Gus Hansen had an amazing year on the World Poker Tour where he was the only one to achieve closing table in three of the competitions. Gus Hansen has appeared on High Stakes Poker on The Game Show Network where he paid $400, 000 to play. You may remember one of the biggest pots in big stakes poker recorded history against Daniel Negreanu. He raked in a massive pot with quads against Negreanu’s full house. Hansen has earned many televised poker appearances and is deemed to be one of the best players in the world. While competing in net poker, a different side of Hansen has been seen. He regularly competes in the 200/400 NL maximum buy-in of Forty Thousand dollars. Gus more often than not buys in for the min of Sixteen Thousand dollars and gambles very weak. He waits patiently for a good hand and then goes all in. I know Hansen is an outstanding poker player but not even close to the everyday players at 200/400NL. Unless he is broke, he has little or no reason to settle at the table with the minimum buy-in.
Playing for the minimum takes almost all of the skill out of big stack poker. Hansen is supposed to be one of the greatest players anywhere in the world but he cannot buy-in for the full amount. I think television can alter our perception of the real world every now and then. The best players in the world might be guys you have will not have heard of. Gus can be seen wagering on web poker on Full Tilt. He normally competes in big stakes Omaha and texas hold’em. Gus has shown himself as a tournament player. Can he use his talents in cash rounds?