Brian Hastings (poker player)
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Brian Hastings (born June 24, 1988) of Hanover Township,
Luzerne County Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
is an American professional poker player known for his six
World Series of Poker bracelet The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1 ...
s and for his profitable online cash game sessions against the Swedish poker player Viktor Blom, better known by his Online-Poker name Isildur1.


Poker career

Hastings began playing online in 2006, inspired by his secondary school mathematics teacher.Brad Herzog, "Card Sharp,"
Cornell Alumni Magazine
' (July/August 2010) at 26.
He entered
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
through the College of Engineering, and now majors in economics. He held a minority interest in Cardrunners.com. His style of play has been described on ESPN.com as one that places the game of poker in "a balanced place in a balanced life." The Hastings approach to the game is to draw on the strength of the collective; accent the importance of off-table work, and impart life balance to one's daily routine.


Contests


vs. Isildur1

In December 2009, Hastings played online Poker against Isildur1, winning $4.18 million in a single session, plus a further $1.5 million in a later session. The first, but not the second, of these sessions was controversial as Hastings is alleged to have shared hand histories with professional poker players Cole South and Brian Townsend, which would be a form of collusion and a direct violation of Full Tilt Poker's rules. Allegations of impropriety by Hastings' were cleared by Full Tilt Poker on December 21, 2009. Brian Hastings and Cole South were found to have not breached Full Tilt Poker's rules. The finding from the company was that “ is fully acceptable for players to discuss strategy, and in this instance these players did discuss hands, an opponent and a strategy to play against this opponent. However, when the games are played there was only one player making decisions regarding the hand. Based on our findings, the sole breach of our site rules was by Brian Townsend who was found in violation of our rules regarding datamining. While he did violate our rules, he is receiving a punishment that is harsher than our standard response in these situations. We now consider this matter closed and all parties involved in the situation have been made aware of our decision.”


vs. Ziigmund

On September 18, 2010, Hastings and Cole South went head to head with noted Finnish player Ilari Sahamies in a $500/$1000 Pot Limit Omaha game. Hastings had a longer run against Sahamies, playing 662 hands, losing $195,000 during the session. Cole South left the table at 300 hands, losing $621,000.


Poker After Dark

Hastings appears in Season 7, Week 5 of Poker After Dark. It is the first Pot Limit Omaha Cash session in the show's history. The group also includes
Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numero ...
,
Tom Dwan Thomas Dwan Jr. (born 1986) is an American professional poker player who played online in the highest-stakes No-Limit Texas hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games, primarily on Full Tilt Poker under the screen name "durrrr". Dwan has won prize mone ...
,
Phil Galfond Phil Galfond (born January 16, 1985) is an American professional poker player. Galfond won three World Series of Poker bracelets, in the $5,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha with rebuys event in 2008, the $10,000 no-limit 2-7 single draw championsh ...
, and
Patrik Antonius } Patrik Antonius (born 13 December 1980) is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo. Antonius was mentored by poker pro Marcel Lüske as a member of ...
, who Hastings regularly plays against online.


Live Play

With restrictions placed against online play in the United States, Hastings moved to live poker. In August 2011, Brian Hastings completed a transition to live tournament play by winning the $2,200 buy-in WPT Regional Summer Splash Event #12, earning $213,877 for his win. Nearly 400 people played in the tournament. Hastings outlasted Griffin Malatino in the Heads Up Play, Malantino taking home $117,300 as the second place player. HendonMob.com reported that Hastings had over $960,000 in live tournament earnings, and was considering relocating to Canada to return to online play.


World Series of Poker

Brian Hastings defeated Jason Mo in the final match of the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2012 World Series of Poker to win his first bracelet. He won his second bracelet in 2015 in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship.


Associations

Hastings joined the
Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
fraternity at Cornell University, and through that organization, the Irving Literary Society.Cornell University Residence Plan of 1966, Schedule I, Appendix A (May 3
1966
(''see'' sixth page of document noting the relationship between Phi Kappa Psi and the Irving Literary Society)); ''see also'', List of Phi Kappa Psi/Irving Literary Society Members (Aug 18
2011
.


References


External links

* Full Tilt Poke
Bio.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Brian 1988 births American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners Cornell University alumni People from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Living people