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Thor Hansen Passes Away at 71

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Norway’s greatest poker export has played his final hand of poker. Thor Hansen, the Godfather of Norwegian Poker, passed away on Wednesday after a six-year battle with terminal cancer. Hansen had been a staple of the poker world since the mid-1980s and was competitive in the game all the way up until his death. He was 71-years-old.

Long Career Primarily in the United States

Hansen was born in Oslo back in 1947 but spent much of his life at the poker tables in the United States, primarily in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. His first recorded live tournament cashes were back in 1987 as he made three final tables at the Grand Prix of Poker.

The next year, Hansen cashed three times at the 1988 World Series of Poker, making three final tables and winning the $5k Seven Card Stud Event for his first WSOP bracelet. Interestingly enough, his first live tournament win came later that year in the Malta European Poker Championship in a small Five Card Draw event.

Hansen did not win another WSOP bracelet until 2002 when he won the $1,500 Ace to Five Lowball Event. That was his last WSOP bracelet victory despite making multiple final tables afterward. In fact, his largest live career score came in the 2007 $5,000 HORSE Event when he finished in eighth place. This deep run showed that Hansen could continue to play all games well despite the changing poker climate.

In 2010, Hansen has his autobiography published and it portrayed a very interesting life for the Norwegian that included high stakes poker but smuggling, robbery, and even murder. At one point, filmmakers considered making his life story into a movie, but that didn’t happen – at least not yet.

Cancer Diagnosis and Continued Battle

Back in 2012, Hansen revealed that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and the poker world braced themselves for his death. However, Hansen underwent treatment and showed amazing resilience in continuing to survive for another six years after his diagnosis.

What is perhaps most impressive about his battle was that he continued playing poker, and even excelled. In 2015, Hansen made one final run at the World Series of Poker, cashing five times, including a 15th place finish in a large field $1,500 NL Hold’em Event. In 2017, Hansen made final tables in smaller events at the Irish Poker Open and the PokerStars Championship Barcelona.

Hansen continued to play up until the end with his last cash coming in the Irish Open back in March. Little did we know that it would be the last of his career at the time. Hansen ended his career with $2.94 million in verified cashes.

Note that since Hansen started playing pre-Boom, there are likely many cashes that were never recorded. Tournament tracking outside of major events didn’t really become a thing until the Poker Boom.

Hansen finished third on the Norway All-Time Money List and 478th on Poker’s All-Time Money List. His highest ranking on the money list was 43rd.

Poker Community Pays Tribute

Not surprisingly, the poker community as a whole turned out to pay their respects to the Norwegian superstar. Here is a small sampling of some of the tributes:

Thor Hansen is remembered by many not just for his play at the tables, but also his personality and friendship. He was one of the most genuine people that you could have met at the tables and playing with him was like playing with a friend, an uncle, or even a grandfather. Most everyone that played with him adored him and he made the game better for everyone that played.

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