Gus Hansen experienced a marvelous year on the World Poker Tour where he was the only participant to make it to the last poker table in three of the tournaments. Gus Hansen has been seen on High Stakes Poker on GSN where he paid $400, 000 to play. You may remember one of the largest pots in big stakes poker recorded history competing against Daniel Negreanu. Gus raked in a large pot with quads against Negreanu’s full house. Gus has earned many tv poker appearances and is considered to be one of the best enthusiasts anywhere in the world. While participating in internet poker, a different side of Hansen has been seen. Gus frequently competes in the 200/400 No Limit maximum buy in of $40, 000. Hansen more often than not buys-in for the minimum of $16, 000 and gambles very poorly. He waits patiently for a decent hand and then pushes all-in. I accept that Hansen is a great poker player but not even close to the familiar players at 200/400NL. Unless Gus is bankrupt, he has absolutely no reason to settle at the table with the min buy-in.
Buying in for the min takes a majority of the expertise out of deep stack poker. Gus is assumed to be one of the greatest players anywhere in the world but he can’t buy-in for the full dollar value. I believe tv can skew our perception of the real world sometimes. The best players anywhere in the world might be guys you have never heard of. Gus can be seen wagering on online poker on Full Tilt. He generally plays in big stakes omaha/8 and texas hold’em. Gus has shown himself as a competition player. Can he back up his skills in cash rounds?