Gus Hansen's Master Class (PSI on FSN

[JARID]

Chris,

Could not agree with your post more. I missed the Sunday telecast but picked it up last night. I was really waiting to see all of these "suck-outs" that this board is clamoring about.
Yes, one suckout; Q8 to Barry's QJ is a bummer for Barry. Nevermind that Gus likely had odds to call based on the range of hands he would put Barry on. If you didn't see the cards would you put Barry on exactly a better Q?? No, you wouldn't. Should Gus have folded for only 35k more. Gimme a break.
What needs to be examined is how Gus and Barry were in that situation to begin with. Lets not forget that Gus checkraised Barry five televised hands in a row, picking up pot after pot in the process. Gus had the entire table on edge.
I'm not sure if he will win the whole thing, but last night was very impressive.

-Jarid

[bobby rooney]

I made a post about Gus Hansen's style and Supersystem a while back on rgp. The introduction to the NLHE chapter is all about stealing small pots and winning big pots, and is generally about pounding on your opponents with bets until they melt. Gus definitely has the protection of what I call "the threat". Doyle talks about how people keep off of him because he is known to put people to tough decisions for large portions of their chips, and doesn't necessarily need a great hand to do so. Many players tend to avoid these players and go for easier targets.

I think what Gus and the other superaggressive players have figured out is that in a tournament, due to the fear some players have of going broke, you have more steal equity than in a ring game, which tends to magnify the value of position and aggression. When Gus is playing trashy hands, he is almost always doing it when he is in position, either first in the pot, or sometimes raising to isolate a player who has opened. You don't see him trying to push with trash in a multiway pot. Another thing I notice is that when you are known to play wacky hands it makes flops which would normally seem safe against a tighter player seem scary, thus increasing the chance to steal. All in all, because of his aggressive style and good reads, he often seems to have more information about his opponents hands then they have about his. It seems like a difficult style to master, because you have to be right in a large percentage of your reads to make it work.

One thing I would be interested in is seeing how these players get to the final table without crashing and burning. In the first few levels, it seems like this style would be a recipe for disaster as you don't want to be the theif at a table full of sheriffs. Do these players start out playing tighter in the early rounds, or do they start gunning right away?

[toots]

People who think that Gus is a lucky/poor player are people who feel insecure that Gus ain't playing from the same book learning that they are.

[Dan Mezick]

Yes. One set of posts I would liek to read is from all the players who have had the experience of playing at Hansen's table in the earliest phases of a tournament.