melby: $-320,743 Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond: $-216,291 RMFG: $-199,048 Isaac luvtheWNBA Haxton: $-173,736
Biggest Winners in 2014
Dan jungleman12 Cates: $+2,861,509 Trueteller: $+2,473,108 Alexander PostflopAction Kostritsyn: $+2,083,213 Alexandre alexonmoon Luneau: $+1,781,516 Niklas Ragen70 Heinecker: $+1,463,133
Biggest Losers in 2014
Chun samrostan Lei Zhou: $-6,013,975 Gus Hansen: $-3,621,547 Phil Polarizing Ivey: $-1,815,817 Julius KagomeKagome Fleischer: $-1,339,815 Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond: $-1,297,854
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