GUS HANSEN

Here it goes. The brief version of my bust-out from the Main Event. The short analysis of how I got all 80 % of my money into a pot holding Q high and an up and down straight draw. I have already seen quite a few comments floating in cyperspace and after thinking it over for a couple of days, here is my conclusion.

This year has shown the true up-rise of uber-aggressive players – or "sick-aggressive" players as I believe they should be called. People re-raising all-in on the turn with nothing but air, players re-re-raising pre-flop with 74o and players calling re-re-raises all-in with T5o. In the beginning I thought there was some kind of reason behind the madness. That these guys actually had a clear strategy and superior reading skills but to be honest I am not so sure anymore.

It seems that being uber-aggressive is all about gambling. Gambling that your opponent hit absolutely nothing or that your opponent is too afraid to respond to your aggression. Don't get me wrong – it is a very powerful strategy against very inexperienced players who might be playing their first Main Event but I would think that you would need to change your strategy once you have actually built a very solid stack bringing you within reach of a fantastic result or even the final table. In short – you need to have a reverse!

I bring this up because when we sat down for Day 5 the uber-aggressive players were scattered all over the different tables. I had the pleasure of the chip leader coming into day 5 who apparently had been throwing raises around for three days with tremendous success. I had a decision to make – was I going to play against this guy or just leave him alone? My first mistake of the day was that I never really made up my mind. It just happened.

I started day 5 holding about 1.35 million and lost a couple of medium-sized pots right off the bat bringing me down to around 1 million, which at the time was still above average. The chip leader now opened in early position, which he had been doing ever quite so often and I decided to look at one of my cards before I re-raised him – it was the



If I look at a Deuce a Trey or any other small card, I am probably just gonna fold but a picture card does give you some comfort. Do I need this confrontation? – in hindsight obviously not - but I was pretty sure that I could push him off the hand and send him a message at the same time. I made it 120k and he called which told me a lot! I was almost certain that he didn't have a big hand, in which case he would just have re-raised right there so at a maximum I put him on AJ or AT.

The flop came



I took a look at my opponent. My gut, along with my pre-flop read, told me that he had missed this flop completely. Now was the time to bet in order to take him off the hand. I still hadn't looked at my other hole card and decided not to, as this might have slowed me down in what I had to do.

I ended up betting 180k only to see my opponent move all-in for an additional 500k. I had to call 500k to win 1150k which means I needed around 30 % winning chance. Now I also had to look at the second card in my hand – it is the



To me there was really not much to consider. I could not put the guy on a hand and even if he somehow slow played an over pair such as JJ, I still had about 42 %. Against Aces I had 32 %. But these scenarios didn't exist. The only hand that I could be afraid of was a random 77 but since I was holding a 7, that didn't make much sense either. I also considered him sitting with Js Ts in which case it is also a coin-flip.

Bottom-line I called and he showed AJo. At least my read was right. Unfortunately the board blanked and I was left with just under 200k. Next hand I got my money in with top pair against Ace high and a gut-shot straight draw. He hit a straight on the river and so long for this year's WSOP.

Was it great poker? Typical Hansen style? Today, as I am sitting here overlooking the Mediterranean I don't mind my play, but I probably should have waited a couple of hours longer before engaging in open battle with an uber-aggressive player. Strategically, it wasn't the right decision to put in a re-raise against this type of player at this point in the tournament. I will elaborate on that in my next blog.

I am in Cannes right now getting ready for the Riviera Cup – the last tournament in the World Series of Backgammon leading up to the World Series of Backgammon Championship Event. For more information go to the World Series of Backgammon website.

Feel free to drop by my Facebook profile here with any comments you might have.

Later

Gus

I am now in 21st place and my decisions are getting better and better. I have slowed down my game just a little bit but my intuition is in full alert – if it feels like I have the best hand, a raise is coming up!

Besides all the regular stealing, two major hands defined my day 4. It only took my about 10 minutes to double up when an aggressive guy at the table couldn't take it anymore. Here is the story:

Hand 1: I raise and everybody folds.
Hand 2: He raises and I pop it, he folds.
Hand 3: He raises, I re-raise him again and this time he decides to play for all his money with AQs. Unfortunately for him, I was holding Aces and I doubled up to around 735k.

The second big hand of the day came when I was getting ready to go on dinner break (which by the way should have been cancelled or postponed as we only ended up playing ¾ og a level after dinner). Monster hand no. 2:
I raise, a villain at the table comes over the top and I call with



The flop comes:


He bets and I consider my actions for a long time before calling. I am obviously eyeing his stack and I hope he is holding something like AK or AQ. Turn:



He checks and I fire 200,000 into the pot hoping to induce a reaction from my opponent. He moves all-in for an additional 200,000 and I call. He shows



River:



Suddenly I am up to 1.35 million!

During the final level, I was able to win a few blinds and antes and re-raise a couple of times. I even had Queens once against a very tight player. He opens the pot with a raise, I re-raise him from the SB and he quickly calls giving me an almost certain tell, that he was holding AK. The flop comes:



I check, he bets and I fold – simple!

My table today isn't fabulous. I have the current tournament chip leader in seat 1 and the table is loaded with chips but I will just have to take it one pot or one re-raise at a time.

More later

Gus

I had hoped that I would make it farther into this year's Main Event before my ass was really on the line. Unfortunately half way through Day 3 I was in that spot. For the first time during two and a half days I put all my money in the middle and a guy who had me covered called.

On the other hand – I did have him drawing incredibly thin as his lonely pair didn't have much to say against my set of Fives. That pot took my stack back up to around 200k and it wasn't until the very end of the day that I would have to risk my tournament life once again.

On the



board, my opponent and I got at all-in and he flipped over



The river was the



and along with my two hole cards:



his Jacks and Nines were no match for my Full House.

I was hoping to have towers of chips, but in light of the hands I was dealt yesterday (no Kings, no Aces) I am very pleased with my 355,000. Most importantly, I have to play a lot better than last year on Day 4 where I was frustrated from bad decisions and cold decks.

My table looks great – I have been lucky to avoid any of the big stacks as besides Kirill who is a good guy, I don't know anybody at my table:

B30-1: Kirill Gerasimov - 146,500
B30-2: Karen Manfrede - 222,500
B30-3: Bernard Brady - 288,500
B30-4: Denys Drobyna - 34600
B30-5: Gus Hansen - 355,000
B30-6: Tom Hanlon - 140,500
B30-7: Danny Mitnick - 265,500
B30-8: Chris Overgard - 276,500
B30-9: Larry Wright - 452,000

Anyway, I have to get going. Good luck to my Danish buddy Mads Andersen.

More later

Gus

Although I certainly didn't play like a rock during day 2 of the Main Event, nothing, I mean absolutely nothing had happened to my chip stack at the end of the day. I start day 3 with 95,000 chips to play with which compared to last years' 600,000 is petty cash.

So who to blame for my stalling? Pretty much myself! Let's look at what happened:

I was never in danger of busting as my stack was bouncing up and down around the 100k mark – up to 120, down to 80, up to 130, down to 85 and so on and so forth.

Retrospectively, I have to admit that I was playing too many hands, especially during some of the last levels and if you don't have the goods to back up your raises, it simply becomes too easy to come over the top.

I tried getting hit with the deck but the dealers constantly missed me J. I did have Kings one time during the second level (easily killed by my opponent's straight) and the occasional AK but for the most part my re-raises were made with much lesser holdings such as J9, AQ or K9s.

I didn't feel super comfortable and maybe was a little tilted towards the end.

All that said, there is still a long way to go in the tournament and I have plenty of chips to play with compared to the blinds and the average count (104,000 I think).

More updates coming soon

Gus

Thank God for Painkillers! I arrived at the Main Event yesterday with a splitting headache and a temperature running at 102. Not really the kind of physical condition I had envisioned but I was seriously running out of Main Event start days so I had to sit down and get into the groove regardless of how I was feeling.

Fortunately the rather uncommon mixture of painkillers and the best tennis match ever on TV (if you didn't see the Federer-Nadal match yesterday you should stop reading now and find it on YouTube or someplace else) got me through the first hour. The rest of the day I was playing in a haze.

Long story short: Around 1 AM, I was able to fill up my little plastic bag with 102,900 chips putting me in the top 100 out of the remaining around 4000 players. Not bad at all!

Besides my whining about feeling sick, the cards were on my side for most of the day. I got off to a really good start quickly crossing the 35k mark and besides a dip to 25k somewhat later in the day I was never in any danger of busting.

At times when another shot of Advil was starting to work, I became ultra loose-aggressive. One example: I decided to call a raise from a fairly conservative player with



one off the button.

Flop comes:



He bets and I call. Now this is no so insane as it might look. Plan A is to check whether the guy has an Ace or not. I might be able to bluff him off a big pair. Plan B is obviously to hit my gut-shot. Turn:



Lol! He checks, I bet and he calls. River:



Again he checks, I make a medium-sized value bet hoping he might have a big Ace and he calls. I don't know what he had but probably AT or something.

One of the highpoints of the day was when I hit a straight flush. I limped in with



along with four other guys and the flop came:



People tend to get overly excited about a straight flush draw but really against four opponents you have to proceed carefully. Guy no.1 bets, I call and the rest of the pack folds. The turn card is the



Great card even though it pairs the board. Heads-up my hand is no longer as vulnerable. He checks and I check with the intention of making a big value bet on the river. He didn't seem very strong, so I was hoping he would catch up just a little on the river. Skill card:



WOW! My opponent bet right into the ice-cold nuts and I raised only to see his cards hit the muck faster than you can say Howard Lederer.

So, what is the strategy from here apart from getting better? Well, last year I accumulated 100,100 chips on the first day only to go into the lead at the end of day 2. That sounds like a good plan J.

Later

Gus

I am laying low right now. The HORSE tournament was one long struggle and although I wasn't too happy about my overall performance, I actually had several chances to get back in contention at rather crucial moments.

Didn't play the PLO tournament as my body protested to any more long hours of cash game and tournament play.

Tomorrow I will be celebrating the American Independence Day by signing copies of my book "Every Hand Revealed" at the Crown Casino/ Aussie Millions booth at the Gaming Life Expo at the Rio. The booth number is 527 - check out the booth layout here. The signing starts at 2 PM until we are sold out of books or my arm cramps up J. Feel free to drop by with your own copy or just to say hi.

My journey on this year's Main Event adventure starts on the 6th, ie. Sunday. Not much to say really – I have to play as I did during the first three days last year and if I get the right table draw, nobody knows what can happen.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Gus

Crap – I only have about half my stack in the HORSE tournament going into day 2. No comments really – started out like lightning and thunder but immediately after dinner break I was bleeding chips pretty badly.

Anything can happen – I will be trying to make a move early today.

No big excuses for a poor result, as I have had the optimal preparation from the Full Tilt limit games. Over the past week I have pocketed more than $ 1 million on Full Tilt – my session in the $2k/$4k HORSE the other night alone account for an $800,000 win so calling me confident coming into the tournament would be the understatement of the WSOP.

I have also had great success in some of the smaller limit games on Full Tilt, ie. the 200/400, the 300/600 and the 500/1000 games playing Omaha 8b and HORSE. Started playing as preparation for the Omaha 8b tournament last week but due to my good results I see no reason to go back to PLO or NLH as my primary games anytime soon.

More news from my HORSE ride later.

Gus

Alright, I would be lying if I told you that I am not disappointed about my WSOP results so far.

I felt really well prepared for the 10k Omaha 8b tournament. Instead of hitting the big PLO tables on Full Tilt, my idea was to grind it out at the 100/200, 200/400, 300/600 and 500/1000 Omaha 8b limit tables in order to practice my game a little bit. It would seem that the players playing those stakes on-line are on average quite a bit better than most of the players in the live tournament.

An hour after I began my little practice session, I was up 10k, then down 4k, then up 10k, then 20, then 30, then 50, then 70, then 100, then 120k! – at these stakes it did seem unreal to win more than 200 big bets! I did of course have a lot of good hands and hit a lot of my draws but I also felt very much on top of my game. I even thought that if I was able to play like this in the tournament, I didn't see anyone stopping me.

To quote Eminem from "Lose yourself": "Snap back to reality!"

I played super tight in the tournament and got scooped the first 5 hands I played! Instead of moving up the ranks, I instantly dropped to 11k and never recovered. End of story.

I won't be playing again before tomorrow's $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Limit tournament. This time I won't try to predict anything or announce myself as one of the favorites. I am just going to show up and take it from there.

Book Signing
I mentioned that I would be doing a book signing during the Series and I now have most of the details. For those of you, who are here – you are more than welcome to drop by the Gaming Life Expo at the Rio on July 5th. The signing will start at 2 PM. You will be able to buy my book "Every Hand Revealed" on site, but you are also welcome to bring your own copy if you have already purchased it. I will get back to you with booth number and the other final details as soon as I have them.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 4
Confidence Level: 3
Mood: 3
Physical Condition: 5
WSOP Balance: not where it is supposed to be :-)!

Gus

I was very pleased about playing the short-handed $2500 NLH tournament. The structure is very fast compared to the start stack of 5000, and it definitely favors players like myself who like to play a lot of pots.

I arrived two hours late and sat down at a table with Dario Minieri, an Italian on-line phenom. Dario is the epitome of hyper-aggression and pretty darn proud of it too, I think. If Dario re-re-raises you all-in fairly early in a tournament, be it deep or short-stacked, you never know whether he has the goodies or rags and dolls. I saw him bust AK pre-flop today with 94o or something like that – full speed ahead without any regard for poker conventions or established truths. On the one hand, you gotta love that approach! One the other hand, I believe it is very hard to actually win a live tournament that way because there are spots where you have to stop and put it in reverse.

Be that as it may – it didn't take long for Dario and myself to get tangled and when the smoke cleared I had doubled up to 10k and Dario was down to about 11-12k. He hit top pair and I hit a set of Queens – nothing much you can do at this level if you are hyper aggressive.

In another hand, I did try to induce a third barrel bluff from Dario in a hand, where I flopped two pair and made a flush on the river, but alas he took his finger off the trigger – hyper aggression my ass J.

Fast forward to my final hand of the day. It is a beauty. We are playing 100/200. I have just about 10k in chips. The button (also sitting pretty with a 10k stack) opens for 550, I call in the SB holding



and the BB calls.

The flop comes:



Bottom two pair look very much like the best hand and the set-up is perfect for an all-in check-raise. I check, the BB checks, the original raiser bets 1200 (in accordance with my tricky little master plan) and I move all-in for just about 9000. He thinks for just a little while and then calls having me covered by a couple of hundred chips. He shows



Although I have two pair I am actually a slight dog in this hand against his powerful double-gutter flush draw.

The winning chances are as follows:
Double gutty, flush buddy: 50.9%
G. Hansen: 49.1 %

The turn is as a nice



but the river brings the



and I am out the door.

Overall my game was solid. I made one mistake to call a small bet from an opponent who hit his 6-outer on the river, where I should have listened to my instincts regardless of the small size of his bet.

I will most likely be playing the $5k Stud Hi/Lo tomorrow.

Now I am off for a couple of hours of "fun-with-the-guys'n'gals" in Bobby's Room.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 4
Confidence Level: 4
Mood: 4
Physical Condition: 5

WSOP Balance: -7.5k

Gus

Played the $5000 Omaha w/ rebuys without any luck and I am now suddenly stuck a couple of thousands for this year's WSOP. The rebuy period was probably the sickest I have ever seen. Rebuys, double rebuys and add-ons were cashed so quickly that everybody's head was spinning. I heard that Daniel was in for $85,000 which apparently seems pretty wild but since he made it to the final table, it suddenly becomes a well-calculated investment J.

Anyway – I am off to the Bellagio to play the $2500 six-handed event.


Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 3
Confidence Level: 3
Mood: 4
Physical Condition: 5

WSOP Balance: -5k

Stay tuned

Gus

What should have been a charge at the WSOP Heads-Up crown ended before it even got started - they didn't let me sit down. No, I wasn't misbehaving or anything like that. I showed up just before 12 to buy-in for the tournament only to realize that the field had been capped at 256 players!?!

Let me go out on a limb here and say that this was a decision that none of the poker players support, obviously including myself. I take it that Harrah's never heard of byes?

I can tell you that I wasn't the only one who didn't get to play today. What a shame that everybody wasn't allowed in.Anyway - the $10k is resting safely in my pocket and I plan on heading over to Bobby's Room to battle the HU first round losers.

I will most definitely play the $5000 PLO w/ rebuys tomorrow unless they decide to cap that event too :-).

Later

Gus

So I did as planned. Did my interview on "dating tips" as and showed up for level 3 in the $5000 NL event. We started with 10k in chips and although I had blinded down a little bit, I quickly got back up to 10k playing a lot of pots. Re-raised with rags, re-raised with Tens and double-barreled with Deuces on a A J 5 8 rainbow board to win the pot. That was not the easy part!

There was one other guy at the table who was very active – lets call him Ponytail (not because he had a ponytail – just for the fun of it J). He had been re-raising 3 times in twenty minutes putting pressure on everybody at the table. It was obvious that Ponytail had come to play, not to sit back and fold his way through the first levels. At this point in time he had been busting two opponents and was sitting comfortably with about 30k.

Easy Poker Lesson 1:
We are playing 100/200 with no ante. I look down at



and open for 650 – pretty standard.

Ponytail re-raises for the fourth time in 30 minutes making it 2500 and I have the best possible shove spot to take it down here and now. Note that I would never make this play against a random player. Against any other opponent at the table I would most likely just call and check-fold on a no-nothing flop. Here the obvious play is to go all-in and hopefully take it down or in case plan A fails, play a coin-flip. The guy quickly called and we were off to the second scenario when he flipped over:




Brick, brick, brick, brick, brick and so long Hansen. As I said, nothing fancy, just easy poker.

I considered playing the 3k HORSE but sleep deprivation got the best of me and I headed back to the house. I managed to log 10 hours of sleep and now I am headed to the tennis and squash courts.

Also, believe it or not, but I actually played a couple of successful Omaha sessions on Full Tilt Poker. Just check out this "Battle of the Danes". Dane 1 (I don't want to mention his SN here as I don't think I know who he is IRL) limps in for 400, I make it 1800 with my Jd 9s 8s 7h, my buddy Theo Joergensen (we will call him Dane 2) calls and Dane 1 calls. The flop comes:




Pretty good flop you would think. Dane 1 bets, I move all-in for about 17k, Dane 2 moves all-in for 28k and Dane 1 calls. There is now 56k in the main pot and about 16k in the side pot between my two fellow Danes.

Match-up:

Dane 1:

– Top pair, up and down and back-door flush draw

Dane 2:

- Up and down with a flush draw

Dane 3 (me):

– Top two pair and up and down

Winning percentages:

Dane 1: 13.7%
Dane 2: 45.4%
GH: 40.9%

I haven't been winning a lot of these lately but this time the turn and river came my way:



I win the main pot and Dane 1 takes the side pot – sorry Theo J.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 4
Confidence Level: 4
Mood: 4
Physical Condition: 4

WSOP Balance: +25k

Don't know let if I will be playing the Heads-Up event – more later

Gus

2-7 was a roller coaster ride. I arrived late after doing an interview with CardPlayer's "The Scoop" crew and sat down with 10,000 in chips. It took me about 30 minutes to grow my stack to 68,000 and I never had to re-buy. At the close of the rebuy period there was no point in adding chips either as I was cruising on top of the leaderboard so I was in the tournament for $5000 – pretty cheap considering some of the other re-buying madmen playing the event.

I saw some of poker's "usual suspects" re-buying for at least $60k! Anyway – 68k ended up being my highpoint in the tournament. I made a fairly big lay-down against Jennifer (Harman). I drew one card and made a 9 and she check-raised me all-in for 70 % of my stack. I pondered for a long time and ended up folding. Jennifer very seldom makes big bluffs – it is just not her style and I just didn't see her making a play at me in this spot. I was knocked out shortly before play ended on day 1.

Yesterday I took the day off and went to friend's house with my nieces Sally and Nora (and their parents). After an awesome dinner I gave it a shot in the big game at the Bellagio playing against Sammy, Lyle, Patrik etc. I made a full house in Stud 8 but it ended up costing me a lot of money against Sammy's quads. Mr. Farha was running pretty hot.

I should try to get back into bed once I finished my outmeal and my tennis match because 3 hours sleep doesn't really fit the proper preparation requirements for a $5k NLH tournament (or any tournament for that matter). Event no. 21 starts at 12 and I will probably make my entrance around 2 missing the first two levels. Last year the tournament attracted 640 players and I am hoping we will see an even bigger crowd today.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 4
Confidence Level: 4
Mood: 4
Physical Condition: ? lets see after my tennis match

WSOP Balance: +$30,000

Later

Gus

Question: Where was Gus for the Stud $10k event?

Answer: Just as I was getting geared up, I twisted my knee playing tennis. My mood dropped considerably and I ended up staying home instead of playing the Stud Championship. It was most definitely the right decision considering the circumstances but on Sunday I was pretty unhappy about the fact that I didn't get to show the "Stud wannabe suckers" J how to play a mean cowboy poker.

Oh well, now it is new day, the knee is better after my Sister bought me a knee support band, I was back on the tennis and squash courts and will also make my entry at the "glorious" Rio later today for the $5k NL 2-7 Draw Lowball re-buy tournament (what a f…ing long name for a tournament)!

Deuce-Seven is such a fun game and I believe we will see a line-up of all the regulars except the remaining high-rollers at the Stud final table. I guess their money is as good as anybody's… J

I have played a couple of sessions on Full Tilt making a tiny profit. All I can say, without whining, is that PLO is such a streaky game.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 4
Confidence Level: 4
Mood: 3
Physical Condition: 3 (damn that knee!)

Later

Gus

What a day, what a day. It is very early in the morning and I am "facebooking" a little bit before hitting the sack. I guess it wasn't to be.

Started out pretty slow and never dipped below my starting start until the very end. In fact I was up to 500k about half an hour before I got knocked out. 500k with 10 people to go makes you think it is impossible to miss the final eight. Especially considering everybody (except Durrrr) froze up and refused to play poker in their quest to make the coveted final table. Maybe I should have followed their example? On the other hand, I will probably become religious before I tighten up late in a tournament! It is THAT unlikely.

What I can tell you is this: It only takes six limit hands to kiss your bracelet dreams farewell.

I lost three gigantic triple draw hands, followed by three limit hands and it was bye, bye Hansen. All of the hands, except the last one where I only had a little more than a BB left, were good, solid starting hands. But I never hit any of my draws and didn't connect with any of the flops.

All in all, I am very pleased with myself. I missed out on the final table, last longer bonus from David Benyamine, but I played very well, especially today, taking advantage of the conservative approach of most players. Although I definitely increased my PLO bluffing frequency during this tournament, I feel I missed out on one occasion, where I could have check-raised my opponent all-in on the turn after what seemed an obvious weak bet. When I ended up losing the hand in the end to his pair of Aces, the check-raise bluff made even more sense. But then again, poker is so much easier, when you have all the information available .

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 4 (considering my play on day 1)
Confidence Level: 4↑
Mood: 4
Physical Condition: 4↑

WSOP balance: +$34,000

My plan is now to sleep and then… we'll see. No poker for me today at least.

Later

Gus

Nice, I just slept 7 hours straight and my brain rebooted. I just realized that I am second in chips only surpassed by Tom Schneider. I was quite offended to see that Pokernews decided to post a picture of Patrik in a post about me. There is absolutely no resemblance! J

Anyway… I got off to a very good start in the tournament and picked up a pretty nice pot i Omaha hi/lo. We are playing 200/400.

I open pre-flop with AKJ8 double suited, Allen Cunningham calls and a third guy at our table three-bets. I call and Allen calls behind. The flop is:



Not a bad flop at all although I have no diamonds and no low-draw. On the other hand, there is a high likelihood that I am up against AAxx which means the high is as good as mine. "Third guy" bets, I raise hoping to see Allen join the party but he mucks and my remaining opponent calls.

The turn is the



Basically couldn't have asked for a better card. Still no low and my trip Eights should be way ahead. Strangely enough my opponent bets again and I put him the nut low-draw and possibly a flush draw to boot. I raise again and he calls. The river brings the dream card:



Full house for me and no low! I am a bit surprised to see my opponent lead out yet again but I take it he hit his flush. I raise hoping to win another bet but eventually he folds. Good start!

From the on, I picked up quite a few small pots playing NLH. It was obvious that the majority of the players did not intend to play any big NL and PLO pots without holding the goodies.

Bottom-line: I have close to 120,000 and my clear ambition is to make the final table!

On a sidenote, the sidebets also kicked in today as David Benyamine and I made a standard even-money last-longer bet. As he busted out a couple of hands later, I am now free-rolling for the final table- and win-bonuses.

Anyway – I am off to the tennis-court – more updates tomorrow.


Gus

Let me make it quick and hopefully follow-up before Day 2 of the Mixed Event starts at 3 PM.

I just bagged my chips and find myself in very good shape after day 1 of the World Championship Mixed Event with more than 100k to play with.

I did get a chance to play tennis for a couple of hours before the tournament which would normally boost my energy level, but I have to admit that I am completely worn out right now. After a couple of hours of play I was already feeling the jetlag and I was longing for my bed. Unfortunately I had to wait until about 3 AM before they let the remaining half of the field escape the Rio.

I cannot complain about the result of the day. I didn't over perform and I am hoping to play my A-game when we resume today.

Saw a couple of seriously crazy plays (and made a few myself J) but I am too tired right now to report.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: 3
Confidence Level: 4
Mood: 3
Physical Condition: 2 (but should be back up to 4-5 after a good night's sleep)

Nighty night

Gus

I just love it here in Vegas – You get out of the plane feeling the dry and warm air welcoming you to the City. Right now it is 96 °F (35°C) and as long as we don't hit the 120°F mark, I should be ok. And even if it heats up I guess I just have to play a few more tournaments in the chilly surroundings of the Rio air condition system.

First Event today at 5 PM local time: World Championship Mixed Event (Event 8) $10k buy-in.

Now, I might be wrong here but I would assume that some of you don't know the definition of a Mixed Event? Allow me to explain.

We play eight different games:
• Triple Draw 2-7 (F)
• Limit Hold'Em (F)
• Omaha Hi/Lo (F)
• Razz (S)
• Stud (S)
• Stud Hi/Lo (S)
• No-Limit Hold'Em
• Pot Limit Omaha (F)

All of the flop-games (marked with an F) are played with blinds and no ante where as the Stud games (marked with an S) and NLH are played with ante. I would have liked antes all across the board but you can't have it all.

The structure looks mighty fast. We all start out with 20,000 in chips but with betting limits starting at 200/400 and levels going up every hour that really isn't much to work with. You basically cannot afford to play overly aggressive from the beginning as a standard raise-re-raise, bet-call, bet-call, bet-call will cost you 1600 at level 1! On the other hand the majority of the people playing this event are playing very conservatively indicating the early blind and ante-stealing has to be part of your game arsenal.

I feel pretty ok – a little jetlagged. Still haven't made contact with any of my poker buddies. I have heard a lot of prop bet rumors, especially about Phil Ivey upping the stakes but we'll get to that later.

What is most important right now is to get a good start and to get into the groove!

For those of you who are here – I will be doing one or two book signings during the Series – more about that later.

Status check (1=poor, 5=outstanding):

Level of Play: N/A
Confidence Level: 4
Mood: 3
Physical Condition: 4

Wish me luck

Gus

Sorry – I have been out of reach for the last two weeks. Instead of posting a couple of blogs, I felt like partying and playing on-line. I will make it up to you though.

My WSOP is about to begin. I plan on setting foot on Vegas soil Tuesday evening and my first event is very likely going to be the World Championship Mixed Event on Wednesday.

Now is the time for the braggers to show what they are really made of. Now is the time to bring bling-bling to the naked wrists.
Make no mistake about it: I am ready.

I truly believe that my tournament level of play has never been better and although a good start would add an extra boost to my Series, I feel prepared to play at least 10 tournaments over the coming month and a half.
And believe me: I do want to win a bracelet!

Like most people the Main Event is my top priority but I do have another 12 tournaments lined up at the moment. Here is my preliminary tournament schedule:

Wednesday, June 4th, World Championship mixed (Event 8) - $10.000

Friday, June 6th, NL Hold'em Shootout (Event 11) - $5.000

Saturday, June 7th, World Championship 7 Card Stud (Event 14) - $10.000

Monday, June 9th, NL 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Rebuys (Event 18) - $5.000

Wednesday, June 11th, NL Hold'em (Event 21) - $5.000

Friday, June 13th, World Championship Heads-Up NL Hold'em (Event 25) - $10.000

Saturday, June 14th, Pot Limit Omaha w/Rebuys (Event 28) - $5.000

Sunday, June 15th, World Championship Limit Hold'em (Event 30) - $10.000

Tuesday, June 17th, World Championship 7 Card Stud Hi-low Split - 8 or Better (Event 33) - $5.000

Thursday, June 19th, World Championship Omaha Hi-low Split - 8 or Better (Event 37) - $10.000

Wednesday, June 25th, World Championship H.O.R.S.E. (Event 45) - $50.000

Sunday, June 29th, World Championship Pot Limit Omaha (Event 50) - $10.000

Thursday, July 3rd, World Championship NL Hold'em (Main Event) - $10.000


As you can see, we're looking at thirteen well-chosen high buy-in tournaments. No small-ball at all. I should note that some of the events overlap which means that I might have to cancel the next if I make it deep into the first one.

I feel comfortable playing all poker disciplines. My experience playing high stakes mixed-games in Bobby's Room should come in handy and I have been quite successful at the $1k/$2k Omaha Hi/Lo and the HORSE tables on Full Tilt over the last couple of weeks.

Based on my latest live results, I see myself as one of the favorites for the three No Limit Hold'Em Events, ie. Event 11, Event 21 and the Main Event.

I don't have any clear objective for this year's series. I was pretty happy about my result last year, where I ended up with a small profit due to my Main Event adventure.
This year I believe in another solid, deep run in the "Big One" as well as at least one final table in one of the other events.
My Mamma always told me to be modest.

Besides all the tournaments, the garden parties usually get going during June and July. And who knows – a sneaky little Cash game might find its way to my tight schedule.

On a final note, I would like to welcome my buddy Patrik Antonius to Team Full Tilt. Finally another European is invited to the inner circle.
Patrik has done extremely well for himself and is an obvious contribution to a strong team!

I will do my best to keep you updated on my activities over the next 6 weeks


Stay tuned

Gus

Broadcasting from Monaco, where the weather is supposed to be better but where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. (Thanks Guns N'Roses.)

It has been a while and, besides one or two commitments, I have allowed myself to do close to nothing. My manager probably hates my guts because of it (nah, just kidding), but it sure is nice to go out, enjoy the sun (when it is out), drink a whole bunch of White Russians or Vodka-apple juices and keep the flirt going. My buddy and fellow poker player Theo Jorgensen always says: "keep the game going," and I fully support that statement on as well as off the poker table J.

I should actually be playing the World Series of Golf right now, but prior commitments made it impossible for me to go back to Vegas. It is probably for the better as my golf game is somewhat off at the moment.

Don't worry, though, this blog is not just gonna be about sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. I promised a follow-up to my WPT Championship experience and I would also like to say a few words about Harrah's WSOP Main Event Final Table decision.
First thing is first.

The WPT Championship experience…

I have to be honest, I am still somewhat confused about what happened in the heads-up match. Playing against David Chiu reminded me a little of my HU battle against Phil Ivey in the NBC HU Championships a little earlier this year. It was simple, every time I had something David/ Phil would fold and every time they had something, I also had a little bit to show. Against David I moved in with Jacks and raised and re-raised with Aces and Kings, when apparently he had nothing. But when I moved in with deuces he decided to call with fives. I don't know – maybe he had a read on me?

I am not complaining about the final hand. David knew I had him beat but decided to gamble. You lose those 2:1 hands about 1/3 of the time. In fact I had just won a couple of hands at the final table as a 2:1 underdog. That is poker!

Besides my unfortunate heads-up debacle, I am banking a lot of confidence to spend during the World Series of Poker. I plan on arriving in the very beginning of June and will probably play my first tournament -- the World Championship Mixed Event -- on June 4. I have at least another nine events lined up and now is definitely the time for my bracelet debut.

Speaking of the WSOP, I have had some time to think about Harrah's decision to postpone the final table of the Main Event. My general opinion is: If it's good for poker, I support it. Yes, it would level the playing field to some extent by allowing the inexperienced players to prepare well, but if we end up with greater publicity and better play, we should all profit from it.

What I would like to see from Harrah's is some kind of bonus to the players! Obviously they are making more TV money, and what better way to show their gratitude than to give back to the backbone of their show – us, the players.

It is very easy. They can just lower the registration fee and throw in some additional cash for the prize pool. Just call it social responsibility if you like J.

That's all for now, the beach is calling me. (The weather has improved!)

Later

Gus