Gus Hansen's book

[slapdash]

I bought this today. I've started reading it, but haven't got that far yet. But
so far it's pretty interesting and entertaining.

He takes you through the 2007 Aussie Millions (which he won), describing his
thoughts and actions on each hand. He leaves out most hands where he
folded preflop, though I'd have liked to see something about these as well:
given his reputation for playing any two cards, it would be nice to know what
he's thinking when he doesn't play any two cards. But maybe he says something
later in the book.

By page 18 he's lost half his stack. I guess this could have been a very short book.

One thing I liked was in the introduction, where he talks in general terms
about the two strategies early in a tournament of playing lots of hands and
seeing a lot of flops, or being selective with your starting hands and seeing
few flops. Obviously he chooses the first way, but he says that he really
doesn't know which way is best. I approve of people who don't feel they
have to pretend to be sure that they're right.

[WASP]

Originally Posted by slapdash

I bought this today. I've started reading it, but haven't got that far yet. But
so far it's pretty interesting and entertaining.

He takes you through the 2007 Aussie Millions (which he won), describing his
thoughts and actions on each hand. He leaves out most hands where he
folded preflop, though I'd have liked to see something about these as well:
given his reputation for playing any two cards, it would be nice to know what
he's thinking when he doesn't play any two cards. But maybe he says something
later in the book.

By page 18 he's lost half his stack. I guess this could have been a very short book.

One thing I liked was in the introduction, where he talks in general terms
about the two strategies early in a tournament of playing lots of hands and
seeing a lot of flops, or being selective with your starting hands and seeing
few flops. Obviously he chooses the first way, but he says that he really
doesn't know which way is best. I approve of people who don't feel they
have to pretend to be sure that they're right.

Very interesting that as I have experimented both ways (cue unfunny bisexual jokes) and had success both ways ( ) and I have put it down to the dynamics of the table and obviously if you come out firing and being aggressive on the wrong table make-up then you can come unstuck, as I have found a lot recently. On the other hand how many times have you sat tight and then wished you would have been in the hand.

I place a lot more importance on the early part of the tourney than I used to as I think you need to gather chips to enable yourself to 'play poker' in the middle stages rather than relying on the luck of a shorter stack game.

Will be an interesting read but need to finish other books first before I delve in.

[GotaFancy?]

Originally Posted by WASP

but need to finish other books first before I delve in.

So say we all

[slapdash]

I just experimented by trying to play a $25 MTT on Stars "in the style of Gus
Hansen" (shockingly presumptuous, I know, especially since I've only read
about 50 pages of the book ).

It was a bit of a roller-coaster ride, and I eventually finished 354th/1381.
Not too disappointed with that, especially since if I'd won a key hand just
before the second break where I was 60/40 favourite when the chips went
in, then I could have pretty much guaranteed to cash if I'd switched back
to tightwad mode (not that I was intending to do that).

It's certainly more exciting than the way I normally play ... not sure yet
whether it's more fun, but it has its moments!

One advantage of this style that had never occurred to me, although I guess
it's pretty obvious really, is that since you're playing a lot more hands, you
get to learn about your opponents much more easily, without having to
force yourself to concentrate, which is something I'm usually very bad at.

[GotaFancy?]

Other than playing loose, how would you describe the main changes you adopted by playing "Gus Hanson" style? Is it constant probing?

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by GotaFancy?

Other than playing loose, how would you describe the main changes you adopted by playing "Gus Hanson" style? Is it constant probing?

Pretty much. And trying to pick up pots where the flop hit nobody.

Though I'm sure if Gus had been watching and knew I was trying to play like
him, then he'd have laughed himself silly.

I deliberately chose a reasonably deep-stacked tournament. But when I got
down to 20 BB or so, I'm not sure I played much differently from usual (just
a bit looser). His book doesn't help much with this: if he'd been serious
about writing a helpful book rather than selfishly trying to win $1.2 million,
then he'd have made sure he got short-stacked at some point.

[Tom Hedonist]

Originally Posted by slapdash

given his reputation for playing any two cards

Isn't this something of a misnomer these days?

I thought the accepted perception was that Gus has tightened up somewhat over the last two years and is far less likely to be playing "any two cards". However because people expect him to be playing any two, he's able to exploit this to his advantage???

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by Tom Hedonist

Isn't this something of a misnomer these days?

I thought the accepted perception was that Gus has tightened up somewhat over the last two years and is far less likely to be playing "any two cards". However because people expect him to be playing any two, he's able to exploit this to his advantage???

Well, "any two cards" was probably always an exaggeration, but from what
I've read of his book so far he certainly wasn't Mr. Rock at the time of the
2007 Aussie Millions!