Tournament Trail: Gus Hansen After WPT Championship

Gus Hansen knocked out every player from the final table of the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship this weekend — except one. David Chiu, who stayed out of Hansen’s way as he destroyed the final table, came back from way behind to win the championship and $3 million-plus. Click here for the story.

Hansen shared a few of his thoughts with Card Player immediately following his second-place finish.

Card Player: Gus, how do you feel right now?

Gus Hansen: Well, to be honest, I am really disappointed right now. I know I am standing here with more than $1.7 million, but I can’t help feeling that I lost $1.7 million.

CP: How had you been playing throughout the tournament?

GH: My game is definitely at its high point right now. I basically feel like I am mastering a lot more nuances in my game today compared to just a couple of years ago, and, result-wise, it is paying off. I seem to have found a very good balance between sheer aggression and intuitive play, which helps me to add some pressure, as well as to back off in the right spots.

CP: Tell us about heads-up play?

GH: In retrospect, I made one mistake during heads up when I didn’t bet the 5-4-4 flop after raising preflop (David Chiu caught up on the river), but apart from that, I am very happy about my decisions. David Chiu folded in the right spots, when I reraised with J-J, K-K, and A-A, but managed to call with 5-5 when I reraised with 2-2. And most of the time, my hand was second-best when Chiu had a hand. In the final hand, containing more than 90 percent of the chips, I had a 64 percent winning chance, but it wasn’t to be. Poker is like that sometimes.

CP: What are you plans now?

GH: I will stay in Vegas for just another couple of days and then go back to Europe and chill for about a month. It looks like I am optimally prepared for a successful WSOP! Also, my book Every Hand Revealed is coming out on May 4, so we have a lot of different promotion activities lined up.