Gus Hansen had a marvelous year on the WPT where he was the only participant to achieve closing poker table in 3 of the competitions. Gus Hansen has appeared 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 high stakes poker recorded history competing against Daniel Negreanu. Hansen raked in a massive pot with 4 of a kind against Daniel’s full house. Hansen has earned many televised poker appearances and is deemed to be one of the greatest gamblers in the world. While participating in net poker, a different side of Hansen has been seen. Gus regularly participates in the 200/400 No Limit maximum buy-in of $40, 000. Hansen frequently buys in for the minimum of $16, 000 and plays very poorly. He waits for a decent hand and then pushes all in. I believe Gus is an amazing poker player but certainly 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 minimum buy in.
Playing for the minimum takes almost all of the ability out of big stack poker. Hansen is accepted to be one of the best players in the world but he cannot buy in for the total amount. I believe television can skew our perception of the real world at times. The best players in the world could be guys you have won’t have heard of. Gus can be seen competing in internet poker on Full Tilt. He commonly participates in big stakes Omaha and hold’em. Gus Hansen has proven himself as a tournament player. Can he back up his abilities in money rounds?