Every Hand Revealed
by Gus Hansen
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Book Reviews of Every Hand Revealed
Book Review: Good, but title should be "Many Hands Revealed"
Summary: 4 Stars
Gus Hansen plays an entertaining style of poker that most would call "hyper-aggressive". He dictated contemporaneous notes regarding his play during the Aussie Millions Texas Hold `Em Tournament, which he won, and those notes provide the basis for this book. The book lets us inside his head as he considers each hand he played, making sense of otherwise confusing or contradictory decisions. Why fold an Ace-nine on one hand but re-raise with a 10-2 off-suit on the next? A reader sees that position play, perceived "tightness" or "weakness" by opponents, table image, and at times even excessive curiosity explain much of Hansen's play. There are also extended discussions of post-flop play on some critical hands, where a reader gets a detailed look at how a world-class player analyses a hand. Hansen dissects likely opponent holdings, prior opponent behavior, pot odds, and his own overall tournament strategy. It's both informative and entertainingly written. This approach to poker has been very effective for Hansen and some other hyper-aggressive players in the world of professional poker. It should be understood as much more of a window into the mind of a top player, and not a "how to" manual. If anything, it should probably have a label reminding readers "Warning, you are not Gus Hansen"
The book is not really billed as a "how to play hyper-aggressive poker". It may not be possible to really teach Hansen's style any more than you can teach a person how to run the 100 yard dash. There are techniques one can learn, but there is also some innate, unteachable genius that separates the world-class from rest. That said, it wasn't until reading the book that I realized that this is just a discussion of the hands Hansen played, 329 out of the 850 dealt. We get to see his reasoning for playing some of his medium-to-poor hands, but we don't get to see his reasoning on the times he mucked the exact same holdings. All we know is that some of the time, a pair of fives is worth a re-raise, other times, an instant fold. This omission of over half of his critical decisions diminished the information value of the book, although it probably did improve the readability.
If that objection seems minor, and you are otherwise a fan of the game, then you will probably enjoy the book overall (I did). If nothing else, it is fun to see a practitioner of a craft at the top of his game. And, my earlier warning label notwithstanding, maybe you will want to try this approach after all. It certainly makes for a lively game. To quote Hansen as he closes his book: "The game is called Poker, not `waiting for the nuts'. In order to accumulate chips and make something happen, you need to do exactly that: Play Poker!"
3.5 stars, rounded up 'cause it's a fun read.
Book Review: Impressive and useful.
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know what I expected from this book.
But I'll tell you what I got:
Basically, Gus goes through, chronologically, several hands per orbit of a big tournament that he was successful in. For each hand, he states his hole cards, the blinds/antes level, and his present chipstack.
For each hand, he more or says what was going through his mind (he recorded his thoughts during the tournament), and describes what options there were for each decision, and why some were discarded out of hand, and why others were chosen for further scrutiny. He is pretty honest about when he thinks that he (or another player) at the table made a complete idiot play.
I think as we all know, the general Eurodonkey style of poker is ridiculous to watch, and ridiculously -EV almost all of the time. If it weren't for Eurodonkey poker, I wouldn't make as much money as I do in tournaments. Gus, of course, is a classic Europoker guy in spirit, but the difference is, he manages to insert a good bit of sense into his crazy play, and you can really see that quite clearly in this book. For all of the outward appearance of pure aggression that he gives, you will see that Gus is only rarely putting chips into the pot without a positive expectation; his expectation, you discover, is based on mathematics, tournament position, and, occasionally, "reads" (e.g., noticing that an opponent "looks like" he desperately wants a free card and would not pay to see the next card to his draw). None of his play is reckless adrenaline-based aggression.
The book has therefore been quite helpful to me in that I can see that the classic Scandinavian-maniac style of poker, WHEN WIELDED BY A SENSEI such as Gus, is in fact dangerous. It has also given me a window into the weaknesses of my own personal very tight play, which I can plainly see is susceptible in very material ways to a Gus's kind of aggressive style; in the past, I have simply waited to snap-off overly aggressive players, with a good deal of success. Gus, however, is un-snappable, and were I to face Gus, I realize that he'd clean up my chips while I was "waiting to snap him off", and then when the moment came to snap him off, he'd escape from the pot before I could do any damage.
This book is a "buy" in my opinion. It has easily been among the most helpful books I have read, and has given me a clear window into the narrowness of my own play.
Book Review: Gus Hansen is apparently not crazy and reckless at the tables
Summary: 4 Stars
Gus Hansen achieved fame early on in the World Poker Tour from his seemingly reckless and erratic style of play. As seen on TV, Hansen would play any two cards in position and apply maximum aggression with absolutely no hand and no draw. And somehow this strategy seemed to work: he'd frequently get his opponents to lay down hands as strong as top pair to his well-timed moves of aggression.
But "Every Hand Revealed" lives up to its name: Gus Hansen's secret is revealed. As many poker authors have cautioned their readers, the hands actually *shown* on television are entirely atypical. The producers edited out all the mundane hands where nothing much happened and no one attempted any wild bluffs. Also, they edited out the entire first part of the tournament, where 95% of the players were slowly eliminated. By focusing on high-blind, final table action (and only the most unusual and exciting hands), we all got a distorted view of Gus Hansen's game.
Here, Gus Hansen walks his readers through every hand he played in a successful big money hold em tournament. It's fairly clear that Gus, unlike many poker professionals, actually wrote this book himself (or had it transcribed from his voice recordings taken at the table). We truly get a look inside the reasoning process of a top poker professional. Gus Hansen is still a somewhat loose player, and very aggressive, but now we see the method behind his madness. More importantly, we see how he can make tough folds when he's in trouble.
The only unfortunate aspect of this book is its extremely poor (or non-existent) editing. I can't blame Gus for a lack of fluency in English, his second language. I can blame the editors at Citadel for not doing a professional job in clarifying his use of words. Of course, perhaps the low, low cover price reflects the lack of editing. Either way, it's bad enough to slightly mar an otherwise excellent book.
If you like this style of learning poker through detailed hand-by-hand analysis, I'd also recommend The Poker Tournament Formula and Poker Tips that Pay: Expert Strategy Guide for Winning No Limit Texas Hold em, both of which also walk the reader through the reasoning process in dozens of interesting poker hands.
Book Review: A new way to play, revealed
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you seen Gus Hansen playing poker on TV? If so, you've probably seen him stand up from the table and talk into a gizmo that is a tape recorder. I always assumed he did it to review the hands later. Well, maybe, but there was another reason. Hansen won the Aussie Millions in January, 2008. There were 746 runners, and it lasted five days. In his new book, Every Hand Revealed, he recounts all 329 hands he played. He doesn't pull any punches. By that I mean that occasionally he'd make a dumb play. but wasn't afraid to admit it in the book.
Each of days one through four is a separate chapter. He divided the fifth day into three chapters: one for the final table, one for when the play was three-handed and one chapter for when the play was heads-up. The book is not for the beginning poker player, but can be enjoyed by the advancing player on up to the poker expert.
Would you enter a pot from middle position with Q-7 offsuit? Would you enter with a raise three times the big blind? Hansen makes moves like this. He isn't afraid to put his chips out there, because he feels he can outplay the others after the flop. I've heard him say on TV that you can win with any two cards. Now there's something that can't be denied.
Even though I'm not comfortable playing like that, I see his reasoning. If you wait for the nuts, you will eventually bleed to death. Even if you wait and catch pocket aces, you may get no action or get them cracked. With the way Hansen plays, he wins so many small pots that he can afford an occasional suck-out by the villain. Also, because he plays so loose (as defined by others), when he catches a huge hand, he often gets action and wins big pots with those hands.
As I read the book, I noticed that Hansen made several good/winning bets based on his reads from the villain's demeanor. But, he is basically math oriented. Here's what he says:
"Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to diminish the conventional over-the-table reading ability. I actually believe it played a big part of my success Down Under. I am just stating the obvious: 'Reads are imperfect and numbers don't lie.'
So, go ahead and buy the book; it's entertaining as well as instructional. But be warned: For it to help your game, you're going to have to keep a very open mind!
Book Review: Solid No-Limit Hold 'Em Tournament Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Here's the sequence of the books I've read about NLHE Tournaments:
Step 1: T.J. Cloutier/McEvoy - Survive, survive, survive... Maybe you get a lot of chips somewhere and win a tournament.
Step 2: Dan Harrington - Survive, but if all conditions are right, play a hand like J-T suited or 9-8 suited if you have three callers, tight players in the blinds, and then proceed from there.
Step 3: Gus Hansen - Survival sucks. Accumulate chips. Get the blinds. Know BEP. GO FOR IT.
For years I was in Step 1 mode: Play your coin flips with 99 vs. AK and pray they hold up. Double up a few times, don't play the "chip burners" like J-T suited or K-Q suited. Waaaaaaaaay too tight to consistently win let alone confuse my opponents with my play.
Now, Step 2 was nice, but how often do you really get 3 or 4 callers in front of you AND tight players in the blinds? Basically, you're always in Step 1/Survivor mode unless all the stars and planets align at the poker table and we know that doesn't happen very often.
Step 3. Go for it. Raise with a K-T suited in middle position 3 x the BB and see what happens. If you get raised and can make the call and get a great flop then go for it.
Yeah, it sounds crazy to "go for it" but you know what I've discovered?
Sitting around getting blinded to death watching people get chips and win millions of dollars while I hope my caveman coin-flip strategy holds up doesn't work. You have to get in there with a Q-J suited in late position for some of your chips. You don't get the AA or KK often enough, and if you do get those hands do you really accumulate enough chips to win the tournament? No.
I liked Gus Hansen's book. I think people TALK about shifting gears, but don't do it enough. I know I don't. But I've gone further in tournaments and actually been the chip leader or in the top 10 more often during the tournament since I read this book and used his advice.
You can still incorporate the wisdom from Step 1 and Step 2. Just make sure that you have Step 3 in the tool box or you're never going to win unless EVERYTHING goes your way in a tournament. It can happen, but don't hold your breath. Get this book if you want to win NLHE tournaments.