PokerStars to host 2 benefit tourneys for Thor Hansen

Posted by Steve Ruddock on Feb 19, 2012 Posted in Online Poker News, Poker Promotions | No Comments »

It recently became public that one of the legends of poker, Thor Hansen, was diagnosed with a Stage 4 cancer that he had little chance to survive, and the poker community has responded as it usually does in these instances with heartfelt support for one of the first European poker players to make it in the US.

One of the companies that is doing all it can for the 64 year-old Norwegian is PokerStars, where Hansen was a member of Team PokerStars Pro. Today PokerStars will host two separate tournaments for the man known as the “Godfather of Norwegian Poker”.

The first tournament will begin at 7:30 PM CET and will feature a $20 buy-in, half of which will be donated to the Thor Hansen Charity Fund. The second tournament will be held at 10 PM CET feature a $100 buy-in, with the same prize-pool breakdown –half of the prize-pool donated to the Thor Hansen Charity Fund. It’s also quite likely that many players in the two tournaments will donate a further percentage of any of their winnings to the Charity Fund, as well as outside donations that should pore in during the running.

Fellow Norwegian poker pro Andreas Hoivold has been keeping the poker world updated on Hansen’s diagnosis and developments. Hoivold first posted on Facebook explaining Hansen’s original diagnosis, saying:

“A short update on Thor Hansen: The cancer he has is colon cancer (Norwegian: Tykktarmskreft), one of the most common cancers there is. It is in stage IV, which is kind of bad. The cancer has spread throughout his abdomen, liver and lungs and it is no longer curable. But there is hope! He can, if his cancer respons well to treatment, live for many more years.

“There is one tragedy. If he had been checked for this type of cancer (procedure called colonoscopy) they would have been able to treat it. I write this so other people will take a colon cancer screening and not end up in the same situation. It is an easy test that everyone over the age of 50 should take once every 10 years. I hope I am not offending anyone by writing this, but it is very important.”

More recently Hoivold posted on the 2+2 poker forum detailing how a doctor in Hansen’s native Norway was working with the poker legend: “She wants to help him decide (what to do) either return to Norway (Hansen lives in California), get free health care here (in the U. S.) or possibly become a “guinea pig” for some new medicines.” Going on to add that “I talked to Thor after he had seen her (the doctor) and he sounded like a new man, really happy to have met a doctor that he feels he can trust 100%.”

We at PokerNewsBoy, along with the rest of the poker world, are hopeful that Thor can beat the disease and continue to be a shining light in the poker world. For more information on the two charity tournaments, or the Thor Hansen Charity Fund you can head on over to PokerStars.com.