Ironically, I was setting up a new 42 inch plasma in my kids bedroom tonight and a re-run of the WSOP was on one of the HDTV channels of ESPN2.

Gus had Ten-Ten, Tuan Lam had Q-Q. I missed the first part of it, but I believe it was about 4 raises preflop(might be wrong about this). Gus raised, Tuan raised, Gus raised to about 180k, and Tuan Lam put him all in for almost 800k more. In this spot there is virtually no way pocket tens are any good. Gus was agonizing over the hand ( I knew he wasn't folding ), and said something like I guess I call. Of course in true Gus style he spikes a ten.

Just one of many hands that prove my point. Really good players can get away from hands like ten-ten, and jack-jack when faced with all in re-raises and their tournament life.

If Gus Folded he would have still had something like 800k left, enough chips to work with and survive.

Just another bad play (in my opinion) which got rewarded by the luck factor.

Jason

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I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

Looks Like He's a Pro with Good Karma

Nice, let us know how that goes!

Sorry for digging up old posts - just find it interesting XD

I guess the answer hinges on your definition of a "top pro" poker player, or even a "good" poker player.

I don't think anyone can doubt Gus's ability to play the game, and play it very well. You can pull up as many hands where he has got it in majorly bad and say "look" - but I always go off of a quote which says (paraphrasing) "Any play can look like sheer brilliance on one level, and utter stupidity on another".

Gus has devised an approach to these tournaments which has a proven track record. I believe its really a case of Gus making his own luck in these instances, as compared just getting lucky.

However, poker ability alone does not make you a top-tier player. Obviously one of the biggest characteristics of a top poker player is their bankroll management. So many players with great poker ability will never be able to be called great themselves because of these short-comings in bankroll management (Mike Matusow, TJ Cloutier, Gus Hansen to name a few).

So, I wouldn't call him a top pro, but thats probably not because of his poker ability. All imo of course XD

TOP PRO.
he was backgammon world no1, so has a huge understanding of maths and strategy.
He's more famous for his style than very impressive results, but who wants to play some one that is totaly unpredictable.
I don't know, but as mentioned else where i wouldn't be surprised if he is not a big cash game winner, but he dominates tournies.
Lucky players go broke somwhere down the line, so I will change my vote if that happens!!