Being a poker fanatic, and meeting Gus Hansen at the 2008 World Series of Poker at the Empire Casino in London, I couldn’t help but buy his latest book and give it a try. He’d basically decided that the traditional books on poker were boring and wanted to come up with a new style of presenting the game. Now, if you’ve read many poker books you’d know that they’re incredibly formulaic. Which is bad. Good if it’s the first ever book on the game, but bad if it’s more like the millionth. Which his probably is.
Hansen used a dictation device to record his every hand, fold, play and cock-up. You are taken on a journey with the Great Dane himself; from every thought process to ‘blind steal’ to every player read. You find out what motivates Hansen to make the moves he makes and something that will most definitely appeal to players wanting to mimic his style: he’s not a loose player despite what you might think! Although Hansen appears to play cards willy-nilly and just throw his money into the pot, he clarifies for his readers quite coherently his strategy for “taking down big pots”. It’s from this you learn, with his easy-going attitude and personable approach and writing style, how to become an absolutely fearless demon at the poker table.
He guides you through how to calculate pot-odds very easily without all the usual (and very boring) maths that precedes it. He also makes sure you understand why he chooses to raise at every opportunity he gets and why it’s important to defend your blinds. I wouldn’t normally be thinking of these small ways to increase your stack, but somehow Hansen has made me want to follow his advice. And, I think it’s because he talks complete sense. None of what he dictates to you is over-the-top, nor is it sensationalist. I tend to get bored very quickly when players/sites claim you can ‘double up’ instantly or other such idealistic nonsense. But, realistically, you are guided through the method (and probable madness) that makes up a Gus Hansen play.
If I continue I’ll give away a lot of his secrets and they’re best found feeling smug on ‘insider knowledge’ when you’re sitting on a train journey to somewhere whilst complete strangers watch you smirk, looking at the book with pictures in it. It’s not expensive and it’s most definitely worth it if you’re a poker player or a fan.
I give this book five out of five.
