Recently, Paul Wasicka was good enough to let us in on what was going through his head as a particularly memorable hand played out against Gus Hansen at the 2007 Aussie Millions. Here’s what he had to tell us:

I remember one particular hand that I got into with Gus Hansen at last year’s Aussie Millions. There were 18 people left, so we were pretty deep in the money and playing short-handed. In fact, there were only four people at our table. I started the hand with about 380K and Gus had about 600k, which represented the chip lead at our table. The blinds were 5K/10K with a 5K ante and Gus – being Gus – was raising about 80% of the hands. At this point it was tough, because I wasn’t picking up many cards, so I really had to pick my hands.

In this particular hand, Gus was under the gun and raised to about 27K. I was in the big blind with A-J suited. Looking back, it’s hard to say what I should have done with that kind of stack. I made the decision to call because I was pretty sure that he would make a continuation bet on the flop – represent with a pretty big bet – and then I could check-raise him all in and force him to fold. The only problem here is that Gus doesn’t like to fold if he even thinks that he has anyouts at all, which gives him a chance to hit a worse hand. Anyway, that’s what I decided to do – just flat call.

As I expected, he made a continuation bet of 50K on an 8-7-5 rainbow flop. I thought about it for a while and, like I said, he doesn’t like to bluff and these cards were definitely in his range. Ultimately, I had to go with a physical read. I didn’t think that he looked very strong, so I made the decision to move all-in for about 300K more.

My thought was that he might fold a middle pair with an Ace or something like that; something that did have me beat, but that wasn’t that strong. He sat there and thought forever, and the more he thought, the more nervous I got. After about five or six minutes, he decided to call.

Immediately, he looked at me and said “I have nothing.” I thought “oh my God – did I just get called with A-K?!” I told him that I didn’t have anything either, and we turned them over. He had A-6, giving him an open-ender.

Honestly, I was happy to see that. If he was going to call, that’s about the best hand that I could hope for, because it was almost a coin-flip at that point – I was just a little bit ahead. The turn brought a 6 and gave him a pair, but before I could really think about it the river was a 4 and we chopped the pot.

It was a nerve-wracking hand. When he said “I call,” I thought that I was dead. When I pushed on the flop, I really thought that I had enough to get him to fold because 300K represented a good portion of his stack. And up until then, he was doing just fine running over the table. I don’t know if I would’ve done anything different looking back at it, but it was very, very nerve-wracking hand. I guess that if there is a moral to this story, it’s “don’t bluff Gus.”

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Paul Wasicka

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Category	Paul Wasicka	Ben Roberts	Survey Says
Career Earnings	More than $7.5 million	Just under $1 million	To be fair, Roberts is more of a cash game player than tourney expert and Wasicka did make most of that money in one shot. Still, this category has to go to Wasicka.
Major Titles	No WSOP or WPT wins, but he did take home the 2007 National Heads-Up Championship.	None	Does the NHUC count as a major title? We think so. Plus, Wasicka did do fairly well at that big old tourney in Vegas in 2006. What was that one again? It’ll come to me soon. For now, Paul leads 2-0.
Tournament Play	The WSOP Main Event − that was the one. He finished second in 2006 for over $6 million. Guess this kid can play a little bit.	To my knowledge (which is limited and trivial at best), Gentle Ben is not too big on the tourney play.	Would poker be better off if Wasicka had won the ME instead of Jamie Gold? Only time will tell, but me thinks the answer might be yes – blueberries be damned! Wasicka takes down another category and is in complete control of this match.
Cash Game Play	Fierce cash game player.	This is his bread and butter (and pickles, if you like that sort of thing).	Wasicka is a great cash game player, but has certainly become well known due mainly to his tourney play. Ben, on the other hand, is known mostly as a cash game player. Let’s give this one to The Gentleman, the score now stands at 3-1 for Wasicka.
Playing Style	Fast like fish	Gentle like bear	Just so you all know my writing style is weak like piss ant. Sorry, but I have the compulsive need to share too much information sometimes. This one goes to Ben the gentle bear because as you all know, bears eat fish.
Nickname	Kwickfish	The Gentleman	I’m not really sure what Kwickfish means beyond being Wasicka’s online handle. In my mind I want it to be a reference to how he consumes alcohol, but that’s probably not it (I have been known to have a one track mind – mmm, booze). At any rate, this one goes to The Gentleman, one of the better nicknames from the poker world. I hear he’s a really nice guy too. But wouldn’t it be so much cooler if he were actually a complete dirt bag in real life. Oh well. Don’t call it a comeback, the score is now tied at 3 apiece.
Outside Poker	Likes to shoot computers with a shotgun (I said computers, not commuters, right?).	Former table tennis (which is just like regular tennis, only on a table) and pool champion.	I’m sure Wasicka does more with his free time than shoot computers, but damn that was a funny blog post (on a blog which I dare not mention here). Wasicka takes down this category, if only because of the fact that I had a very damaging experience playing table tennis once, but that’s a story for another post. Wasicka leads 4-3.
Competitive Much?	Super competitive person who will take you on anytime, anywhere…	I don’t know if this belongs in the “competitive” category, but Ben claims to have been a winning poker player every year of his career. And he’s been around for a while too.	I’m all about being competitive. In fact, everyday I curse the gods for there not being a sitting on the couch while drinking beer competition in existence. But sometimes these ultra-competitive guys with their big egos really grind my gears. Let’s give this one to Ben – the score is tied at 4 heading into the final frame.
Best Pro Tip	Wasicka wrote an excellent tip called “Controlling the Pot” – sound advice from a solid player.	Roberts has a few classic tips, but his most recent tip − “Tilt Control” − just might be his best.	I really love all of Ben’s tips, but they tend to get a bit out there at times. Wasicka is always a good read with very useful advice. Paul takes this category and ends the match with the lead.

So there you have it – Wasicka takes down Roberts by a score of 5-4. This was a close one; my heart was really pounding at the end there waiting to see who would take it (even though I pretty much knew ahead of time, maybe I have a heart condition that should be checked out by a medical professional). Check back next week for more heart-pounding excitement. You may now unbuckle your seatbelts…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Heads Up: Paul Wasicka Versus Ben Roberts

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