Gus Hansen to commentate for WSOB

Gus Hansen is going back to backgammon, but not as a player. He has signed on as a commentator for Season 2 of the World Series of Backgammon.

The Great Dane is well known in the poker world where he has more than $5 million in tournament cashes alone. Not many people know that Hansen was a professional backgammon player before he switched to poker, though.

The world of backgammon was too small for him back then, but Gus Hansen is returning now to help shed a little more light on it by commentating during three live events on the World Series of Backgammon tour.

"As a commentator, I get the opportunity to participate in the World Series of Backgammon events and to give my insights to a wider audience," Hansen says in his Full Tilt Poker blog.

"I certainly hope that it will encourage a lot of people (in particular poker players) to take up this great game - there is no doubt that it will develop your math skills thereby improving your decisions at the poker table."

Hansen will join co-commentator John Clark as well as host Jessie Cantrell on the WSOB presentation team.

The first live event they will be taking on is the U.K. Masters in London in November. From there they will head to the TrueMoneygames Nordic Open in Copenhagen in March 2008 and on to Cannes in Jully 2008 for the Riviera Cup.

The team will also present the grand finale of the series at the WSOB Championship with will also take place in Cannes to wrap up the second season.

"Both the presentation and production teams are excited about bringing the story and tension of match-play backgammon back to the screens of millions of backgammon and poker players across Europe," said Andy Bell, WSOB producer.

"The Series promises to be full of intriguing, skillful play, colorful personalities and I think a few surprises … We are confident that the growing gaming audience will find the content stimulating and educational."

Helping add to the entertaining nature of the game, the WSOB has a few format changes for this season which will give out more prize money and allow more players to get involved.

One change was the addition of the grand final. It will be played immediately following the conclusion of the Riviera Cup in Cannes.

The top eight players from the first three events will all win €10,000 seats in the grand finale, and there will be eight online qualifiers in the event as well.

The grand finale will also take on a more fast-paced format than the other live tournaments with shootout-style, three-point matches.

Live and online qualifiers will take place for all of the live events in the WSOB. The series will be broadcast on Eurosport 1 and 2.

courtesy of Sarah Polson

News Added: 25 July, 2007

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