Every Hand Revealed

Gus Hansen takes us to a journey through his astonishing way of play, that most Hold'em players might find not only aggressive, but even in some cases absurd.

I enjoyed reading this book. However, this is definitely not a comprehensive poker strategy book. It's merely a review of every hand of the Aussie Millions Poker Tournament 2007 Gus took part in and how it was played, with some notes by Gus on why he decided to play it like that. He takes stack size, possible chip lead, his reads, bet sizes and much more into consideration before making a play, and the way he thinks and bets is presented briefly for every hand.
After each chapter Gus does actually propose a way of play for various stages of a tournament, but if you seek in depth analysis of such matters, you should probably read another book.

I do not regret the purchase of this book, because it provided some insights on the game of an acclaimed poker pro and could prove to be helpful in terms of enhancing my own play. Overall, it provides info on the (super)aggressive poker play and how Gus handles it. Judging by the first place and the money he won from this tournament, he does have his way.

Every time I've watched Gus Hansen play in the World Poker Tour, I always wondered what permutations his mind was running through. I mean, how can this guy be so aggressive and so successful tournament after tournament? It boggles the mind that his trademark style wouldn't eventually expose him to massive busts as players just decide "what the hell", let's just call him out.

Now we finally find out what goes on in the brain of a champion. His aggressiveness is a coolly calculated approach determined carefully hand by hand throughout a tournament. He has almost a preternatural ability to sense the right play through a lens of mathematical objectivity while combining that with a carefully considered intuitive feeling for his opponent's play. For those of us who occasionally fantasize about playing at the professional level, seeing Hansen's play through his actual tournament decision making skill set is extremely humbling. This is written clearly and understandably, even if we couldn't possibly absorb his entire approach to play at his level. However,there is much useful learning here that can improve poker hand decision making skills for anyone who is serious about their play.

Definitely worth reading, particularly if you are interested in playing tournaments yourself.

I bought this book after reading the reviews on Amazon, and I have to say I was quite happy with the purchase. I actually couldn't put it down. Gus goes over all the hands he was part of, is self depricating, shows that he got lucky, but most importantly, goes over how he reads situations and bets out accordingly.

Like a lot of poker books, the lessons he teaches are not necessarily straight forward, but they are there, and they are plentiful.

I wish more players would do this kind of book.

Kudos Gus on a great book.

I was waiting for a book like this! Extremely entertaining and gives a lot of insight to Gus's mind. If you have the tourney recorded, you can actually see the hands, and look for tells that Gus is talking about. It really gives you an idea what a "maniac" is thinking about raising with T9o when "under the gun".

DO NOT TRY TO USE HIS STRATEGY AT HOME, unless you are above intermediate level poker player. Even if you think you understand why what he does at the table at home, you HAVE to be Gus Hansen to make it work. You are not. I hear people saying "a very aggressive player, like Gus Hansen, D.Negreanu, Micheal Mizrachi, etc". The truth is, you cannot put players in the same "aggressive" category. For example, D.Negreanu and G. Hansen are TOTALLY different players with different styles. Negreanu plays "small ball, check-call poker" preferring to make post flop decisions himself using his insane reading ability, while Gus likes to play bigger pots, and put his opponents to the test. Gus does not mind going all in when he thinks the situation is favorable, while Daniel hates to be all-in unless it is the best play. It is just not his style.

With that said, the most important thing why Gus's plays work is the table image (that he does not have to establish every time he comes to a new table, his image follows him everywhere). Thats his advantage, and thats why his plays work. Everyone knows that Gus Hansen is Gus "I-can-have-any-two-cards-in-any-position" Hansen. Thats why if you raised early position with two red aces, and Gus called you on the button, it is extremely difficult to proceed on the flop of 3-6-7 with two clubs on the board when Gus puts you to the test for all your chips. After all he is Gus, what makes you think he is not holding 4-5 in his hand, and you are drawing slim to dead.

Get this book! Read it! Enjoy it! Learn from it! DO NOT DO IT AT HOME!

Just finished the book and found it really good, not over done at all and not really a technical journal like some can and are meant to be. The book literally is every hand he played during the 2007 Aussie Millions Tourney with the reasons for why he played the hand or why he acted a certain way on the hand. If you have a good basic knowledge of tournament hold em and understand concepts of poker this book can give a great understanding of how guys like Hansen, Ivey, and Negranue, play and you see they are not so loose and crazy but actually are just aggressive toward the unaggressive. It's a dangerous way to play but if you can play after the flop it is a smart and profitable way to play. If you are just beginning in poker and are looking for a book to teach you THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!! This book can potentially ruin you because you will only learn to copy what he does without understanding why he does it, get a book like Harrington on Hold Em first at the very minimum, Hansen plays aggressive not stupid.
All in all a great read, not for everyone, but for those that understand the game a great insight into a very good poker players mind.