Gus Hansen had a wonderful year on the WPT where he was the only player to achieve last game in 3 of the events. Gus Hansen has been seen on High Stakes Poker on The Game Show Network where he paid $400, 000 to play. You may remember one of the largest pots in high stakes poker history up against Daniel Negreanu. Gus secured a massive pot with quads against Negreanu’s full house. Gus has earned many televised poker appearances and is thought to be one of the strongest enthusiasts anywhere in the world. While participating in net poker, another side of Hansen has been seen. Gus frequently participates 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 sits there waiting for a good hand and then goes all in. I accept that Hansen is an excellent poker player but certainly not even close to the everyday players at 200/400NL. Unless Gus is flat broke, he has no reason to sit at the game with the minimum buy-in.
Playing for the minimum takes almost all of the expertise out of deep stack poker. Hansen is supposed to be one of the best poker players in the world but he can’t buy in for the full dollar value. I believe television can skew our perception of the real world at times. The best players in the world might just be players you have won’t have heard about. Gus can be seen wagering on web poker on Full Tilt. He usually competes in high stakes omaha hi-low and texas holdem. Gus has proven himself as a tournament player. Can he back up his skills in money games?