Poker Articles

By MattW | Published Jan 15 2008, 01:33 PM
When you mix in the word 'poker' with the place 'Denmark,' one of the first images you may conjure up is the face of a man known as The Great Dane.  Gus Hansen has been an integral part of the poker boom that is currently taking place in Denmark, undoubtedly sparking the interest of many a Dane.  With or without Gus, however, Denmark is known as one of the most peaceful and livable nations.  In 2007 Denmark was ranked as the happiest place in the world.  It is kind of ironic then, that the next five happy-go-lucky Danes are spreading anything but cheer when they sit down at the poker tables and wreak havoc on their competition.

The #1 ranked Dane is the widely feared and respected Jonas "Klausen" Klausen (pictured top) from Odensem, Fyn.  This 21 year old has had the type of success that turns heads from a distance.  Just last month, he had the biggest score of his blossoming poker career, finishing 3rd in the PokerStars $1050 Buy-in Sunday Million for $126,861.  Prior to this heavyweight finish, he already had five 5-figure scores totaling $199,286 including four wins, the biggest of which was a PokerStars $109 Rebuy for $39,925.  Klausen has also had measurable success live, as he finished 3rd in the DKr 30,000 NLHE - Championship Event for $77,000 and won the 1,000 Euro NLHE Event at The Poker Royal Masters in Osterreich for another 34,735.  His hard work has paid off in more than just monetary terms, as he is atop the Denmark leaderboard with 3,532 PLB points.

Though Klausen is no easy act to follow, Soren "Kongsgaard" Kongsgaard from Skive, Viborg is more than worthy of the task.  This young gun has been phenomenal both online and live, proving that he has what it takes to make it as a professional poker player.  In 2007 he had three huge scores online:  3rd in the PokerStars $500 Buy-in for $71,426, 2nd in the FullTilt $1 Million Guarantee for $121,588 (three months ago), and 2nd in the FTOPS #13 for a massive $261,750 (two months ago).  Not a bad year on the virtual felt to say the least.  In the live arena, he had even more success, winning just under $1.4 million.  Most notably, Kongsgaard took third in the 10,000 Euro EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo for $814,306, 1st in the 1,000 Euro EPT Barcelona for $140,395, and 1st in the DKr 30,000 NLHE - Championship Event for $234,174 (in which Klausen took 3rd).  This type of a poker resume makes Konsgaard a certifiable force and places him 108 PLB points behind Klausen with a score of 3,424.

Coming in at #3 in Denmark is comhood from Glostrup.  Also at the young age of 21, comhood has already accomplished a great deal. In 2007 he had 27 cashes over $1,000 and won a total of six tournaments.  His greatest accomplishment to date occurred at the end of December when he won the PokerStars Nightly Hundred Grand for $26,727.  He also won the PokerStars $25k Guaranteed in December, leaving him with some presumably lofty goals for 2008.  As of this writing comhood has 2,641 PLB points.

The 4th ranked Dane is 28 year old JCTurn from Singapore, Denmark.  JC had a nice 2007, securing five 5-figure scores for a total of over $76k.  His largest cash came via a 2nd place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance for $27,209.  In addition, he has won a PokerStars $55 Rebuy, a PokerStars $55 NLHE (6-max), and a PokerStars $109 buy-in freezeout.  It will be interesting to see how 2008 pans out for JCTurn and at the moment he is in prime position to overtake comhood with 2,463 PLB points.

The last player to make the cut in Denmark is self-proclaimed online geek vegie_1999 from Aalborg, Nordjylland.  In contrast to the other players, vegie competes in somewhat more modest buy-ins.  However this in no way diminishes what he's done.  In 2007, he took down six tournaments and final tabled 31 more.  At the end of the day, he cashed for just over $85k in one year.  His largest cash was a 2nd place finish in a PokerStars $11 Rebuy ($45k Guaranteed) for $6,001.  He has been a steady winner and may just be due for a big score.  For now, vegie has 2,026 PLB points and plenty to be happy about in what is already the happiest nation of them all.

Until next time, good luck at the tables and be sure to check out how you match up to the competition in your corner of the world at P5s Sortable Rankings.