Tournament Accomplishments:

6th on All-Time Money Leader on the WPT $2,161846
Only player with three WPT Titles
Six total cashes on the WPT
24th on All-Time Money List
Only One cash at the WSOP
Won the Bad Boys of Poker
Won the Superstars Invitational
Total tournament earnings: $3,294,588


Cash Game Accomplishments:

If you've ever seen Gus on television you'd know one thing for sure: Gus has a lot of gamble in him. Gus will regularly play in the biggest cash games in the world as high as $4000-$8000 mixed with the world's best players.

Best game: No Limit Hold'em. Gus also has a great imagination for 2-7 triple draw but his brute aggression he utilizes in no limit hold'em make it his best game.

Worst Game: 7 Card Stud H/L. For some reason he just doesn't get this game. If you asked Gus what his worst game was I’m certain he'd agree, it just doesn't click for him.

Strengths: Math skills. That may sound strange to most but everything Gus does is rooted in mathematics. Gus is arguably the best backgammon player in the world and has transferred those skills to the poker table. His approach to the game is closer to mathematically optimal than the approach of say, a David Sklansky type.

Weaknesses: He can be too reckless at times. It's a fine line between genius play and just plan maniacal play and Gus often flirts with that line on a regular basis. Also his approach isn't as perfectly suited for cash game play as it is for tournament play.

Cash Games: 6
Tournaments: 8
Emotional Stability: 6
Heart: 8
Short Handed: 8.5
Ring Game: 6
No Limit Hold'em: 9

Other notes: Gus' style is often misunderstood as "lucky" since he appears to take the worst of it so often in rather large pots. What people don't often realize is that on television you don't see the whole picture. They don't show all of the money Gus picks up in between by forcing his opponents into submission while they wait to trap him. A Gus like image is the perfect image to have for tournament poker. Gus has proven that he has the guts to call big bets with weak hands and will keep coming at you like a bull. There is no easy defense against that other than to try to outwit him after the flop. Some have tried to force Gus to play pre-flop poker, but in doing so they often over play their hands and leave themselves vulnerable when Gus does wake up with a hand. A perfect example of this would have been Howard Lederer's approach to playing Gus in the Superstars event. Howard tried to force Gus out before the flop by making huge re-raises which ultimately was his demise.

Gus, well he's hard too describe. He play's fast and aggressive. Mixing up his game so well that no one ever thinks he has a hand. He is ultimatly one of the most antimidating players in the industry, and has had more sucess than anyone else on the WPT. I guess we'll see if his luck will ever run out. :roll:

Doyle said in SS2 that he often entered pots with the worst hand and caught his draws.... but is winning a race lucky, do you make big bets with outs to go.... always... Gus like Doyle, rarely makes bluffs (pure bluffs). His biggest strength is his ability to play strong hands, as hard as draw, or semi-weak ones. HE also has a great ability to put a player on a hand. I.E. Bad boys of poker... against Antonio, "I have T8s, I have to call" he knew he was racing... not a 20% dog. He also knew T9s against a baby pair "55" and under is actually a favorite. I would/do hate to play against good maniacal players like Gus. He is very aggressive and scares the best of them. Phil H couldn't play against Gus, he would get run over, like Hoyt ran him over. Phil is one the best players in the world, but can't handle some irrational behavoirs at the table, like 85s in a 10 man game, just doesn't make sense to him

this guy will get his good hands paid off for life. i would probably just pop all in with top pr if i were against him and hope he hadnt already hit his miracle. I think one mistake people make with gus is calling him too much.On one of my wpt dvds i thought paul phillips had an excellent strategy against gus.Reraising him big and even restealing against him. Calling him down is not the answer, but who knows what is? Scariest player out there.

Paul's "counterstrategy" to Gus is commonly mistaken for just constantly re-raising him. That was not what he did. Paul explains in his own blog that the WPT just happened to show a bunch of hands where he came over the top of Gus, just to perhaps make it look like that was in fact the counterstrategy. Paul made it clear that it wasn't. He said that the majority of hands that Gus raised, he just got out of the way. Paul didn't explain what his almighty "counterstrategy" was to Gus (if I really had one, I wouldn't share it either), but it wasn't coming over the top of him all the time.

I miss all the replies about Gus being hot, from the original profile.

Gus, love your game. Always a thrill to watch you work a final table over. Crushing dreams of wanna-be players.

I think Gus is one of the best poker players. He could beat anyone. Yeah he has his times where he does somthing stupid and gets caught doing it. He could beat anyone of us.

And yea, i do have a huge crush on Gus...he's really really cute. (so is Daniel)

n/m

guys got gamble i've asked him questions online before, nice man

I think Danny Nguyen had the perfect strategy against Gus at a WPT Final table. He simply "out-Gus'd" him by playing his own strategy against him. This forced Gus to wait for better hands and took a huge gun from his arsenal.

I really like Gus Hansen's poker game.

The most hillarious Gus hand ever was him drawing to one of the 3 remaining ten's against Hoyt Corkins at the Carribean Adventure WPT event when Hoyt had him dominated. Gus of course hit the ten on the river and ended up coming back to beat Hoyt. The guy's got game!

Please explain how Hansen's approach is mathematically optimal. I thought Sklansky utilizes mathematical and game theory, while Hansen puts more value in aggression. Don't you have a higher expected value in waiting for good hole cards instead of raising on such low cards?

[quote="pirana"][quote=admin]Strengths: Math skills. That may sound strange to most but everything Gus does is rooted in mathematics. Gus is arguably the best backgammon player in the world and has transferred those skills to the poker table. His approach to the game is closer to mathematically optimal than the approach of say, a David Sklansky type.[/quote]
Please explain how Hansen's approach is mathematically optimal. I thought Sklansky utilizes mathematical and game theory, while Hansen puts more value in aggression. Don't you have a higher expected value in waiting for good hole cards instead of raising on such low cards?[/quote}



Gus' math skills come into play AFTER he has put his opponent on a hand in which is getting good odds to call. For example, during the WPT Bad Boys of Poker night Gus called Antonio Esfandiari's all-in with 10-8o. Obviously not the greatest cards, but Gus knew that this hand was just under a 50% favourite against a baby pair (ie the two 5's that Antonio had). Because of his read and the fact that the math showed him that he was getting the right price to call, Gus made the call and ended up hitting his ten on the river (i think) and busting Antonio.

This was a reasonably good example of Gus's instincts and use of mathematics in his game. Though, your memory of this particular hand is incredibly poor. Antonio had 7's, Gus had T-8 sooted and Gus hit an 8 on the flop and it held up.

I'm also not sure this is the best example to bring your point across however, I don't think Gus really cared if he won or not and looked like he was just playing for shits and giggles. The prize was a seat to the 25k championship and he already had one locked up at the time.

[quote="lucky_charmz"][quote=pirana][quote=admin]Strengths: Math skills. That may sound strange to most but everything Gus does is rooted in mathematics. Gus is arguably the best backgammon player in the world and has transferred those skills to the poker table. His approach to the game is closer to mathematically optimal than the approach of say, a David Sklansky type.[/quote]
Please explain how Hansen's approach is mathematically optimal. I thought Sklansky utilizes mathematical and game theory, while Hansen puts more value in aggression. Don't you have a higher expected value in waiting for good hole cards instead of raising on such low cards?[/quote}



Gus' math skills come into play AFTER he has put his opponent on a hand in which is getting good odds to call. For example, during the WPT Bad Boys of Poker night Gus called Antonio Esfandiari's all-in with 10-8o. Obviously not the greatest cards, but Gus knew that this hand was just under a 50% favourite against a baby pair (ie the two 5's that Antonio had). Because of his read and the fact that the math showed him that he was getting the right price to call, Gus made the call and ended up hitting his ten on the river (i think) and busting Antonio.[/quote]

Sklansky's approach is less than mathematically optimal because he gives up small edges that carry a risk of large losses if you get outplayed. Gus's approach is closer to optimal even pre-flop because he recognizes that you are going to catch a piece of the flop 30% of the time or so, and he is confident that he can recognize when he is ahead or has the odds to continue playing.

It is very similar to his backgammon style, which is seemingly reckless early in the game in pursuit of primes/near primes, because he plays backgames so well that if his blocking gambits fail he is not a huge underdog to come back late in the game.

A reasonable analogy would be Hansen:Sklansky as Hansen:Magriel

Last updated on Oct 29th, 2005.

Wow, one of my favourite player, I love that aggressive approach. I mean, you can't know what this guy has. I myself play little like Gus, very unpredictable and aggressive, it makes very hard to get any read. There is no mathematical formula for Gus play, his ability to change the way he play just makes it almost impossible to play against.

The hands that Gus plays have great implied odds when he hits; and when he has premium hands he gets paid more than say Dan Harrington does when he holds a premium hand (everyone folds). Combined over all hands Gus's strategy for him gives him greater EV per hand (as he is able to get away from a hand when he realises he is beat).

Also his tournament strategy may be optimal for the payout structures compared to say a cash game. For example, if a tournament pays the following: 1st $1000, 2nd $500, 3rd $250 then Gus realises that coming 1st one week and then no place the next two weeks is more profitable than coming 3rd weeks in a row. This is because of the top havy payout structure of tournaments.

I'd like to see a heads up match between Harrington and Gus. Just see how the opposing styles would clash (which is funny, because they were both backgammon champions too).

I bet Harrington would end up winning. Evidence to prove that would be the '95 world series where he trapped his opponent heads up. Seeing as though Gus would be just as aggressive as Howard Goldfarb

Didnt he get hit by a bus?

they need to update doyles and gus's profiles to include the broke bus incident

Saw gus while I was playing at the Belagio. Nice guy, but I always thought that he was taller. Hmmm...

He used to be, then there was the incident with the bus.

I heard the bus was rigged

It was. If it ever dropped below 55 MPH, a bomb would have gone off. Gus didn't stand a chance.

Thats what i love about gus' strategy. it IS mathematically based. I think some of the hands from poker superstars explains it best. please remember its been a while since i saw then and the details will not be 100% right
Hand 1
gus FOLDS straight flush draw. why ? he made a list of the possible hands his opponent could have, and worked out what sort of a dog/favourite hed be against each hand. so due to the pot odds, and the probability of his opponents having each hand (eg he may think there is a 20% his opponent has Ace-small and 30% his opponent has a pp) he folded the hand. due to the fact that hed be too big an underdog to a likely hand, AKd

Hand 2
He calls Lederer with Qhigh. It was heads up and lederer was consistently coming ott of gus, this time all in, and gus said afterwards, there were so many hands he could ahve there, alot of which my queen high was good. I think he had a flush draw too, cant remember

Gus plays peoples cards against them. Sure is fun to watch.

Hes the ultimate loose aggresive. Yes, he does get lucky, but then again every poker player does here and there. He plays peoples fears against them. the best part about his game, is that he doesn't have to wait for cards to win. He can play 2-7 and make it profitable, just like a rock can sit for 3 hours and win a decent pot with aces.

I tell you what.. how many players do you that could make as much money with a pair of 5's... everyone will call him down with any thing resembling a hand. Best part about it, is that his wild aggressive play makes him look like a fish.. and thats exactly what he is not.

Gus has to be one of my favorites to watch it seems everything he does is a set-up for later in games or tournaments.

Jimbob i also like your answer that is very true.

I play John Juanda at Omaha.

Anyone watch the Second Season of High Stakes Poker where Gus Hansen won the biggest pot in the show's history...$575,700.00 when his 5♦ 5♣ defeated Daniel Negreanu's 6♠ 6♥ on a board of 9♣ 6♦ 5♥ 5♠ 8♠. As Gus so eloquently put it, "That was sick!"

Also, there was some great Heads-Up match play between Gus Hansen and Huck Seed in NBC's 1st Week of Poker After Dark earning Gus $120,000, as he outlasted a field of six pro's including Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Shawn Sheikhan & Steve Zolotow. Gus played some really smart and very disciplined poker throughout the entire event. Look for Gus to repeat this fantastic performance in an upcoming week of Poker After Dark starting on Monday February 12, 2007.

Yeah, Gus is certainly a great player to watch, although some see him as a loose cannon, he certainly does take calculated risks, and he can also change gears completely like he did in Poker After Dark where he seemed to take everyone by surprise by playing a very different style to his normal style.

Seven Card Stud

I was rail birding Gus, Gen Harmon and John Juanda on a Seven Card High/Lo highstakes game on Full Tilt. He absolutely destroyed them. He felted Juanda for 50k and took 40k from Harmon. So I think he was either REALY lucky on that night or he has imporved his Stud game. If he gets hot look out for him at the WSOP 50k HORSE event.

A few people have answered this question with: "Well, if you take his great reading abilities and add it with his ability to calculate outs, then of course his strategy is mathematically-based!"

I'm sorry to burst the big bubble here, but those are fundamentals that EVERY poker player employs. I think the mindset of Gus' strategy can best be illustrated through some of these specific examples.

First, Gus' own words, taken off of an instructional DVD he did (sorry, I don't remember which DVD it was ... and it's paraphrased - I don't remember the exact quote ):

"If I lead out at 10 pots in a row, and let's say 6 of the 10 times I was bluffing, and 4 out of the 10 I had a strong hand, it's difficult for my opponents to tell which times I actually had a hand or not. It leaves my opponents guessing."

Gus has also been known to regularly say: "My aggressive style tends to minimize the advantages of position that an opponent can have on me." You also hear players like Phil Hellmuth make regular (playful) barbs at Gus, usually along the lines of, "Well, crazy players like Gus LIKE to play out-of-position so that they can be the first ones to bet at the pot, but not me."

Also read Gus' excellent 'Tips From the Pros' article at FullTiltPoker.com about betting out-of-position on the flop against a pre-flop raiser:

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/pro-tips-arch...nsen&tip=87

Now that you've seen some of these specific examples into Gus' thinking and reasoning behind the way he plays, does it kind of start to make sense?

Addressing the original question (quoted at the beginning of this post) more directly: Gus' aggressive betting patterns almost make the value of high or low cards irrelevant because you can never really tell what he has. It becomes much less about the cards and more about controlling your opponents. By doing this at your typical 9/10-player tournament table, Gus picks up lots of dead money, keeps all the other players on their heels, and wins really big pots when he gets big hands.

Someone else earlier in the thread also mentioned implied odds. Since Gus plays so many big drawing hands, he has HUGE implied odds on pots because of other players' willingness to call him. This allows him to draw at many more hands, and thus, hit more often and win HUGE pots.

Gus may seem really reckless and out-of-control at the table, but if you look at the examples above where he explains his thinking in those specific situations, you can see that there is a lot of smart, logical reasoning that goes behind those plays. I think this is what Daniel meant about "mathematically optimal." Poker is a game of incomplete information, so robbing your opponents of that precious information while taking in more information yourself (by forcing your opponents to react when you take the initiative) sounds pretty mathematically optimal to me, even from a game theory point-of-view.

Now someone warn me if I've gone way over my head here (because I am a novice player), but this is my basic understanding of the reasoning that goes behind Gus' game. Actually, if I'm not mistaken, all this is pretty much the basic framework for your "average" super-aggressive play. Harrington even goes through it in his book, and basically lists the same points I've touched on here. Gus has pretty much taken winning, aggressive poker strategy, and amped it up and exploited out every advantage to its fullest.

Again, anyone feel free to comment or correct me on my points because I am a newer player and I'm just trying to contribute to the topic to the best of my ability.

Everyone be on the lookout for Gus' new book! He apparently recorded EVERY single hand of his win at the Aussie Millions event on some sort of tape recorder device (although HOW he did it is beyond me) and is in the process of writing a book that analyzes EVERY hand. It will be awesome to see how he thought through each hand and how he worked the tables throughout the tournament.

I think Gus is an amazing player with his mad man strategy. I personally wouldn't use it but, probably because I would not know what to do but he plays the strategy to perfection.

gus is good and all but he seriously has to consider playing in the big cash games on full tilt.. the numbers speak for themselves

This is my opinion on Gus hansen , He is a complete and utter donkey who can only win with luck, one of the worst least skillful players I have ever seen in my life.


the other day I was watching gus play on full tilt poker and he went brokesie woksie like 6 times in a row and kept reloading and it wasnt through bad luck he was going all in with Q 10 + K J AND WORSE he absolutely sucks and I hope he goes bust for good.


TAFFER RATING 3.33/10 33 IS FITTING AS THE IDIOT LOVES/AND CANT GET AWAY FROM LOW PAIRS LOL

You suck.

LOL YOU HAVNT DISAGREED OR TRIED TO DISPROVE MY ARGUMENT SO I GUESS I AM CORRECT.

You really do not have a clue.

Gus can play 8 9 suited like it's AK or even AA. He has an ability to know when to play with less than average hands. You can never get a read on Gus because he plays so many different hands.