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Brian “Sailor” Roberts was one of the pioneers of Poker. He toured the USA in the 1950’s when poker was illegal and quite literally risked his life for the game. Quite often during the cash games he played in robbers would raid the game and at gunpoint or knifepoint, take all of the money from the game. This did not deter Sailor, Doyle and “Amarillo Slim” Thomas Preston from continuing to pursue the risky profession of poker. People close to Sailor said that he made enough money through poker to live fifteen lifetimes but he gave most of his money away before he died. He was famous for being a rounder with Amarillo Slim and Doyle Brunson. He lived a colourful life helping pave the way for poker as we know it today and it is important to remember the origins of poker and the players who risked it all, including their lives, so that the game would continue to remain active until it became legal in the 1970’s.

Brian Roberts was born in Texas on March 7th 1931 and was always surrounded with gambling from a young age. He used to hustle the rich kids playing Golf and shooting craps with the other Caddies when he was as young as 12. He joined the Navy when he was older during the Korean War and that is where he gained the nickname “Sailor” which stuck with him throughout his life, much like his love of the gamble. During his life, as well as being a top level professional poker player he also enjoyed much success at his other game of choice, contract bridge.

Because the 1950’s poker circuit was so rough with robbings and even killings not uncommon on the road he travelled with Amarillo Slim and Doyle Brunson so they could watch each others back and support one another. These three players used a joint bankroll, celebrating their wins and lamenting their losses together and became friends for life. It was quite the colourful lifestyle, in one particular cash game there was armed security on the roof in case local criminals tried to come and raid the game. The three players disbanded once they went to Las Vegas and went broke but all three went on to enjoy lots of success at the top of the game. Roberts was jailed in the 1960’s for one year in a minimum security jail for illegal bookmaking. The bookmaking venture was actually a pursuit that Roberts, Brunson and Slim did together on the side but the latter two gave it up after it became illegal to pass sports information across state lines. Roberts continued and subsequently got into trouble for it.

During the 1970’s he was thrust into the mainstream poker scene when the game became legal. He won his first bracelet in Deuce to 7 Draw for $35,850 in the 1974 World Series and followed up that win becoming the main event champion one year later in 1975. He also managed an 8th place finish in the 1982 main event. Sailor remained active in the game until he died in 1995 from Schlerosis caused by Hepatitis. According to Amarillo Slim Roberts got rich and went broke over ten times. He was very generous with his money often loaning it to other players when they were down on their luck and sometimes partnering with other players to help them stay in the action. A quote from Amarillo Slim regarding Roberts says “Money came and went; it really never seemed to bother Sailor”.

His running mates in the 1950’s Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim continue to be actively involved in poker to this day and always speaking fondly of Sailor Roberts when giving interviews about their past lives and history of the game. Despite his stature in the game, Sailor was never inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark, Gustav “Gus” Hansen grew up playing different sports, although tennis is his favorite. He became a youth tennis champion. He is also fascinated with math and numbers that when he was introduced to Backgammon, he never looked back. He practiced nonstop and would play it for hours. He moved to New York to be a professional backgammon player and it was during this time that he was introduced to various types of pokers.

He started playing poker in 1993 when he played at the Ocean View Card Room when he was an exchange student in California. In 1996, he played his first World Series of Poker event and was knocked out during the first day of the tournament. This led to his determination of succeeding in the poker world by practicing and experimenting on different game styles. It has always been his game to mix up different game styles.

1998 was the year when Hansen played more poker than backgammon. He chose poker because the field is larger compared to backgammon. His trips to Las Vegas have become more frequent during this time.

During the 2002 World Poker Tour, he developed a loose aggressive style that led to his success and notoriety in the world of professional poker. He would raise with any two cards that opponents won’t know if his hand is legitimate or not.

He won the first WPT event, $10,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, then later that year also won the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’ em Championship at the WPT’s L.A. Poker Classic. This is the beginning of a wonderful professional poker success.

The next year, Hansen won the invitational Bad Boys of Poker Tournament. Then in the early part of 2004, he earned his fourth WPT win at the Caribbean Adventure tournament. He could have captured another title that year during the Bellagio Five Diamond tournament but his pocket 10s lost to his opponent’s A-Q and had to settle for third place. He also made the final table at a European Poker Tour event in Barcelona.

It was also in 2004 when he played at the final table of the Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament but once again had to settle for a third place finish. His four WPT titles and five final table appearances earned him an induction to WPT’s Walk of Fame, along with James Garner and Doyle Brunson. He is the only player to win at least three WPT open tournaments.

In 2005, Hansen focused more on cash games and played only a few tournaments. Still he made it to the final table of FullTiltPoker.Net Poker Invitational in Monaco and won the first ever Poker Superstars Invitational.

2006 was a memorable year for Hansen. He made High Stakes Poker history by winning its biggest pot of $575,700 by winning over Daniel Negreanu’s 6-6 with his 5-5 hand with a board of 9-6-5-5-8. Then later on the year he won at the first European Poker Masters FullTiltPoker.com London All Star Challenge. During this year’s WSOP Tournament of Champions, he reached the final table only to be ousted in the first hand when his A-K lost to pocket 9s. He was part of the Danish team, with Theo Jorgensen and Kim Christofte, to win the PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup tournament

Though he finished 61^st in the 2007 WSOP $10,000 no limit Texas hold ‘em championship, he still brought home $154,194. It was this year that he won his biggest pot ever, $1.2 million, at the Aussie Millions Main Event.

2008 saw Hansen place second place at the Season 6 WPT Championship where he lost to David Chiu. This year he has also launched a poker community website called ThePlayr.com. It contains his blog, articles, and a Gus Tracker that traces where Hansen goes.

Gambling is in his system. He is known to take on bets on different sporting events every now and then. Well he has a lot of money to gamble. As of 2008, his total poker earnings have reached at least $7,200,000.

When he is not playing poker, he would spend that time playing sports like golf, tennis, squash and soccer. He says that physical activities such as sports build up his stamina that’s needed when you’re a professional poker player.

He was the founding partner as well as the house pro of pokerchamps.com, which was launched in 2003. The company was sold in 2005 for $15 million. Despite selling it, Hansen was still involved with the 2005 PokerChamps Danish Championships.

He has also appeared in an instructional DVD series called Texas Hold’em Poker Advanced Strategies with Gus Hansen. He is currently the endorser of Frank Q, a Danish men’s fashion line. This year Hansen’s Every Hand Revealed is published. It tells the story of how he won the 2007 Aussie Millions.

Matt was on a heads up match and was dealt aces black. Then on the flop came 10-10-A. Full house aces is not bad so he went all in. His opponent called. His opponent had pocket 10s. Even though you think you have a strong hand, don’t underestimate your opponents.

Wes was up with 700 plus chips. Then he was dealt with pocket kings on the big blind. He got raised and re-raised before he made it to flat $500. The next guy went all in and the other follows. Wes called as well. One opened his pocket 10s while the other had pocket Qs. Wes was celebrating but it was premature because the flop was 10-10-3. The turn was 5 and the river was 7.

Have you faced someone that you wished you had his luck? Well this is the story of Jason when he faced someone that’s lucky. Holding an A-7 with a K-7-7 flop, Jason was raised all in by his opponent. The guy has been lucky all throughout the match, betting on sheer gut. Jason feels that his triple 7 can hold up to anything the lucky guy has, he called. As it turns out, the opponent had K-K. Both the turn and river were rags.