Not signed in (Sign In)
Welcome Guest!
Want to take part in these discussions? If you have an account, sign in now.
If you don't have an account, apply for one now.

No Limit/Pot Limit Strategy Discussion: How do you beat Gus Hansen?

Bottom of Page

1 to 24 of 24

  1.  
  1.  

    I was watching the most recent episode of Poker Superstars III where he just destroyed his table to advance to the semifinals. How are you supposed to counter his style. Mike the Mouth and Jeff Schulman had a very hard time adjusting to him.

    •  
      CommentAuthorConfundus
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2006
     

    Remember the WPT Bad Boys where he reraises Antonio with T8s (reraise was about 1/4 of Gus's stack which was the biggest), Antonio goes all in with pocket sevens and Gus calls. I didn't understand the call, nobody there did.

    I think the thing is that Gus understands that as long as you aren't dominated, you are rarely that big of a dog. Look at some percentages and you'll find that, in the example above, unless Antonio had a pocket pair bigger than tens, gus was at worst a 35% That isn't great, but 35% ain't zero, and Gus has such good reading skills that he can narrow you down to a point that he can make some risky but reasonable moves.

    I think Gus and Antonio were about even with about 400k before the hand, after Antonio's all in it was 300 to win 500 to gus. If he can rule out the higher pairs he is at worse at 35% dog, and if Antonio has a smaller pair than his two cards he is a 45% dog. Add in being suited and connected and the odds aren't that far off from having to call. (I broke all this down myself and could be way off, please excuse if I am, but I think this is close to accurate to what he would ahve been thinking.)

    Gus is one of those romantics that only cares about winning and with Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandari at the table he knows he needs a chipstack for his game style to work. If he drops to second or third in chips he's lost his biggest weapon and is much more at the mercy of the cards. Better to take a slight underdog (according to pot odds) gamble and go for the big score that can give him table domination than give up the hand and hope to catch some cards.

    And last but not least, most of the pros really respect his game and as they've played with him more and know the game better than us, that should be about all we need. Hasn't he won 5 WPT events btw? You don't get that lucky.

  3. 728x890_us
  4.  

    1. Gus is not broke. He put those rumors to rest in BLUFF magazine two months ago. A single situation, where he borrowed 400k from Chip Reese, was blown all out of proportion, and it got to a point where he had to come out and say something. Hansen then said that he is not broke presently. IMO he told the truth, because if he wasn't, he would certainly lose respect from his high-stakes cash game peers.

    2. I don't think judging Hansen's play from a Poker Superstars episode is wise. The blinds on that show are very high, and especially with shorthanded play, the tournaments become pushfests. Same thing applies to WPT broadcasts, where the blinds go up at an alarming rate.

    3. Gus is not lucky, he is actually a pot equity genius, but he uses his image to take advantage in certain situations. There is a reason why he makes so many final tables, and why he remains a cornerstone at the high stakes cash games; Hansen is one of the world's best poker players, and will continue to be so for a long time.

    •  
      CommentAuthorKos13
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2006
     

    Poker Superstars is a joke, and reading anything about Gus from that terrible show is just pointless.

    Gus is wildly aggressive, but he's actually gained this reputation for being a nutjob when he's really just another Sammy Farha/Eli Elezra type. Gus is actually one of the smarter math minds in the game, and he's a fantastic player. He's one of the last guys I'd ever want to see at my table. He may not be as good as an Ivey or a Ferguson, but trying to read Gus is just impossible because he doesn't have a hand range...ever.

    That call on Antonio was sick, but between the payout, the read (it was pretty obvious that he didn't have a high pair, so I think he was getting close to the right odds vs. a low pocket pair or two overs), and the structure of the tournament (the blinds go up too fast), it's really not as insane as it seemed.

  6.  

    Mike found a way to beat him. Wait for a good hand and call. Mike had QQ gus had K9. Blinds were 10k 20k and Gus was pushing all in for 300K every hand (playing like people you see in freerolls) and happened to outdraw Mike. Like Mike said, Gus is an idiot. If you have watched him play cash games here, he has lost almost every session he has played, and it was even rumored he may have gone broke.

    •  
      CommentAuthorBruce10
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2006
     

    Confundus, I absolutely love your analysis above. I saw that hand (the one where Antonio says he doesn't get it?) and couldn't figure out what Gus was thinking. That is excellent. Gus is a lot closer to genius than just lucky or idiot.

    •  
      CommentAuthorLexigon_5
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2006
     

    I would love to see a heads up between Gus and Dave (The Devilfish) Ulliot.

    Dave is a meglomaniac style player even more aggresive than gus.

    I remember watching him blow away the field in i think a world poker tour event and finally beating Phil Ivey heads up.

    About gus in cash games. They just don't suit his natural style of play so he will get crushed every time until he adjusts to ring game strategy.

    I would think he also has problems with limit holdem tourney's.

    That is if he plays them.

  9.  

    Don't forget that Gus Hansen won the original Poker Superstars. He's also been to WPT final tables. He's actually a very good player. It doesn't surprise me that Mike the Mouth would say that about Gus. If you ask me, Mike is an idiot who runs his mouth too much. Gus is not a pushbot, he uses some very good discretion at times. He seems to make the correct decision more often than not.

  10.  

    If your name is Daniel Negreanu and Gus doesn't have quads...

    •  
      CommentAuthorspringb0ks
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2006
     

    That's an old rumour, which was true at a time. Gus explained the whole situation in bluff magazine, where he had to borrow money from Chip Reese to get back into the swing of things after losing a lot on a streak.

    Currently, he is back in full flight, and is no where near broke.

    •  
      CommentAuthorZophar
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2006
     

    There was a good little interview of him that I think puts a lot of the Gus talk and assumptions in order. It is probably an excerpt from the story KGB was referring to, but here's the link:

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/columns/story?columnist=bluff_magazine&id=2622537

    •  
      CommentAuthorMoshiach
    • CommentTimeOct 18th 2006
     

    Can't remember the article, but it was either Mike or D'Agostino, asked the question of who in the pro circuit is most there by luck, the answer Gus Hansen, saying he's the worst of the pros.

  14.  

    I think Gus has proven himself to be a good player already. My guess is by calling and raising with anything he forces other players to do the same in order to avoid getting rolled over. (This only applies to short handed, in full table you'd just wait for a good enough hand and bang him.) This turns the game into a game of small edges, much like Fixed Limit. He can take advantage of those edges, but it makes for huge fluctuations.

    This is just a theory, and I have no idea whether there's anything to it. But it corresponds with what i've seen when he's been playing in here. I've only seen him lose in here, but apparently he's breaking even on this site so far...

  15.  

    Yea Gus Hansen is broke. I'm sure that's true.

  16.  

    First off, Mike Matusow believes everyone is an idiot. I like Mikey, but don't put one bit of stock in that comment.

    To reiterate on what a few others have said, using PS III as a guide is severely mistaken. The format for that show is horrible, with players starting with 200k in chips and blinds of 10k/20k. Gus was in a situation where if he didn't win the SNG, he would not have had enough points to advance, so he played to win and took advantage of some other players who only needed less points to advance. Really, open pushing with only 10 BBs is pretty standard anyways, but it shows how unfortunate it is that the stupid structure ruins what could be a great tv event.

    Gus' style is unique, but to call him lucky or a donk is pretty far off IMO. He is one of the best post-flop players alive, and certainly has a method to his madness.

    •  
      CommentAuthorsgspecial
    • CommentTimeDec 18th 2006
     

    Play him in Razz....

  18.  

    i remember that. i also remember the commentator saying that they played together often. i assumed that he had some kind of insane read on him and just knew he had a small PP. but KGB's explanation makes more sense.

  19.  

    if you're name is DANIEL NEGRANEAU

  20.  

    I agree with that.

  21.  

    Push all in before he does. He was very happy to push, but he wasn't going to call an all in without a very good hand.

    •  
      CommentAuthorkrazybangs
    • CommentTimeMay 22nd 2007
     

    Take into consideration....

    For his play when he pushed everyhand... he had to have the Win or go home attitude.

    He uses better discression at times. His point accumilation had him forced to knock everyone out and the only way he could do that was to basically get lucky in the beginning with the first coin flip and just hope to run over the table.

    He normally isn't a sick pusher. He just knew that the chances of being out played or out flopped were the same. He just used total aggression and recklessness cause he really had nothing to lose.

  23.  

    We'll I think the best way to try and beat him is from behind, with a baseball bat, repeatedly, and then take his chips and run away . I saw him at a WPT push then call an all in reraise with 9To... but the difference between that and the other donks here is that he called out his opponet's pocket 7's before making the call.

  24.  

    I'm sure it's not, and even if it was he'd be fronted money somehow, but he hasn't been around here much. When he was playing the higher PLO and O8 games here he was getting killed.

  25.  

    ....

1 to 24 of 24

  1.  

How do you beat Gus Hansen?