Gus Hansen had an amazing year on the WPT where he was the only participant to make it to the closing game in three of the events. Gus Hansen has been seen on High Stakes Poker on GSN where he bought into the game for $400, 000. You may remember one of the biggest pots in high stakes poker recorded history competing against Daniel Negreanu. He won a big pot with quads against Negreanu’s full house. Gus has earned many televised poker appearances and is thought to be one of the strongest players around the world. While wagering on net poker, a different side of Hansen has emerged. Gus frequently plays in the 200/400 NL maximum buy in of Forty Thousand dollars. Hansen frequently buys-in for the min of Sixteen Thousand dollars and gambles very weak. He waits patiently for a decent hand and then pushes all-in. I believe Hansen is a great poker player but certainly not even close to the everyday players at 200/400no limit. Unless he is flat broke, he has absolutely no reason to sit at the table with the minimum buy in.
Playing for the minimum takes a majority of the skill out of big stack poker. Hansen is supposed to be 1 of the greatest players anywhere in the world but he cannot buy in for the full dollar value. I believe television can skew our perception of the real world at times. The greatest poker players anywhere in the world may be players you have never heard of before. Gus can be seen competing in net poker on Full Tilt. He commonly competes in high stakes omaha hi-low and texas holdem. Gus has shown himself as a competition player. Can he back up his abilities in cash games?
