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 The
World Poker Tour held at Commerce Casino was an exciting program. Of course, any tournament
Gus Hansen is playing in is never going to be dull. He is always
exciting to watch with his aggressive style and terrific post-flop play.
The first person to be eliminated in this tournament was Bob Stupak when
he held pocket fives against Andy Bloch's pocket Jacks. Thank
goodness for that. I am not sure how much I would have been able to
take of his decision making. He would take so long on every decision that
he was about to make. We are able to see the hole cards and we knew
that there was absolutely no decision to be made. In one hand, he had a
raiser and caller in front of him and he had K3
suited. We knew that
he was not going to play the hand. We also knew that he knew he was
not going to play the hand, yet he did this long drawn out process and
then proceeded to fold his hand.
One hand that particularly caught my attention was when Gus held 42
offsuit in the big blind. He checked the flop with an 985 board then
bets the turn when a ten hits. Andy called him with his A8. Gus is holding
the worst possible hand, and Andy's hand is fairly strong. When a
jack hits on the river, Gus leads out again and Andy folds his hand.
One of Gus's biggest strengths in No Limit is to make a substantial bet
and have the other player do the thinking. On this hand, Andy
allowed himself to be outplayed by not betting the flop and not
raising
the turn. Players have a tendency to scream out "please beat me"
to Gus which he is happy to oblige.
Another hand that I found interesting is when Daniel held pocket threes in
the big blind and called Gus's raise (not too bad). The flop came
down QT6 with two diamonds, Daniel led out (a good move in my eyes).
When Gus called, it should have screamed to Daniel that he was beat.
In my opinion, Daniel made a horrible play by calling this hand down after
the flop. The turn came a six, Daniel checked and Gus bet, Daniel
called. The river was a two of diamonds and Gus bet a substantial amount
and Daniel called again. Although Daniel held the best hand the whole way,
he was being stubborn. Sometimes when you win the pot, you come out
smelling like a rose, but that doesn't make the play correct.
Daniel did make a great move on a hand a that followed that. He held
QT against Gus's A3. When the ace hit on the flop, Daniel led out
with a large bet and Gus called. He tried to do it again on the turn, but
Gus called and won the huge pot. He did not win the pot, but he wasn't
going to win unless he bet into the pot. It looked as if that pot totally
discouraged him for awhile. This is what separates him from some of
the professional players that we have seen.
Gus played the players so well and seemed to confuse them with his
unconventional play. This made players make moves that they normally
wouldn't make. Gus doubled David's big blind and David moved all-in
with A8. Little did he know that Gus actually held a powerful hand.
I believe that in a normal situation with a different player, David would
not have made that move. Gus makes the players react to him and it
throws them off their normal game. This is also a huge benefit to Gus.
Although Andy made a big mistake in the hand the I discussed earlier, he
was the player that played Gus the best. He made a couple of great
calls against Gus which added to his chip stack. However, he was
also eliminated by Gus when he raised with A8. Gus moved all in with KJ
offsuit and Andy quickly called. He had the best hand going in, but
luck was with Gus and the flop came J27. The turn was a ten giving
Andy more outs, but there was no help on the river when the Queen fell.
This is the second time on the WPT that Andy came in third place.
When the play got heads up, Daniel made a good move when he came over the
top of Gus before the flop holding Q8 suited against Gus' QT. Gus laid his
hand down. After that hand, it was all about Gus Hansen. On the next
hand Daniel limps with A4 and Gus had 23. When the board flopped
QK9, Gus led out and Daniel folded his hand. Gus had the worst
possible hand that he could have and yet he proved how it is not about playing the cards.
 One
of the key pots of the heads up play is when Daniel held AJ to Gus's A6.
Daniel made a horrible play when he only bet $75,000 on the flop with a
board of A89 into a pot of over $300,000. Gus made a weak call.
It got worse on the turn when a ten came giving Gus a
flush draw and a
straight draw. Daniel checked!!!! He could have taken this pot on
the flop with a larger bet. He might have been able to take it on
the turn, but by checking the hand, he gave the pot to Gus by giving him a
free card which happened to be a six. Daniel called the river bet of
$200,000 so quickly. If he was so eager to throw that kind of money
into the pot, he should have done it on the flop or the turn. This was the
beginning of Daniel's spiral to second place. Again on the next
hand, his inexperience began to show. He called off a small chunk of
change to Gus hoping that he was bluffing.
The final hand Daniel moved all in with QT and Gus immediately called with AJ.
Daniel flopped a ten but Gus caught a jack on the river. Gus Hansen was declared the victor for the
second time on the World Poker Tour.
See also
Commerce Casino - Season Two and
Season Three. |
