Among the numerous opponents faced by Gus Hansen on his charge to the Aussie Millions title last year was the American Josh Prager, who is a PokerStars qualifier here in Deauville.

Hansen’s tournament win down under is now famously documented in the book “Every Hand Revealed”, and although Prager plays only a bit part in that treatise – he finished in 41st place for about $20,000 – he began writing some poker stories of his own after leaving Australia. Most notably, Prager made the final table of the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo having qualified online. He finished fifth and won more than $500,000.

Josh Prager

Prager’s poker career also took him to Las Vegas that summer for the World Series and then to San Jose, Costa Rica, last May for the LAPT event, where he came 16th. And he now sits on the Normandy coast on the same table as Isabelle Mercier and Ivo Donev, behind about 50,000 chips.

It might have been more, had it not been for a very astute laydown from Laurent Polito, who thought and thought and thought and thought after Prager moved all in from the big blind, re-raising Polito’s mid-position opener.

Polito folded and showed Prager pocket tens. Prager returned the compliment and showed him pocket jacks. “Nice laydown,” Prager said. “When you thought for more than a minute I thought I was ahead.”

Everyone seemed happy at the big reveal, except, that is, this writer, who had a tentative title in mind for this post – “Every Hand Concealed” – that had to be tossed away.

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