Thanks for sharing, sorry if this was already asked, I haven't read every post.

Dont let the effing haters in these forums hold you back. I ,and hope the majority of others, value your input.

It's so weird how poker can get so indepth but it's so simple too. Gus wrote about his play in that hand for like ~3 pages. I was assuming he was cheesing it up like he normally does so I told myself I was 3betting any two cards since I knew he probably wouldn't want to play a huge pot the very first hand of the final table and made a fairly standard resteal.

Poker is weird.

I am pretty sure he is aware that his loose style can be "exploited" (goes with the territory) and he counters such attempts effectively a lot of times. Don't forget he can exploit back!

Based on the many glowing reviews I picked up this book last night. Haven't got that deep into it yet, but so far all I can say is I really really really hope everyone at my local cardroom reads it. It is like Supersystem all over again. If you don't have already have a solid understanding of poker theory (TOP/HOH) I think this will create a whole new wave of lag ATM$

Example:

Hand 18: No mention of him being possibly the victim of a squeeze. Little mention that his slowplayed flop factors into his decision to call turn & river...


There are more, but I didn't highlight them. So far I've found some good analysis, but the majority is pretty superficial. It still is interesting to "look over his shoulder" and see how he played...

yes, i basically agree... and it's MTT where there is huge premium on picking up chips.

Jimmy, could you comment a little on Hand 315 where you pushed all-in with the gut shot? Are you okay with that play in hindsight or do you think you should have let that on go?

Also, regarding Gus' massive overbet on the A2 hand: I thought that was a very good play, considering that he got you to call and also that it got you steaming a little. What's your general opinion on these (all-in) overbets? Gus made quite a few of those.

having read the book till the "final table" chapter, i pretty much agree with what i've been told lately on this post.

1- the book is technically speaking really superficial. You will not learn a thing about hand ranges, squeeze play, 4-bets etc... I you want that stuff, go reading the harringtons and watch some cardrunners videos.

2- Gus had his fair share of weak opponents during the whole tournament except of his first table with Ivey and couple others (had he stay on this table a little more, he would have not lasted the first day)
and the last (gogoboy for sure and Black i would say, even though he's a tight). Obviously, the technical aspect is weak because of that. Strongers opponents would have led to more difficult decisions and more advanced analyses i guess

4- Having all said that though, the book is still entertaining and worth his price. I like it really.
There are still some good advices regardings playing with antes and changing gears during the tournament.
As it is the first book of this kind, i think we should be grateful to Gus for having shared his adventure. It is in retrospect quite a f*** ride leading to millions of $.


5- Being the Aussie Millions 2007 champ, winner of 3 WPTs, a backgammon prodigy, second finisher in the last WPT championship, i think calling him a donk is just one of the most ridiculous statement you could say. Gus Hansen just KNOWS something about poker.


6- I am officialy cheering for anothers books of that "first-person" Poker type.
But with also more technical insights.
For example, how great will it be to follow the complete run of the first Ivey WPT win with Phil himself telling about it ? Or the ones of online greats like gogoboy, Isaac Barons...
I just hope Gus has launch this new trend of poker books !

And how are your stats "Bawookles" ? "Odysseus" can fill us in on that too. Should you have won less than $900K, isn't it completely self-contradictory for _you_ to be criticising Jimmy ?

Considering stack sizes I really don't think this shove is as bad as it comes across. He has to have at least AJ to call me, maybe better, and if he doesn't think I'm shoving it in with a hand like Q9 then he probably has to have at least a king to call me. He was raising preflop a lot, and a KJx board does not hit his raising range very often. Add in the fact that he had literally the WORST POSSIBLE HAND for me to get called by and it looks like spew. If he has any worse than a king (or QQ) and I have over 20% equity and considering there's over a million in the pot when he bets the flop, that's why I did it. Obviously if I knew now his raising range was as tight as it is and he's going to be calling me so light it probably wasn't the best play.

It's not self-contradictory at all. My problem with Fricke in this thread and elsewhere is that he shows no respect for a guy who crushed him. This has nothing to do with me thinking he doesn't have the right to give his opinion about someone else's play. It has everything to do with his arrogance and lack of humility. All we get from Gobboboy is talk about Gus's "donk" moves, and how "exploitable" he is by "good" (read as internet) players. Yet, when the two actually played in REAL LIFE, not hypothetically on an internet messageboard, Hansen destroyed him despite starting out with a 3 to 1 chip deficit. I mean c'mon, every time they played a huge pot, Hansen had the best hand. Can't gobboboy just be honest and say he got outplayed? It would be nice to hear some acknowledgement of this fact, instead of condescending, snide remarks about Gus and his play.

I've heard and read interviews with Hansen, and what interests me about his play is that he obviously believes in what he does. He obviously puts a lot of thought into his play. I'm getting the book next week, and cant wait to read it.

it's a good book. Gus did a nice job. You guys that are ripping on Jimmy are kind of dumb.

Thanks Mrs. Fricke!!!


WTF

ok, i bought this book partially so i don't look at it everytime i go to store, when i'm supposed to be studying CFA.

how do people think gus' strategy would change if he was playing in weekly 7-8 hour start to finish casino tourney? just wait for cards like everyone else, then get aggressive when short??

Hey, man, I'm not saying Fricke is a bad player, he's certainly won more than me at poker!

All I'm saying is that it comes across as a little bit of sour grapes for Fricke to criticize Hansen so broadly when Hansen isn't some luckbox who has just won one tournament. The guy has won a lot over a sustained period of time, I don't think you can do that being "a very exploitable player" as Fricke suggested.

Outplayed? Maybe. But the fact Gus had the best hand in every huge pot indicates that there was probably more than a little luck involved.


I've now made it through 1/2 of the book. I definitely would NOT recommend it as a strategy aid, but more of reading of interest to poker players. Gus made some very bad plays -- some of which he admits to, others which he treats as if they were perfectly normal.

He also over-stresses pot-odds (not to mention over-simplifies them preflop by assuming he gets to see all the way to the river for the preflop odds), while neglecting to discuss tournament equity (he does discuss TE in a round-about way on one hand where he folded AKs preflop).

I also suspect that Gus left A LOT out. Example: I would imagine his calling 2 all-ins with JJ had at least something to do with a read.



In summation, I'll be highly recommending it to all the fish at my local live tournaments.

Great thread!

Good read. I enjoyed this book a lot!

Gus plays his game to take advantage of the fact that most live tournament players are too tight and fold too much. By doing this he opens himself up to be exploited, and becomes "a very exploitable player". That's not a bad thing, it's good poker.

Both Hanson and Fricke are good players, but Gus was a little luckier and maybe a little better.

David Chiu exploited him pretty good.

Or perhaps it indicates that Fricke played poorly, made some horrible reads, and was HIMSELF exploited by that donk Hansen.

To take just one example: the huge overbet by Gus when he held A2, and Fricke had KQ on a board of AK78. Gus played it like a semi-bluff, and made a huge bet more than twice the size of the pot that fooled Fricke into thinking he was on a draw, had a weaker King, or was bluffing. That's right, FOOLED him, confused him, exploited him. That is, unless you want to argue that Fricke thought he had an Ace and then called a $3.1 million bet into $1.3 million pot anyways.

Keep in mind, Fricke could have folded and kept his comfortable chip lead. He chose not to. This is not a case of getting out-carded, it's a case of getting your money in really really ugly, and no one is to blame for that but Fricke.

Last post on the subject.

1) I never said Gus was a donk.

2) He showed every hand we played HU, right? Count the number of pots that I won and count the number of pots he won.

1.) Yeah, you did.

2.) Nah, let's just count the number of HUGE pots you lost by getting outplayed, shoving all those precious chips in on all sorts of draws, bluffs, semi-bluffs, whatever. You did suck out once, that is true, and it's the only reason the match lasted as long as it did. These big hands were the ones that cost you the tournament, not folding 32o and 84o from the big blind to a raise. Maybe If you had played those hands a little better, you would have lasted long enough for the cards to turn in your favor. I guess we'll never know though, since, as played....well, you know.

Whatever, I'm done with this thread now. It's already been derailed enough as is and it doesn't matter what I say, I'm just going to have a bunch of people disagreeing with me because they saw Gus Hansen play on the World Poker Turr and I'm some young kid who doesn't care to sugarcoat things.

Well played, you've won the internet war.

Odysseus, did you go through the tedious process of signing up to this forum JUST so you could insult Jimmy Fricke?

A poker player who in all likely-hood is infinitely more skilled than yourself, and whose opinion on a subject he was actually very deeply involved in I value a little more highly than the bile you choose to clutter up this thread with.

To the casual reader of this thread which comments do you feel people are most interested in?

A) Those that give some insight into the book, the tournament itself and the strategies employed

B) You taking the mickey out of someone for finishing second?


Anyway

I am not experienced enough to have anything pertinent to say about the merits of playing like Gus Hansen, or the dangers of trying to emulate his style.

What I can say is that the book certainly offers a fresh perspective on how to handle different levels of live tournament play and at the very least presents excellent materiel to compare with your own strategies and style.

I think the insights demonstrated in this book of how, when and why a successful LAG plays hands is vital information in either

A) Developing a similar strategy

B) Learning how to counter and not be intimidated by loose and aggressive plays.

I imagine that more skilled and learned players than myself already have an understanding of such things, but to us still on the steep bit of the learning curve such information is vital.

The book is also excellent entertainment (at least I thought so), putting you in the shoes of a champion becoming a champion in the field in which you would like to excel.

Excellent book.

Why don't get people like Odysseus banned before they drive away a good player with personal insults?