My Book Every Hand Revealed Has Been Released! - Gus Hansen

Gus Hansen's book is finally out. I'm a big fan of Gus, I love his style although it is very different than mine. His book look very well written and describes his hands in great detail.

Finally, after months of hard work, months of editing and what seems like months of post-production, my book "Every Hand Revealed" has finally been released. The book is already available online at Amazonand lots of other eBookstores and it will hit the "real-life" shelves at your local book store on May 6 at the very latest. To give you an impression of the style and the format of the book, I have included an excerpt from the foreword as well as one of the 329 hands I was involved in during my journey to victory at the 2007 Aussie Millions. Hope you will enjoy it.

From the foreword:
This book will give you the opportunity to see the hands from my perspective and get a grasp of the basic concepts and principles of my poker philosophy. What you will discover is that my kind of poker requires constantly attacking your opponents, constantly accumulating chips, constantly keeping track of pot odds and winning percentages and constantly gearing up as blinds and antes increase.

It is the first poker book to go behind the scenes and actually show you what I had, and how I played it during the Aussie Millions Poker Tournament 2007. All the hands that I played are turned face up and every decision I made is explained in my pursuit of the title. The revealing is made possible because of the little tape recorder that I always bring to the tournament tables. After having played a hand I take a couple of steps away from the table to record the action. On top of the play of the hand I of course also take note on my opponents, if he/she has displayed any patterns, mannerisms etc. Information I hopefully can use profitable for later encounters.

"Every hand revealed" is a visit to my world. It is the story of a crazy five day rollercoaster ride from my first hand – 5s 7s – to my last hand – Ac Ah. It is a story of moves, big lay-downs, bad beats, suck-outs and lots and lots of stealing. Of patience, pressure and aggression. Of bluffs, reads and tells.



From chapter 1:
Hand 38

CRUCIAL HAND 3 - MAKING THE WRONG READ – FOLDING TOP PAIR

Blinds: 400/800/100, My position: 2 off the button, Hand: Jc 3c, My chip stack: 73,400

New round, same procedure. Or maybe not?

I make it 2500 two off the button with Jc3c. The BB ponders for a while but finally decides to call. It felt like he was thinking about the re-raise and not the fold so my instinct tells me that my J3 is probably not the best hand…

The flop comes:

Jh 8c 6s

Top pair, ridiculous kicker - but top pair nonetheless!

He was supposed to check but instead he decides to fire out 6000. What was that all about? It is not very often that I am facing a substantial lead-out bet when I am the initial raiser and therefore I wanted to take my time to make sure I made the right decision…

My opponent had another 14k in front of him which meant my maximum down-side from this point on would be a total of 20k. Maximum up-side 26k.

Options:
Folding: Seems very odd now that I finally flopped top pair.
Calling: Putting in 6000 and awaiting his next move.
Raising: Shooting 20k into the middle hoping my J3 was ahead.

Three very different approaches and whichever one to take is gonna be decided solely on my read on the situation.

Read:
• He looked eager to re-raise pre-flop – not a good sign.
• He led out 6000 which is a significant part of his stack – not a good sign
• He looked mighty confident about the situation at hand – not a good sign.

I can remember three times in my career where I raised pre-flop, flopped top pair, and folded facing a single bet! Was this going to be the fourth?

The only holdings that made some kind of sense to me were the AJ, the QQ and hands of similar strength. The more I thought about it the more confident he looked, and in the end I saw no other choice than to muck my hand! I folded.

Because of my very curious nature I showed the Jack face-up, as I was certain he was going to turn it over if he had bluffed me. Don't worry – he did! He turned over two Tens displaying his victory to the table, or should I say – my ridiculous fold…

Where did I go wrong?

My initial read about him wanting to re-raise before the flop was correct - re-raising pre-flop with TT would be the normal play.

My read on his confidence level after his lead-out bet was also correct – I think taking my time made my opponent certain that his TT was the best hand because how could I ever be taking that long with a Jack in my hand?

My read on his lead-out bet was incorrect – I took it as a sign of strength where it was in fact meant as a stab to take down the pot if I didn't hit the flop.

I made an informed decision based on all the facts I had available at the time. I came to the wrong conclusion but that is bound to happen when you sit 10+hours at the poker table. Maybe I should think twice next time I am about to fold top pair on the flop…

In case you have any comments about the book, good as well as bad, you are more than welcome to post them in the forum at www.theplayr.com.

WPT Championship

Oh, right – I came second in the WPT Championship! Almost forgot to mention it J. I am still very disappointed but I will following up on the experience in the coming blogs as well as in CardPlayer Magazine. No further comments at this stage.

- Gus

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Betting out of Position - Gus Hansen

Every Hold 'em strategy guide talks about the importance of positional advantage. The standard thinking is that the player who acts last has more information than his opponents, so he'll have a better sense of where he stands in a hand and can, therefore, make better decisions. There's no doubt that this is true, but it's important to understand that the power that comes with position is often granted to the late-position player by the early-position player.

To see what I mean, consider a pretty typical No-Limit hold 'em hand. Say that I'm in the big blind with 7s-8s - a nice, flop-worthy hand. The player on the button raises to three times the big blind and I decide to call. Many players would check the flop under almost any circumstances. But, by checking, you give control to the late-position player. He can bet whether or not he has a hand, putting you in a tough spot if you don't get a piece of the flop.

In a hand like this, I believe it's best to look at the flop and ask, "Is it likely that these cards helped my opponent?" Once I have an answer to that question, I can decide how to proceed.

If the flop is Ah-Kd-9c, I'd probably just check and fold to a bet, as my opponent was likely raising with big cards and caught a piece of the flop. However, if the flop is 9c-5h-2d, I'd probably be more skeptical. I know that in Hold 'em, two unpaired hole cards will fail to make a pair on the flop about 66 percent of the time, and this seems to be a flop that the pre-flop raiser might have missed.

If I suspect my opponent didn't connect, I'm going to take the initiative and bet out about half the size of the pot. Betting here with my gutshot draw offers several advantages. First, I might take the pot down right here, and I'm always happy when a semi-bluff forces a fold. But even if I get a call from my opponent, I've forced him to react. That gives me a chance to pick up a read. If my opponent seems uneasy, I might continue with my semi-bluff on the turn and try again to pick up the pot. Or, if I feel my opponent is strong, I can check and fold to any bet on the turn if I fail to make my hand.

Stabbing at pots when out of position can be very lucrative. In tournaments, I'll open-raise out of position fairly frequently because I think there's a lot of power in being the first one to fire at the pot on the flop. I pick up a lot of small pots that way.

As you work on your Hold 'em game, remember that you don't have to give the advantage in the hand to the player in late position. Look for opportunities to bet out and seize the initiative.

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Sizing Up Your Opening Bet - Chris Ferguson

I never get tired of saying it: If you're the first to enter the pot in a No-Limit Hold 'em game, never call. If you aren't prepared to raise, throw your hand away.

Why, you ask? Simple. By raising, you put pressure on the blinds and the other players at the table, making them consider just how strong their hands really are. Chances are that by raising, you'll force marginal hands to fold before you even see the flop, limiting the number of players you have to beat through the rest of the hand.

OK, with that out of the way, the next obvious question becomes: How much should I raise?

To that, I say; it depends. First off, you shouldn't allow the strength of your hand affect the size of your raise. A tough poker game is like real estate. The three most important factors in deciding how much to raise are: Location, location, location.

You always want to make your opponents' decisions as difficult as possible. In choosing the size of your raise, you want to give the big blind a tough decision between calling or folding if the rest of the table folds around to him.

Raising from early position is to advertise a very strong hand - one that can beat the seven or more other players who still have to act. Since you are representing such strength, it doesn't take much of a raise to convince the big blind to fold. Also, since your hand is so strong, you actually don't mind a call from the big blind anyway. The real reason for a small raise is that you have so many players acting after you, any of whom might wake up with a monster and re-raise you.

When you raise in late position, you're representing a hand that can beat the two or three remaining hands. This gives you a lot more freedom to raise with marginal hands, but your raise must be bigger or the big blind can call too easily. Another reason to raise more from late position is that you're trying to put pressure on the big blind to fold, not call and, more importantly, you don't have as many remaining opponents who can re-raise you.

One of the most common mistakes in No-Limit Hold 'em is coming in for a raise that's too big. In early position, you want to keep your raises at about two times the big blind. With four to six players to act behind you when you're in middle position, raise to about two and a half big blinds, and raise to about three times the big blind from late position.

If you're representing a big hand by raising from early position, it stands to reason that you'll only get played with by huge hands. Why risk four, five or more bets to win only one and a half bets in the blinds when you're often going to be running into monsters along the way? If you're holding A-Q rather than A-A and a player comes over the top, you can lay it down without having risked much.

Some beginners raise more with their strongest hands to build a bigger pot or raise less with these monsters to get more action. Instead, I recommend that you play your starting hands the same way no matter what you have. With A-A or A-J, raise the same amount so you're not telegraphing the strength of your hand to watchful opponents. An exception would be if you know your opponents aren't paying attention and you feel sure that you can manipulate them.

These numbers need to be modified if there are antes. You should generally add about half the total antes to any raise. Your early position raise should be two big blinds plus half the total antes, and three big blinds plus half the antes for your late-position raises.

There are many loose live games these days. If you find yourself in one of these games and you can't steal the blinds with a normal raise, tighten up your starting requirements slightly and make larger raises. If this raise still can't take the blinds, don't tighten up anymore, but choose to raise an amount that you expect to get called once or twice behind you. Since your opponents are playing too loose, take advantage of it by building bigger pots when you think you're getting the best of it.

The last exception is when you're short-stacked. If making your typical raise means putting over a quarter of your stack in the pot, just go ahead and move all in instead. Betting a quarter of your stack before the flop commits you to calling just about any re-raise or, at the very least, it gives you a very tough decision. Moving all in here instead of raising less forces the tough decision on your opponents and eliminates one of your tough calling decisions. All of which brings us back to my first principle: Avoid being the one to just call.

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Action Poker

Haven't written a post in awhile, haven't played much lately either. I've played a little bit on Action Poker with the free $40. Not many players there and I was told they are on the Action Poker Network meaning they're probably the only one on that network but I was told theres 15 other pokerooms on that network(Probably 15 crap poker rooms cause it takes forever to get a 6 handed sit and go started). Hardly any sit and gos there, and you don't get any POP points unless you play high stakes sit and gos. So my advice is to stay away from sngs and stick to the cash games.

Well, in order for me to cashout on Action Poker, I must get 2200 POP points. And when I cashout, I must have deposited and gained 400 points since the deposit. Sounds pretty bad but its not that bad. I'm going for 1800 points, if I still have a bankroll, I'll deposit the minimum with my MoneyBookers account(Got it funded free from BankrollMob), get 400 more points and than cashout.

I'm not doing too bad so far, have 120 pop points on a few hours play. I'm playing the 10cent 25 cent cash games and doing alright in them. I just hate the deep stack tough decisions when I have aces, kings and they move all in on me on the flop..I lost $20 on calling with aces when flop comes 234, 2 spades and donk called my preflop reraise with 5,6 offsuit..bah..I put him on a spade draw, how can I put him on 5,6:( Couldn't put him on 2 pair, perhaps a set but if so he had an ugly pair preflop lol. Plus, I figured a 5 would give me a straight if I was dominated but no, 5,6 offsuit!! lol..Hit an ace on the turn to make it a little exciting.

Picked two big hands today. First one, pair of 4s and just limped in cause I was raising a lot. I was reraised from the small blind to $1.25, big blind calls, (he likes to call preflop) and I call hoping to hit a set. Flop comes AJ4, 2 spades. I bet right out $3 hoping someone reraises with a pair of aces. Well, the small blind had ace 10 and reaised all in for $22 so I take down that pot. Another hand large stack limps in, I'm on dealer with king queen, was reraising a lot in position and thought for sure he'd call and probably lead out on flop so I just call. flop comes AK4, all clubs. I have queen of clubs. Large stack bets out $1(pot size). I call because we both have $50 and don't want to gamble in case he wants to put his stack in with an ace. Turn is another king, great card and he checks and I bet out close to pot. He calls, and checks river. Queen on river so now I have a full house and I bet pot size, like $7, knowing thats pretty much all I can get and he calls.

Last hand I pick up 5,6 suited on cut off. Had to play it and I just limp. Got flush draw and gut shot but couldn't hit but didn't lose much just because I just called.

P.S. I found some pictures of Action Poker Girls, aren't they hot:) I love their outfits:)

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BankrollMob

BankrollMob is by far the best free money poker site I have found. They have exclusive offers that no other site has and they get a new offer about every month. They also have special features such as;

Mob Safe - "Crack the safe & WIN!! Guess the combination to the safe and you win what's inside!!" The safe is a 3 digit number so there is just under 1000 combinations. Everyday you get a shot at cracking the safe which holds money from $20-$130.


Mob Points - Another nice feature BankrollMob has is Mob points. You get Mob Points for doing various things from posting in the forum to referring friends. You can use your mob points to buy shots at the safe or cash out your points to Neteller, MoneyBookers or a poker room.

$1000 Promotion - You also have a chance to win $1000. One lucky member will win just for signing up. Although it says you have to sign up before February 17 to qualify, I have talked to the administrator and he said "Actually the promotion is still running...the promotion will end once the winner has been drawn, which can be any day now".


Unibet - Currently, they have a limited time €40 no deposit bonus offer at Unibet. The currency is in Euros so its actually $60.

"Unibet.com is one of the largest gaming operators in the European market with more than 2.5 million customers worldwide."

CD Poker - I also recommend $150 CD Poker no deposit bonus. You have to take a quiz to receive the money but don't worry, BankrollMob will give you the answers.

Full Tilt Poker - There is also a nice Full Tilt Poker $100 no deposit bonus on BankrollMob.

Casino/Bingo Offers - BankrollMob also has free no deposit Casino and Bingo offers. I haven't tried any of those offers yet so I cant really comment on them:)



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YourPokerCash

YourPokerCash is the biggest free poker money site on the net. The best thing about this site is the offers. They have some of the best free no deposit bonuses you can't find anywhere else.

Its a little hard to sign up but I had no problem and I received my bankroll in 3 days. If you have any trouble signing up, just leave a question/comment below and I'll help you out.

Poker Offers - All of these Poker Offers are the best on the NET!! You won't find better offers anywhere else!!

All in all, I give this site 9/10
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Play More Pots - Erick Lindgren

In tournaments, I play lots of hands. I'll put my money in with all kinds of connected cards, especially when in position. I might limp, I might min-raise or raise a little more than the minimum, depending on the circumstances. I'm looking to keep my table off balance so they don't know where I'm coming from.

My overall goal is to pick up a lot of small pots without a lot of resistance. I might raise in position and hope for a call from one of the blinds. If I raise pre-flop with something like 6-7, I might miss the flop entirely, but the raise puts me in control of the hand. On the flop, I'll likely bet if checked to, even if I miss. That small bet on the flop will usually win me a small, but helpful pot.

Of course, sometimes it won't work out. I'll bet and get check-raised on occasions. But that's okay, because I actually don't lose much in the hands that I have to surrender. Overall, I get to gradually add to my chip stack by chopping at small pot after small pot.

The other major advantage to my style is that, occasionally, I will hit a flop hard. If I do happen to flop a straight, it's difficult for other players to put me on something like 5-7 or 6-8. If one of my opponents also gets a piece of the flop, I'll get paid off in a big way.

By adding to my stack early, I have a real advantage over players who play a cautious, tight game. The extra chips that I accumulate allow me to survive some tough spots. So, if I happen to get involved in a race with A-K or a pair of Tens, I can withstand a loss. An opponent who's playing tight will likely be on the rail after losing a single race.

New players often ask me how they can learn to play more pots. I always suggest that they drop down significantly in stakes and practice. If you're playing $2-$4 no-limit, drop down to $.50-$1 - a level where some losses won't hurt you.

Once you're at that table, try to play eight hands out of 10. Play everything but 2-8 or 3-9 - hands that are entirely unconnected. When you get yourself involved with this kind of frequency, you'll have to concentrate more on your opponents than on your own cards. You'll have to be on the lookout for opportunities to take down pots with well-timed stabs. You'll also learn how to proceed in situations where you flop a good, but dangerous hand.

By dropping down and playing a lot of hands, you're going to learn a lot about poker. You're also going to have a lot of fun. Lord knows, playing 50% of the hands is a whole lot more entertaining than sitting around waiting for Aces.

If you look at the success that Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu and myself have had over the last couple of years, you'll see that being active can be an excellent way to score big in tournaments. It takes practice to play this style, but it can lead to great results and be a lot of fun.

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