Gus Hansen had a wonderful year on the WPT where he was the only gambler to achieve last poker table in 3 of the events. Gus Hansen has been seen on High Stakes Poker on The Game Show Network where he bought into the game for $400, 000. You may remember one of the biggest pots in big stakes poker recorded history against Daniel Negreanu. Hansen won a big pot with quads against Daniel’s full house. Hansen has made many televised poker appearances and is considered to be one of the best players in the world. While playing net poker, another side of Hansen has emerged. He often competes in the 200/400 NL max 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 Gus is an outstanding poker player but not even close to the regular players at 200/400NL. Unless Gus is bankrupt, he has absolutely no reason to settle at the table with the min buy-in.
Playing for the minimum takes a majority of the expertise out of deep stack poker. Hansen is presumed to be one of the greatest poker players in the world but he can’t buy-in for the full amount. I believe television can skew our view of the real world sometimes. The greatest players anywhere in the world could be players you have never heard of before. Gus can be seen participating in internet poker on Full Tilt. He normally participates in big stakes omaha eight-or-better and texas holdem. Gus has proven himself as a tournament player. Can he use his skills in money games?