Gus Hansen enjoyed an amazing year on the WPT where he was the only one to make it to the final game in 3 of the events. Gus Hansen has been seen on High Stakes Poker on GSN where he bought into the game for $400, 000. You might remember one of the biggest pots in high stakes poker recorded history competing against Daniel Negreanu. Hansen raked in a huge pot with 4 of a kind against Daniel’s full house. Hansen has made many televised poker appearances and is deemed to be one of the best enthusiasts in the world. While betting on net poker, another side of Hansen has emerged. He often competes in the 200/400 NL max buy-in of Forty Thousand dollars. Gus usually buys in for the minimum of $16, 000 and plays very weak. He waits patiently for a good hand and then pushes all-in. I believe Gus is an amazing poker player but not even close to the regular players at 200/400NL. Unless Gus is bankrupt, he has absolutely no reason to play at the game with the minimum buy-in.
Playing for the min takes most of the ability out of big stack poker. Hansen is assumed to be 1 of the greatest poker players anywhere in the world but he can’t buy-in for the total amount. I think television can skew our perception of the real world sometimes. The best players in the world might be players you have never heard of. Gus can be seen wagering on online poker on Full Tilt. He commonly participates in high stakes omaha/8 and hold’em. Gus has proven himself as a competition player. Can he use his abilities in money games?