Gus Hansen enjoyed a wonderful year on the WPT where he was the only one to make it to the closing table in three of the tournaments. Gus Hansen has appeared on High Stakes Poker on The Game Show Network where he paid $400, 000 to play. You may recall one of the largest pots in big stakes poker recorded history competing against Daniel Negreanu. Hansen won a massive pot with 4 of a kind against Daniel’s full house. Gus has earned many tv poker appearances and is considered to be one of the greatest players anywhere in the world. While wagering on web poker, another side of Hansen has emerged. Gus frequently plays in the 200/400 No Limit max buy-in of $40, 000. Gus generally buys in for the minimum of $16, 000 and gambles very poorly. He waits for a decent hand and then pushes all in. I accept that Gus is an excellent poker player but not even close to the familiar players at 200/400NL. Unless he is flat broke, he has no reason to sit at the table with the min buy-in.
Playing for the minimum takes most of the expertise out of big stack poker. Hansen is supposed to be one of the best players anywhere in the world but he can’t buy-in for the full amount. I believe television can alter our view of the real world at times. The best poker players in the world might be players you have won’t have heard of. Gus can be seen participating in net poker on Full Tilt. He commonly participates in big stakes Omaha and Holdem. Gus Hansen has proven himself as a tournament player. Can he back up his skills in money rounds?