The Gus Hansen Project

It's cold and raining in Las Vegas, with snow potentially on the way. This had better change before Friday morning's round of WPBT golf. I thought I left "winter golf" behind when I left New York City.

Today I finished some work-related reading, Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed. The book, which was published last year, is the hand-by-hand story of Hansen's victory in the 2007 Aussie Millions. During that tournament Hansen kept a voice recorder with him at all times and recorded notes on every hand he played (329 hands over the course of the tournament, out of about 850 dealt). Essentially it's a less-comprehensive Andy Bloch Project with the actual hands played much more "fleshed out" by Hansen.

Given that description, I was inclined to think that it would be an interesting read -- a rare glimpse inside a poker pro's head. I found it to be anything but. You can see how aggression played a huge part in Hansen's victory and how Hansen is more willing to get involved with marginal holdings than most players, but those themes become clear by the end of the second day of play. There are still three days of play remaining at that point, and the remaining pages fail to produce any deep revelations. In fact, the book becomes a bit tedious (though still a quick read) and starts to feel like a post hoc justification of Hansen's decisions. There are a few points where he points out hands that he believes he misplayed, but otherwise the deep insights are lacking..

Four years ago this book might have been "revolutionary". Now, in an age where analysis of no-limit hold'em has become oversaturated, it feels passe. And this is coming from a "math guy", something that Hansen himself acknowledges in the book is a critical skill to grasp as a winning NLHE player.

I know that my good friend Shamus enjoyed this book. He is a fair bit smarter and more eloquent than I am. Perhaps I missed out on something, given that my read of the book was (necessarily) quick. But if given the choice, I think I'd take back those hours and use them for something else -- especially since a highly-condensed version of the 2007 Aussie Millions is available on PokerTube for free.