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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.

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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
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