Paddy Power Poker

Reckless Dane Gus Hansen and ‘degenerate’ Frenchmen David Benyamine clashed over the weekend on Full Tilt Poker in a series of monster spots.

Despite winning over $1.1 million on Friday night at the expense of Hansen, Ziigmund and Phil Ivey, the former tennis prodigy saw $700k of that profit evaporate against Gus Hansen on Saturday. The $400k profit for Benyamine still marks a change of fortune from earlier in the year, when he resigned his ‘red pro’ status on Full Tilt and became disillusioned with the sick swings associated in PLO.

With a ‘win rate for large pots at 25%’ against the Dane according to Pokerlistings.com, it seems Benyamine was playing second fiddle. Hansen’s relentless aggression paid off as he made a series of 4 bets and connected with flop in heads up play.

Holding K J 8 K, Benyamine made an $18,000 raise pre-flop, drawing a call from Hansen, who held 9 6 4 7. Hansen led out for $37k on a 10 6 9 flop, despite a draw heavy board. Benyamine re-raised all in with an open ended straight draw and pair of kings, and Hansen snap called. The 5 and J on the river meant that Hansen’s two pair held up and he scooped the $240k pot.

The next hand was somewhat more unfortunate for the Frenchmen. Holding A 8 J 7, Benyamine called Hansen’s $18k pre-flop raise, with the Dane holding 10 5 A A. The K Q 9 flop gave both players strong flush draws and the all in's were a formality. The 4 on the turn left Benyamine drawing dead and handed the $260k pot to Hansen