Gus Hansen is the most famous face in poker and widely known for his aggressive style of play, wide range of hands, and high risk confrontations. What underlies this character though is a keen understanding of poker and its math, a highly competitive nature, and a savoir faire for deciphering the most complex of situations with resilient nerve. The Best Gus Hansen Moments
It was the World Series of Poker event in 1996. Despite brimming with confidence, on this day, Gus Hansen was overmatched. His first crack at a No-Limit Hold'em event was humbling to say the least, but on hindsight, it was probably the best thing to have happened to him at that point.
Hansen is nothing but competitive, so with his early knockout exit in the tournament burning in his mind, he experimented, mixing up his play just to see what worked. Lo and behold, he found that mixing it up - from conservative to downright reckless - WAS his game. So it was that - his unpredictable, unreadable, and often befuddling (to fellow pros at least) style was born. Since that day, he’s compiled many unforgettable hands; some bordering on the legendary. Here’s a look at three of his more famous hands through the years.
Good Call – Lucky River
This hand was played early in the Aussie Millions event in 2007.
Early on, Jeff Madsen, sensing he has a strong hand while others were simply waiting for the flop, goes all in. Hansen, who disguised the strength of his cards by calling earlier, swung at Madsen’s pitch.
That was a good calculated call on Hansen’s part, prompting the surprised Madsen blurt “NO!”
“Why’d you call?” To which Hansen replied, “ I don’t know…”
Flop comes out 2 - 8 – 5. Nothing. Then the drama begins, Madsen draws a jack on the turn, and he’s relieved! But then the river comes – Hansen draws the Queen!
Behind all the applause, Hansen can be clearly heard with his trademark “That's sick, that's sick, that's sick!” Then came the moment, and probably the quote of the night from Hansen: “It would not have been fun if the queen came out first.” Brilliant.
Lucky Lout or Poker Genius?
Probably one of Hansen’s ‘Legendary’ hands were the Quad Fives vs. Daniel Negreanu’s full house at the High Stakes Poker night at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
Gus Hansen drew pocket 5’s, while Negreanu drew pocket 6’s. Everyone else dropped out, even Esfandiari, whose spider sense correctly warned him of being “out of position against Hansen and Negreanu” even though he was holding A-Q. Esfandiari’s smart fold sets up this unbelievable head to head.
The flop comes to the delight of both, 9-6-5, giving both triples. Each man, believing they have the better hand, makes moves to extract as much as they can from each other, waiting and baiting.
Then comes the turn – a 5 – and Hansen makes quads! With a stone face that even the most seasoned poker genius wouldn’t be able to read, Hansen taps the table. Check! Negreanu is elated as well - the turn gave him a seemingly unbeatable sixes-full.
After more betting, the River card turns up an 8. Then Hansen makes a great move, letting Daniel see him peeking at his cards as if to make sure he has straight, and tap, tap - checks. Believing he has the best hand, Daniel moves in with a 65K bet.
Gus goes all in.
Negreanu is shocked. “Huh?!?” Rising to his feet, he stutters, “Count, count how much that is…” Hansen is known to pounce with nothing at all and a full house is something he just can’t let go.
Hansen lays his cards, and takes the $575 dollar pot, the biggest in high stakes poker history at the time. Negreanu shakes his head; he knew he was beat.
Then Hansen lets go with the quote of the night: “I'll let you go for the 700.”
Crazy. Reckless. Vintage Hansen.
At the Bad Boys of Poker tournament, Hansen (10-8 suited) places a $100K bet with only a 10 high. Antonio Esfandiari (pocket 7’s) takes his time, taking sidelong glances at Hansen trying to see if he’s bluffing. He stacks and restacks his chips and goes ALL IN!
Hansen then reveals his cards saying “Since I have 10 high there's no way I’m going to fold…” that draws a chuckle from Esfandiari.
Hansen makes the call, shows his cards; Esfandiari stands up, wide eyed and says with absolute befuddlement on his face – “I don’t get it!?” Hansen laughed, probably thinking that the look on Esfandiari’s face alone was worth the making the call.
“I said I had ten high and there's no way I can fold...” he says (Attention novice players, do not play a 10-8 against an all in).
“The guy has lost his mind!” says Esfandiari to the dealer, as if HE can do anything about it.
Then Hansen flops an 8, and after an Ace on the turn and a 3 on the river, Esfandiari was gone! |
