Poker Book Reviews

Every Hand Revealed

Review by Shari Geller

Gus Hansen has a reputation as an "any two cards" type of player -- a wild man at the poker table whose play seems to defy logic. But in his new book "Every Hand Revealed," Hansen shows the sober, clear, and, yes, logical thought process behind his seemingly crazy decisions -- and what the reader discovers is a player who is actually crazy like a fox. Hansen takes the reader on a ride through a major tournament, providing not just a behind-the-scenes account, but literally an inside-his-head view of the decisions he made as he outlasted 746 competitors over five days to win the $1.2 million first prize at the 2007 Aussie Millions tournament.

"Every Hand Revealed," begins rather poignantly with a nod to the late Chip Reese. Hansen's book is dedicated to the poker legend, whose "About Gus Hansen," opening to the book is both a concise introduction and a touching bridge between the old and new poker generations. As Reese noted, Hansen began as a backgammon player in his native Denmark, then turned his "quick mind and ability to logically solve a problem," to the world of poker -- and has made quite an impression. Winner of three WPT titles, the WPT Bad Boys Invitational, the 2005 Poker Superstars Invitational, and the Aussie Millions tournament, Hansen is as successful as he is popular, and much of his popularity comes from his seemingly superhuman ability to turn J-5 off-suit into a winner.

Anyone watching the Aussie Millions on television could not help but notice the small tape recorder Hansen was speaking into during the tournament and the notes he would jot down after his hands. Hansen recorded the details of every one of the 329 hands he played, what he did, why he did it, and his observations of the other players. While not literally every hand he played is described in the book, Hansen gives all the details of every relevant hand he played along the way to victory.

Hansen's writing is straight-forward and clear; he uses an instructional tone, without the arrogance one might expect from a winner's recap. The book is broken down into each of the five days of the tournament and is easy to follow as it has a number of visual aids including seat placement, antes and blinds, hole cards and community cards. What it lacks in stylistic flair, it more than makes up in detail, analysis and honesty. Hansen shares his misreads and his bad plays with the same openness as he shares his great moves and good instincts. His advice is woven throughout the book and covers an array of important factors to be considered during tournament play, including how to deal with escalating blinds and when to steal them, the importance of the antes, the significance of bubble-play, the difference between a full-table and short-handed play, the value of the continuation bet, how to play medium or small pairs, the use of the value bet, and of course, tactics for the final table.

Hansen provides more than advice, however. Through his discussion of twenty "Crucial Hands," the reader has a front row seat to Hansen's inner thought process. One of these hands occurred on Day 3 and involved poker pro Paul Wasicka, a player not unlike Hansen in his ability to make the same bet on a stone cold bluff as with quads. In this hand, Hansen was holding A-6 off-suit and the flop came 8-7-5 rainbow. Wasicka checked, Hansen bet, then Wasicka moved all-in. There was now over half a million in the pot. For the average player, there were many ways to look at the decision facing him. Not so for Hansen. While Hansen recognizes that there are three main factors to consider when evaluating a player's all-in bet (the strength of your hand, the supposed strength of your opponent's cards and pot odds), Hansen quickly discards the first two as relatively unknowable and relies strongly on pot odds. Here, it would cost Hansen $334,000 to call. But there was more at play than the numbers. If he folded and Wasicka showed a bluff, Hansen feared the tide would turn in Wasicka's favor and he would lose control of the table. Hansen reasoned that he would need a 38.6% chance of prevailing, which he believed he had, so he called and saw that Wasicka was indeed making a move - he had A-J for no draw and just two over cards. The flop came a 6 and Hansen had paired the board and was ahead, until the river brought a 4 and a split pot. Replaying the hand, Hansen wondered whether going all-in on the flop would have been the better move, rather than the check which let Wasicka take control of the hand.

Ultimately, the strength of the book lies in Hansen ability to explain the strategy behind his play at various times during each day of the multi-day tournament, demonstrating that not one method works throughout, but that the ability to read and adapt to different scenarios at different stages is key. Hansen's contemporaneous perspective, unclouded and untarnished by the passage of time, helps the reader understand why Hansen raised on the button with 7-3 off-suit while another time folding to a raise with A-J, folding A-2 then raising with 2-4. Hansen's strategy provides a clinic for both the novice and the professional. Throughout it all, Hansen unapologetically encourages aggressive play to keep pressure on the other players and to keep control of the table. He calls himself "an aggressive, premier blind- and ante-stealer," and no one would question that description. Yet, even he finds times to vary his play. When it gets down to three handed-play, Hansen, second in chips, against chip leader Jimmy Fricke and Andy Black, puts on the brakes and we see patience and discipline from the wild man. In fact, he is almost passive, allowing Fricke to build up quite a chip stack. It does not take Hansen long to regret his play and to wonder how much the ladder principle - concern over moving up in the money - affected his play. But after Black is eliminated, Hansen is pleased that he did move up the ladder and now the patient, conservative Hansen will leave the building and the super-aggressive Hansen will return. And, indeed, just a few hands into heads-up, Hansen moves all in on the turn with top pair, weak kicker. Fricke, possibly sensing a "crazy" Hansen bluff, calls with middle pair and, failing to improve on the river, Hansen moved from behind 3-to-1 in chips to virtually even. From short stack to winner, Hansen describes enough ups and downs during the final table to give the reader seasickness. But while his fortunes took various twists and turns, his plan stayed the same: keep aggressive, maximize your wins and minimize your losses.

"Every Hand Revealed," only rarely gives the reader a peak at how Hansen's play was assessed by the other players. One interesting example though is on Day 4 in a hand against the "pretty, Finnish" Patrik Antonius. Having flopped bottom set, and the turn bringing a straight and flush draw to the board, Hansen apparently took quite a bit of time to deliberate over the correct course of action to extract the most money from his opponent. He eventually decided on a pot-sized bet rather than an all-in, even though he did have Antonius covered. Antonius came over the top all-in, was called by Hansen, and lost when the river missed Antonius' top pair/nut flush draw. Hansen later learned that all the time he spent in thought on the turn had led Antonius to believe Hansen was weaker than he was.

By the end, "Every Hand Revealed" provides the answer to the question anyone who has ever watched Hansen on TV has asked more than once, "What was he thinking?" In the process, it also provides the reader with a fascinating glimpse inside the head of one of poker's most enigmatic players. Hansen leaves the reader more convinced than ever that there is a lot more to poker than the cards you are dealt, and that the truly great players know how use that to their advantage.

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