by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 17, 2012 | Updated on Feb 17, 2012A few weeks ago, the poker world learned that Norwegian poker legend Thor Hansen had been diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. Despite undergoing surgery, doctors told Hansen that he could have as little as two years to live.Since that time, the poker world has repeatedly made efforts to support Hansen with everything from words of encouragement to charity tournaments for the Thor Hansen Charity Fund, which will help pay for his medical expenses.One of the largest of these events will be taking place this Sunday on PokerStars. On that day, the poker site will hold two different tournaments designed to raise money for the Thor Hansen Charity Fund. The first of these tournaments will be a $10 + $10 tournament held at 19:30 CET Sunday. That tournament will be followed a half-hour later by a higher stakes $50 + $50 tournament.In each of these tournaments, half of the money raised will go into a prize pool, while the other half will be donated to the Thor Hansen Fund. While PokerStars has not made any projections on how much money will be raised y these events, it would seem likely that the total raised will be at least in the thousands.A week ago, a similar tournament was held on Betfair Poker. It is unclear how much money was raised through that event.Thor Hansen is a 64-year-old professional poker player who was born in Oslo, Norway, and now lives in El Segundo, California. In a live tournament career that dates back to 1987, Hansen has won over $2.9 million, including two World Series of Poker bracelets: the first coming in a 1988 Seven-Card Stud event, and the second a $1,500 Ace to Five Lowball tournament victory in 2002. He is 18th all-time in WSOP cashes, having finished in the money an incredible 47 times in his long career.
