Gus's Advice on Playing a Short Stack

[Tuds75]

After watching PSI I recieved a very fascinating bit of news about Gus Hansen: He likes to play a short stack agressivly. STOP THE PRESSES!! Is their ever a time when Gus doesn't play agressivly? Did they really need to add this useless fact to the show? On future episodes Gus will tell everyone that the Sun is Hot and that water is wet. Thanks for the insight Gus

Tuds

[Sponger15SB]

lol, nice post.

[Boris]

Gus doesn't seem to be an overly aggressive player. He sure likes to call alot of bets though.

[NLfool]

ah yes now this seems more like the truth. He likes to CALL he's not nearly as aggressive. I've only seen little bits of Raymer but he's a heck of a lot more aggressive. Gus CALLS way more than any other top tourny player but you can't argue with his results.

[Tom Bayes]

Gus wants to see a flop more than virtually every other player out there-guys like Ivey, Negreanu, Farha are close in this respect. So he will open a lot of pots with crap and call a lot with cards most of us would muck. Of course, Gus's post-flop play is better than almost everyone else and his ability to make marginal calls and either be right or suck-out is positively demonic.

I'd describe Gus's NLHE tourney style as very loose, but not necessarily that aggressive. If you want to see an aggressive player, watch Hoyt Corkins. Unlike Gus, who wants to see every flop, Hoyt is an all-in monster who never wants to see a flop.

[bobby rooney]

I think your post points out why the term "aggressive" is a bit vague for describing poker players. Some players do a lot more limping into pots, but they often steal pots later in the hand if their opponent shows any weakness. Other players seem to want to either steal the pot or get the money in preflop if they have a big hand. Is it more "aggressive" to raise a pot all-in, or to raise it a smaller amount preflop with the intent of betting almost any flop and maybe even firing a third or fourth barrel if necessary?

In addition, I think you actually can call aggressively, although it sounds weird I think Gus is an example of this. Some players will throw a hand away if they think they have only a small edge, and wait for a bigger edge later. It seems like if Gus thinks he is getting pot odds to gamble, he is not usually going to let a pot go. I would also consider him very aggressive because he is usually the one who raised preflop, or on the flop when all the money goes in. Sometimes you just have to defend the chips you have already put in, because a fold would be detrimental to your table image, as Brunson discusses in Super System.

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
In addition, I think you actually can call aggressively, although it sounds weird I think Gus is an example of this.

[/ QUOTE ]

A key part of this aggressive calling strategy is to buy your shirts at Gap Kids to make your appearance more intimidating. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif