There aren’t many players that have been more important to Norwegian poker than two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Thor Hansen. On Tuesday the poker world was saddened to hear the news that the 64 year-old has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The news has come via the 2+2 poker forum and on a number of Twitter accounts, although it has yet to be confirmed, but it appears Hansen recently underwent surgery at St. Mays Hospital and was given the terrible prognosis of having less than 2 years left to live.

Hansen, one of the first European poker players to regularly compete in US poker tournaments was known as “The Godfather” in his native Norway, and has been a friend, mentor, and benefactor to many poker players across the globe.

Among the responders from the Norwegian poker community was Annette Obrestad who responded in the 2+2 thread by saying the following: “I seriously cried when I read [about] this. I don’t know anyone like him. He truly is one of a kind. All the best Thor, ur an inspiration for us all.” As well as Andreas Hoivold who Tweeted: “It is a very sad day for Norwegian poker. The world’s best Thor Hansen has terminal cancer. He is now in a hospital recovering from surgery.”

Other thoughts and prayers were heard from everyone from poker stalwarts like Linda Johnson and Matt Savage, younger players from around the world like from Chris Klodnicki, Christian Harder, and Johnny Lodden, and well known poker pros like Chino Rheem and Doyle Brunson. Doyle, upon hearing the news took to his Twitter account to find out if the rumors were true, and Rheem responded with the following Tweet: “Sadly enough, it’s true Buddy. Thor’s at St. May’s hospital right now. I just spoke with him, let’s all pray for our friend Thor.”

Along with his two WSOP bracelets Hansen has an impressive resume in the poker world including an 8th place finish in the 2008 Players Championship at the WSOP, 19 Top-Ten finishes at the WSOP, and over $2.9 million in career tournament earnings despite never cashing for more than $188k!

We’ll be sure to update you on Thor’s condition and recovery when more details come to light, until then we can all keep our fingers crossed for one of the truly good-guys in poker.

Along with the rest of the poker world we at PokerNewsBoy are hoping Hansen beats the odds, and will gladly use our “one-time” for a remission diagnosis for Hansen. You can find the 2+2 thread on Thor Hansen HERE, or simply go to any poker Twitter account.

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Tags: Brunson Doyle, Doyle Brunson, Friend Thor, Impressive Resume, Johnny Lodden, Linda Johnson, Native Norway, Players Championship, Poker Forum, poker players, Poker Pros, Poker Tournaments, Poker World, Rheem, S Hospital, Stalwarts, Terminal Cancer, Thor Hansen, Thoughts And Prayers, World Series of Poker

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Poker Gossip, Poker Player News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.