Technically speaking, not every hand from Hansen’s Aussie Millions triumph is revealed. Hansen has omitted discussing hands where he folded without any preflop action. Still, that leaves 329 hands for Hansen to tell us about, the pertinent details of which he was able to preserve by recording himself with a portable tape recorder after each hand. Of those, Hansen designates 21 as “crucial hands” that proved especially pivotal when assessing his overall success in the tournament. He also appends a final collection of data describing his play in a chapter cheekily titled “Stats and Tips for all My Fellow Poker Nerds.”

What emerges is a remarkably consistent portrait of a player comfortable with taking a high percentage of flops and then exerting maximum pressure on his opponents. As one moves through the book, a number of common themes emerge, including the understanding of the significance of blind/ante structures, the difference between short-handed vs. full table strategies, the importance of zeroing in on opponents’ tendencies, and the constant need to remain aware of stack sizes and pot odds. The reader sees Hansen frequently taking advantage of others’ timid play during the first and last orbits of each level. One also comes to recognize how Hansen regards limping preflop as rarely a good idea, but calling post-flop with position to be correct perhaps more often than one would think.

In one of his “crucial hands” from Day 3, Hansen describes the thought process that resulted in his deciding to call a check-raise all-in bet from Paul Wasicka on the flop while holding only ace-high and an open-ended straight draw. Aside from taking the usual mathematical calculations into account, Hansen tells how he also considered the less-easily-quantified consequences of his folding. “If I fold this hand and Mr. Wasicka shows me a total air-ball, I will definitely lose some momentum,” he explains. “If he elects not to show his hand with a little smirk on his face, uncertainty will creep into my mind and it might take me a while to regain my composure and table presence.” This is one of several intriguing passages where Hansen tries to share how such intangibles often have as much to do with one’s decision-making as do one’s odds and outs.

Experienced MTT players will surely find much of interest here, including a number of hands worthy of lengthy poker forum debates. The book should also appeal to those with less interest and/or patience with such a dense collection of hand analyses, primarily because of the often playful, almost conversational tone Hansen employs. One finds humorous asides and sarcasm throughout the book, and unexpected flashes of wit work well to keep up one’s interest in the proceedings.

For example, when telling of one hand in which three players saw the flop, Hansen writes, “I lead out for 66k into a 118k pot, and before you can say ‘Phil Hellmuth’ they both folded!” — a funny reference to the Poker Brat’s much-cited penchant for making laydowns. One finds other, less-expected allusions sprinkled throughout the text, with Hansen showing himself capable of bringing up Garfield the cat, Allen Iverson, or Kingpin at any given moment. There’s even the occasional smiley face (as one might find in an online poker chat box). Most winning are those moments of self-deprecation, whether he’s making fun of his wild image or genuinely second-guessing his less than stellar decisions, such as when he tells of a Day 2 hand in which he called down with top pair, thereby letting his opponent catch up and pass him on the river: “I played this hand like a novice, a fish, an idiot!”

By the time we reach the final table with Hansen, we realize that while he has hardly played all 329 of the hands he describes without a misstep, he has made many, many more good decisions than bad ones. And nearly all of them have been informed by careful, strategic thinking. Hansen certainly enjoyed some good fortune along the way in the 2007 Aussie Millions, including when battling back (twice) from a 3-to-1 chip deficit when heads-up against Jimmy Fricke. However, after reading Every Hand Revealed it is clear that when someone subsequently asks the question “What was Hansen thinking?” one reasonable answer should be “A lot.”

Every Hand Revealed is due out in May.

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It’s true that I can’t neatly summarize this book, as it’s hard to put this information and description of
played hands together in one package. It does have the description of some truly key hands, along with the comments and thoughts of some of the participants. What one does in the heat of the moment and how it is described are not always the same (for example, the Farha-Moneymaker hand from the 2003 WSOP), but any commentary is quite interesting. Thinking about both what is said and the greater situation will give anyone some hours of reflection.

I played multiple hours with Moneymaker down the stretch run of his winning the WSOP title and had some observations of him that are relevant. I didn’t feel that he always knew where he was in a hand, but he possessed strength of observation that is rarely surpassed. Furthermore, he had the willingness and courage to act on those insights. For example, at the final table with a big blind of 30,000 and five participants left in the 2003 WSOP championship Dan Harrington raised to 90,000 with a pair of fours and Moneymaker called with — a suspect call at best, as other players have yet to act and his hand is easily dominated. It is hard to find any hand that Dan might raise with where Moneymaker’s A-2 is the favorite!

This is an example of “not knowing”. Next, Tomar Benvenisti moved all-in from the little blind with for his last 520,000 — not an insignificant bet and clearly an excellent play. Harrington mucked but Chris stared him down and he squirmed like an amateur, and Moneymaker followed his observation by calling. Having to call only 20% of his stack helped, but most professional players would never be in that spot, and even if they were they wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger and call. In my own experience the guy might be squirming around and hold two tens that he is uncomfortable with — or, in this case, A-Q suited.

A lot of the excitement arrives in poker because someone is bluffing. We get paid to sit around the campfire and tell tall tales. Well, truth be known, it is too simple for mere words—the best liar often is the biggest winner. Rather shocking, eh? In what other game are you rewarded for lying? In fact in most tournaments if you talk about your hand you aren’t allowed to tell the truth. You can say anything else about it, but not the truth!

I argued with Genoa_St (an online player of note) about this book when it came out and I can’t agree with everything he said, but I will accept the fact that I missed the mark on this book. Its real value is in something that it does for any player, it makes one think ahead, to recognize situations that present themselves and to then take advantage of the opportunity that most can’t possibly recognize at the moment it arises, from lack of experience at “thinking on their feet”. Many opportunities to take the pot present themselves, and most go by quietly.

What I spent the most time arguing about was that Matt calls poker gambling, and thinks his viewpoint is cut and dried! Whereas any professional will tell you that with any turn of the cards anything can and does happen, they will also tell you that it would be surprising if the amateur is ahead of him at the end of the week. I have spent my quarters on this argument already so let your own experience give you the answers you seek.

Another criticism of Matt’s book is that it includes a lot of talk about limit games. I believe this to be true, but unimportant.

He is also criticized for not placing enough value on semi-bluffing. I have to wonder if reviewers read this book through to even say such a thing! There are many examples of semi-bluffing, in both limit and in no-limit. Now, I might think semi-bluffing has more value in limited games, but it is not missing from the examples of no-limit hold’em action given, either. The fact that he didn’t use the term means little to me, beyond the curiosity of not pointing it out — perhaps he didn’t want his readers distracted by hoping to make real hands? After all made hands don’t lead to, and aren’t, bluffs.

Lessinger starts with basic bluffing situations but he proceeds to more complex examples as the book moves along. Having this book on your shelf will never be a disgrace, and it covers an important part of poker. Think through the situations and add considerable value to your result! It doesn’t matter that he begins with situations that you might already understand and have a plan for. What does matter is to understand the psychology that stands behind the actions of the bluffs Lessinger recounts.

Until next time…play good and get lucky.

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What you may not know is that she is now a successful novelist, having just published White Knight, Black Nights. I’ve just finished it and I recommend it to all of you.

This is surely not a poker book, at least not chiefly so. Though it is set largely in Las Vegas and has a professional poker player as a central character – and introduces poker players as minor characters throughout – you will surely not become a better poker player by reading it. You will, however, be hugely entertained.

Isaacs presents a dramatic tale of discovery – of a woman’s discovery of her own identity as a writer and poker player. She does so by walking the reader into the well-described conventional world of an unquestioning woman, and then following that woman through dramatic and painful twists and turns until the woman is transformed, with some difficulty and angst, into a more aware and more confident, independent person.

Isaacs doesn’t end there. She also throws in some mass murder, general mayhem, and sexual addiction for good measure.

Isaac’s story rings of autobiography – at least in part. Writer, poker player, woman, and a Las Vegas setting seem to spell out the author’s fictionalized self. But Isaacs succeeds in presenting in full dress more than just her central character. She introduces us to a rich surrounding cast that is believable, complicated, and well drawn. The characters’ dialogue sounds authentic. Their experiences are interesting and poignant. They are multi-dimensional – enough to make their stories compelling.

I enjoyed a number of things about the book. It is written economically – with a straightforward, matter-of-fact style. I did not feel that the author was trying to impress or overwhelm me with an overly ‘literary’ presentation – a problem for many first-time novelists. I also liked the character development. These were not one-dimensional caricatures meant as simple placeholders for a plot. I cared about them and their foibles.

Most of all, I liked the poker and the familiar Las Vegas settings. I liked being brought into an ultra-luxury suite at a Strip casino. I liked the poker tournament action. I wished there had been more of this – as I’m sure that Isaac’s experiences could have provided a bookful. Perhaps she’ll treat us to this in her next offering. I can’t wait.

White Knight Black Nights
Author: Susie Isaacs
Mimi Mc Publications
November 2007
464 pages, $19.95

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