Review of Gus Hansen's winning moves: hands 11-15

This continues the in-depth analysis of Gus Hansen's play in his WPT win in order to develop an overall game plan for NL tournaments. Earlier posts review hands 1-10.

Learning after 10 hands:

Limp in with suited connectors in early rounds to risk few chips to win a big pot.
Fold if you may be drawing dead when three cards of the same suit flop and you have a mid-level club.
First in on the SB raise.
Limp in back position with suited connectors, and call a raise behind you if the pot odds are big enough (over 3 to 1).
On paired flops, make a half pot sized bet against the blind limpers.
Raise with a mediocre hand first in, when in late position
Use a C-bet heads-up in position with more than half sized bet.
In BB call a SB raise first in that gives you 2-1 odds with suited connectors.
When hit a pair on flop, check raise to determine if you have best hand.
Raise from SB first in with suited connectors.
Call a raise HU if odds are right (over 3 to 1).
Just call A-J offsuit when there is an early position raise and one caller.
Raise under the gun with K-Q offsuit.
If c-bet gets called and turn is not a scare card, check your hand.

Hand 11:
Blinds 100/200
Position: BB
Hand Jc-9c
Chips: 10.22k

Player on button raises to 800 after two early limpers. Only Gus calls. Gus wins a big hand as the flop has a J, as does the turn. He just calls the c-bet of 1,200 into the 2,000 pot and check raises all-in on the turn.

Learning:
Call with suited connectors when the pot odds are right (2.5 to 1).

Hand 12:
Blinds 100/200
Position: Cut-off
Hand Ks-6s
Chips: 15.225k

Gus tries to steal but the BB re-raises him off his hand.

Learning:
Cut-off is a good place to try to steal, but if get raised just fold.

Hand 13:
Blinds 100/200/25
Position: Button
Hand As-7h
Chips: 14.1k

Antes come into play, which favors aggressive players. Gus gets moved to a new table and he doesn't know his opponents so he folds the next 5 hands.

After 4 people limp, Gus raises to 1,350. Gus says he would have made this move without the Ace--it is a common move from pros (yes, it's even in my book). Only player calls. Time for a c-bet.

The flop is Js-7s-2c. Before he can make a c-bet, his opponent bets 6,000 into the 4,000 pot. Gus folds.

Learning
On button, raise more than the size of the pot to try to take down a pot with all limpers.
Don't risk everything when you only have 2nd pair, if an opponent bets out and you are going to have to guess if you are beat or not. Wait for a better opportunity.

Hand 14:
Blinds 100/200/25
Position: 1st
Hand Kd-9d
Chips: 12.6k

Gus raises to 600 and gets 2 callers. The flop is 8d-6s-3d. Gus makes a c-bet of 1200 into the 2150 pot. One opponent calls and the other raises to 3000. Gus calls as does the other player.

The turn is a 6d. There is 11,150 in the pot. First player checks and Gus moves all-in. The raiser folds but the other player calls with Jc-8s. Gus doubles up thanks to a bad play by his opponent.

Learning
Raising with K-9 suited in early position is an acceptable move, especially when the table has shown a tendency to limp and fold to raises pre-flop.
Calling a raise with a flush draw on the flop is a good play with over 4 to 1 odds. (1800 to win 7550)
An aggressive table image can get opponents to make big mistakes against you..

Hand 15:
Blinds 100/200/25
Position: 4th
Hand 7d-7h
Chips: 28.85k

Gus raises to 650 in middle position. Player on cutoff raises to 2300 and Gus calls.
The flop comes with three overcards and Gus folds when his opponent checks.

Learning:
Calling a re-raise with medium pairs is an acceptable play given the implied odds.


Learning after 15 hands:

Limp in with suited connectors in early rounds to risk few chips to win a big pot.
Fold if you may be drawing dead when three cards of the same suit flop and you have a mid-level club.
First in on the SB raise.
Limp in back position with suited connectors, and call a raise behind you if the pot odds are big enough (over 3 to 1).
On paired flops, make a half pot sized bet against the blind limpers.
Raise with a mediocre hand first in, when in late position
Use a C-bet heads-up in position with more than half sized bet.
In BB call a SB raise first in that gives you 2-1 odds with suited connectors.
When hit a pair on flop, check raise to determine if you have best hand.
Raise from SB first in with suited connectors.
Call a raise HU if odds are right (over 3 to 1).
Just call A-J offsuit when there is an early position raise and one caller.
Raise under the gun with K-Q offsuit.
If c-bet gets called and turn is not a scare card, check your hand.
Call with suited connectors when the pot odds are right (2.5 to 1).
Cut-off is a good place to try to steal, but if get raised just fold.
On button, raise more than the size of the pot to try to take down a pot with all limpers.
Don't risk everything when you only have 2nd pair, if an opponent bets out and you are going to have to guess if you are beat or not. Wait for a better opportunity.
Raising with K-9 suited in early position is an acceptable move, especially when the table has shown a tendency to limp and fold to raises pre-flop.
Calling a raise with a flush draw on the flop is a good play with over 4 to 1 odds. (1800 to win 7550)
An aggressive table image can get opponents to make big mistakes against you.
Calling a re-raise with medium pairs is an acceptable play given the implied odds.