Gus Hansen Turns to Bridge

Most of you reading this are probably aware of the hardships Gus Hansen has been going through at the online high stakes tables. Just a couple months ago, his profit graph hit a new low, with his losses at Full Tilt falling below the $20 million mark.

However, this article will focus on a completely different aspect of the Great Dane’s life – that of entrepreneurship. According to the Danish portal business.dk, Gus has invested some serious money in a completely different card game: Bridge.

Apart from his passion for poker, Hansen is well-known amongst his fans as an avid backgammon player and, according to some rumors, his backgammon winnings have gone a long way in helping him stay afloat in the world's high stakes poker games.

Recently, he added another game to his list of interests, that of Bridge, and has participated in a number of events during the past few years. During his time spent on the Bridge circuit, Gus has noticed some of the problems the tournament organizers have been facing on a daily basis and decided to invest some time and money in offering a solution.

Joined by other investors, Hansen has come out with a brand new machine called Bridge+ Dealer and it should debut in the Copenhagen Bridge Invitational event taking place from January 16-18. The fact that even Prince Henrik should be amongst those attending testifies about the popularity and reputability of this event.

Hansen took many by surprise when he won that tournament back in 2010, capturing the title playing alongside his partner Tom Hanion. This year, the two are back at it, trying to repeat their past success.

Setting cards for a Bridge tournament may seem simpler than it sounds if you are not familiar with the game, but it is, in fact, quite a complicated process. The difference between Bridge and most other card games lies in the fact that the players seated at a tournament in the same position at the tables will receive identical cards. This means that skill alone will determine who gets the best score – luck has really nothing do with it.

Ensuring that all the players at the same positions receive the same cards and keeping track of all the scores can be a costly and time-consuming process. Bridge+ Dealer aims to resolve this problem by loading the distributions in advance and having hands ready to go. The machine should also help with keeping score and recording progress of the games for later analysis.

Although the money in Bridge is not nearly as high as it is in poker (or high stakes backgammon), it is a game largely played by the elite, so there is no doubt that the Great Dane will find an opportunity to win some money in some ‘free games’ outside of the tournament.

Bridge+ Dealer also sounds like a really helpful invention and, if things work out well, Hansen and his partners could be making some serious money from this project by selling the rights to use the machine to some of the biggest bridge tournaments in the world.

Photo: www2.bridge.dk