Still Running Sick, and Another Poker Book Review

Well, I took a couple of days away from poker after last week's hideous streak of 2- and 3-outer bad beats. I showed up for one tournament last night, and promptly got it allin preflop with my JJ against my opponent's TT. Ten on the flop and IGH early. That makes three consecutive oustings from that particular tournament where I got it allin with my opponent having three or fewer outs. Lately in there I've been waiting until after the flop though, so I guess I have myself to blame for believing I could hold up as a mere 82% favorite with the way I'm running.

Should make for a fun Mookie tonight though, as I make my triumphant return to Fuck Tilt. 10pm ET on full tilt. Mookie Curse + already losing to 2 outers all week long should equal a brilliant burnout early in this one. Just hope you're at my starting table this evening. And don't worry about trying to get it in behind -- I've been taking care of that just fine lately myself, as I am consistently getting myself into good situations, playing my strong hands optimally to get myself into the best possible positions. Yes, I want people to make those calls, yes I want to be in these situations as much as possible, yes the long term should work itself out yaddayaddayadda blahblahblahblahblah. Pay me bitches!!

So back to the poker book I mentioned last week that was a good, solid read, I was referring to Gus Hansen's "Every Hand Revealed". This was the one that jeciimd had recommended to me, and I have to say that guy hasn't given me one bad poker rec yet. Hansen's book is solid, because he basically recounts the entire background and situation of every single hand he played in the entire Aussie Millions tournament that he ended up winning. I mean, deep down I know exactly why I enjoyed this book -- it is more or less exactly like reading one of my tournament recaps in my blog, only by a better player. He does basically exactly what I do when I win a big tournament, only he literally mentions every single hand he played, while I skip the most boring ones in my tournament recaps and probably only end up covering maybe 60-70% of the hands I play throughout.

Gus does a good job with this book, largely because his style of play is so aggro that it is a real eye-opener to most of the people reading this book I imagine. In fact, kinda like I said about Arnold Snyder's "Poker Tournament Formula" books, if you are someone who has never won the big mtt and does not really understand why you're never getting close, if you're a Harringbot or a tightydonk like I know many of you out there reading this are, this would be a fabulous book for you to read. You will see just how many times Hansen opened a hand with a raise when his cards were absolute and utter shit. You will see the moves Gus makes without any regard whatsoever to his own cards, just playing his opponents instead. You can watch Gus play a tight(er) style early, and then get to see hand by hand how he opens things up as the tournament wears on. Any of you out there who have won large mtt's before already know this in general -- because there really is no way to win a large mtt without being one stealy mofo -- but for the majority of you who have not, I think reading "Every Hand Revealed" should be enjoyable and educational. And, although Gus shares the same (lack of) writing skill as almost all other poker authors out there, his writing does have a very informal and laid-back thing to it that makes this book seem much less instructive and much more just a fun read, which is also a positive I think.

I've already started reading a new poker book that I am really enjoying, which I will review in a later post. But after slogging through Daniel Negreanu's clunker a couple of weeks ago, Gus Hansen's book was a welcome and pleasant surprise, and it's a book that I would recommend to others to read if you like playing multi-table poker tournaments. I give it a 7.5 out of 10 overall. I don't see myself as the best audience for this text as I was not surprised to see most of the moves Gus makes in that I know what it takes to run deep in the big mtts, but I still had a great time with it and I look forward to more of the same from Gus if he can string together some more big tournament wins.