Gus Hansen enjoyed a marvelous year on the WPT where he was the only one to achieve closing table in 3 of the competitions. Gus Hansen has appeared on High Stakes Poker on The Game Show Network where he paid $400, 000 to play. You might recall one of the biggest pots in big stakes poker history competing against Daniel Negreanu. Gus secured a large pot with 4 of a kind against Daniel’s full house. Gus has earned many tv poker appearances and is thought to be one of the best players in the world. While playing web poker, a different side of Hansen has appeared. Gus regularly competes in the 200/400 No Limit maximum buy-in of $40, 000. Gus more often than not buys in for the min of Sixteen Thousand dollars and plays very weak. He sits there waiting for a good hand and then pushes all in. I believe Gus is an outstanding poker player but certainly not even close to the familiar players at 200/400NL. Unless Gus is flat broke, he has no reason to play at the table with the min buy-in.
Playing for the min takes almost all of the expertise out of big stack poker. Gus is supposed to be one of the best players anywhere in the world but he cannot buy-in for the full amount. I believe television can skew our view of the real world at times. The best poker players anywhere in the world may be players you have never heard of before. Gus can be seen participating in online poker on Full Tilt. He usually plays in high stakes omaha hold’em and texas hold’em. Gus has proven himself as a tournament player. Can he use his skills in cash games?