Review of Every Hand Revealed

Title:

Every Hand Revealed

Author:

Gus Hansen

Publisher:

Lyle Stuart Books

Date:

2008

ISBN:

0-8184-0727-1

Pages:

370

Price:

$15.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

April 21, 2008

Many poker professionals have been catapulted to fame by their performance on televised poker. Perhaps none have experienced as meteoric a rise as Gus Hansen. Known for his hyper-aggressive tactics, Hansen has come to typify the "loose aggressive" (LAG) style of play, a style that many players find intriguing, yet difficult to master. In Every Hand Revealed, Hansen walks us hand-by-hand through a tournament in which he emerged victorious.

Those who are looking for a comprehensive textbook on "playing the Gus Hansen way" will not find what they seek in this book. Hansen does reveal thoughts on general poker strategy, but only as it applies to individual situations he encounters while winning the 2007 Aussie Millions poker tournament. If the reader is one of those people who does not like to wade through hand histories, pass on this book. Hand histories with commentary are pretty much all you get here.

The tournament chronicled here was a four day event, so naturally enough, Hansen uses time to mark his chapter boundaries. We get one chapter for each of the first three days. The final day is divided up into four chapters as the field thins. The concluding chapter provides a statistical analysis of Hansen's play and sums up some of the lessons imparted at various points in the book.

The first thing we notice is that Hansen does not play as many hands as his reputation would lead us to believe. This is especially true on day 1. In fact, during day 1, I would estimate his "tightness" was above average for the tournament field. Towards the end of day 1 and during much of day 2, the antes start to become more significant, and Hansen steps up his aggression. Still, we don't see any signs of the Gus Hansen who calls all-in with ten-eight off-suit, or pushes all-in with king-nine. In fact, I would describe his play in this book as closer to "tight-aggressive" than "loose-aggressive". So, as strange as it might seem, those who are looking for an understanding of LAG no-limit play won't find it here.

This isn't to say that the book doesn't have any good advice on poker. It does, but it's not as substantive as I might have hoped. Still, Hansen presents occasional bits of real insight here, and it's clear that whatever one might think of how the author plays, he is definitely a thinking poker player. Hansen is also quite forthright about the mistakes he makes. When he thinks that in retrospect he screwed up in a given spot, he comes right out and says it. I feel we have to respect his candor.

I would say that the book is aimed for an intermediate audience. Hansen doesn't cover the basics or provide much in the way of strategic foundation, so a true beginner wouldn't have much context to evaluate the author's play. Every Hand Revealed does provide some insight, but probably not so much that a truly advanced no-limit tournament player will find it worth the energy to wade through the entire of the book. I believe this book will be most valuable for those who don't have a lot of experience in long live-game tournaments. Every Hand Revealed may be a useful surrogate to actually going through this experience.

Because of its structure, the 370 pages fly by at a brisk pace, so completing the book isn't as time consuming as one might first expect. It's also interesting to see how a successful tournament professional approaches periods of the tournament where he's largely card dead, being aggressively re-raised, or facing opposition who seems to have his number. Of course, since Hansen just happened to win this particular tournament, he obviously didn't get himself into all that much trouble. Still, I appreciate the fact that we can all relate to most of the decisions the author faces.

Overall I found the book to be interesting, but neither engrossing nor terribly ground-breaking. I was hoping to get some insight into the "Gus Hansen persona" we have seen on television, but Every Hand Revealed profiles a different player than I had expected. The book still contains insights and good advice, but not as much as I had hoped. I think the book is worth reading, but I'm guessing that for most readers there are other volumes out there that would be more beneficial.

Capsule:

In Every Hand Revealed, Gus Hansen walks us through all the poker hands he played during the 2007 Aussie Millions no-limit tournament. Whether his reputation as a wild player is exaggerated, or he has tightened up his style, the Gus Hansen I read about in this book is quite different than the one I was expecting. Because the book is mostly filled with hand results it provides no overarching strategy. It does contain some insights, but not as much as an experienced player might want, and the book doesn't contain enough background for rank beginners. Consequently, the book is likely of most benefit to players of intermediate skill. I found it to be interesting, but I can't say that it's a must-read.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in the success of this book.