The professional poker circuit is used to a Danish player named Gus Hansen doing well in events.  Now it seems another Dane named Hansen has burst on to the scene.  Casper Hansen is no relation to Gus but showed form worthy of his elder countryman to win the World Poker Tour Spanish Championship.

Nicknamed “The Poker Ghost” the teenager is now £331,885 better off as reward for his victory in the No Limit Hold’Em event at the WPT Spanish Championship held at Casino Barcelona.

He defeated a field of 235 players which included many established international players.  Carlos Mortensen, Annette Obrestad, Juha Helppi and Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari were all competing to win the 2008 Spanish Championship.  However, none of these players even made the final table.  This event has been somewhat overshadowed by the World Series of Poker which follows on directly after this event, but many top players saw it as ideal preparation for poker’s top prize.

Eventually Carlos Hansen battled his way through the qualifiers and the final table to meet fellow Scandinavian Stefan Mattsson.  Mattsson from Sweden has finished 57th and 22nd in the last two years of the World Series of Poker.  The Swede was hoping for a WPT win on the eve of this year’s World Series of Poker where he hopes to further improve on his previous placings.

Mattsson held the chip lead over Hansen going into the heads-up, although he was unable to capitalise on this lead.

A significant moment came when, Hansen doubled up through Mattsson when they both went all-in.  Mattsson held the ace of clubs and 4 of spades compared with Hansen’s ace of diamonds and 8 of spades.  The board came queen of clubs, 8 of clubs, 3 of spades, the jack of hearts and 5 of hearts, giving Hansen a pair of eights to reduce Mattsson’s lead.

This inspired Hansen to go on and take the chip lead just seven hands later.

In the final hand Mattsson’s $205,000 raise from the blind caused Hansen to go all-in with the chip lead holding the ace of spades and the 2 of spades.  Mattsson called as he held the ace of hearts and the 9 of diamonds which gave the Swede an advantage.  However, the flop produced 5 of diamonds, 5 of hearts and the 2 of diamonds giving the Dane two pair.  The jack of clubs and king of clubs came on the turn and river to secure the hand as well as the title for the young Dane.

The poker world’s attention will now be on Las Vegas where the World Series of Poker is already underway.

Here are a list of the final table positions as well as the player’s prize money in dollars and pounds for the 2008 WPT Spanish Championship:

Casper Hansen $655,720 (£331,885)
Stefan Mattsson $346,621 (£175,370)
Thiago Nishijima $176,934 (£89,523)
Andres Vidal $137,703 (£69,673)
Guy Sitbon $118,166 (£59,788)
Martin Lundinius $98,157 (£49,664)
Atanus Gueorguiev $59,083 (£29,894)
Nordine Bouya $39,468 (£19,970)  

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