Every Hand Revealed

Poker tournaments attract a certain type of individual. I do think that there are differences in mindsets with regards to many people who play poker tournaments from those that play cash game poker. Also I think that playing tournament poker and cash games does create its own mindset as well. This means that switching between the two can be very difficult for many people.

While poker tournaments and cash games are fundamentally the same, they are so different in so many ways. I always think that comparing poker tournaments with cash games is a little like comparing one-day cricket with test match cricket. In test match cricket you have the time to pick and choose your shots while in one day cricket you must go chasing runs simply because you lack the time that you have in the slower form of the game.

It is this lack of time that handicaps many players when they play poker tournaments as you simply do not have the time to get lucky. It is also why many people advise that you shouldn’t mix the two forms of poker. One such person who does mix the two with tremendous effect is Gus Hansen.

He plays the biggest online cash poker games in the world and also the largest poker tournaments in the world. He has numerous titles to his credit including several WPT titles and an Aussie Millions title. So when Gus talks then people listen and especially when he writes a book describing every hand that he played on his way to winning a high profile poker tournament.

This book is one of my favourite poker books and I think it will ultimately become a classic. It shows not only the workings of Hansen’s poker mind but it also shows you how he approaches poker tournaments in general. His aggressive style is perfect for wading through these large fields even though he freely admits in that book how he feels that the older style of playing tightly during the small blind phase and his own more aggressive “Daniel Negreanu” style both have their merits and he finds that there is little to choose between them.

My own individual style would be like Hansen’s although a few years ago it would have been more “old school”. Before anyone jumps on my back, I am not saying that I am as good as Gus Hansen…..just that my poker tournament philosophy would be the same that’s all. He ends that poker tournament defeating Jimmy Fricke in the heads up battle when Hansen gets dealt aces which hold up to give him the title.

Many people would say that Hansen lacks the understanding of many of todays young pro’s but that may be doing the man a disservice. He knows how to get the job done at tournament poker and is one of the most feared high-stakes players in the world. In my opinion, he is one of the players who I would least want to face in a heads up live game and his ability to make seemingly wacky plays makes him a very dangerous opponent to have to face…..but a great one to learn from.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Play freeroll tournaments at bwin

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