Pro's Corner with Gus Hansen

Pro's Corner with Gus Hansen

Question: You're known for being aggressive. How do you determine how much to raise?

Answer: There are no set rules, but a good rule is to bet half the amount of the pot or the pot. Sometimes in no-limit, going all-in is a good option, just because it gives your opponents a lot of pressure. There are no set rules, though, just general guidelines.

Question: What's your favorite position to raise in before the flop?

Answer: We all know that the best position is the button. You have fewer opponents left in the pot. You don't need as strong of a hand as you would up front, so definitely the button is the best position.

Question: What kind of hand should you be raising with pre-flop?

Answer: It varies a lot depending on your position. If you feel comfortable playing a lot of hands, you can throw in a lot of suited connectors and lower cards. If you are fairly new to the game you should probably stick to the high cards because that is what Hold'em is about, making big pairs. So, it depends on what your strategy is and how comfortable you are.

Question: How do you handle a bad beat?

Answer: Some people don't, but the best way is to just go ahead with the next hand, don't worry too much about it, it's just cards. It happens to everybody and sometimes you take and sometimes you give. Don't worry too much about it, just try to play as good as you can the next hand.

Question: How can you get a better understanding of pot odds?

Answer: Work on it. Just take some examples from your regular poker game. Write some of the hands down and say, "Ok," there was a hundred dollars in the pot; I had to call a forty-dollar bet. I had that hand and I thought he had that hand,' and just work on a couple of examples which will give you a better understanding. Just work on it, that is the only way you can improve. Question: What is the most important tell?

Answer: There's no rule of tells. Some players probably don't give away any tells whatsoever while some inexperienced players give away a lot. There is no way to say that everybody has a certain kind of tell. Some people are nervous when they are bluffing, some people are nervous when they have a good hand. It varies from person to person.

Question: How do you keep from getting nervous at the table?

Answer: The more experience you have, the more used to the situation you are, the more comfortable you'll feel. It's like everything else. If you have to stand up and sing a song in front of two hundred people, you will definitely be nervous the first time you try, but once you've tried it a couple of times, it feels normal. The same if you are playing your first big tournament and you are very nervous. Once you've tried it once or twice you will get more and more settled in and more comfortable. The more experience you have, the easier it goes.