High stakes grinder Brian Hastings has had a very successful online poker career that’s seen him win millions of dollars over the years. But he’s only just recently begun playing live tournaments, which is a big reason why he’d never captured a WSOP gold bracelet. However, this all changed in the 2012 WSOP Event #12 Heads-up tournament, where Hastings proved victorious.
Money isn’t Everything
Lots of elite pros turned out for this $10,000 buy-in event, which was certainly reflected at the top of the standings with notable finishes by Tommy Vedes (28th), Andrew Lichtenberger (23rd), Antonio Esfandiari (16th), Vanessa Selbst (9th), Andrew Robl (7th) and Brock Parker (3rd). But in the end, Hastings’ final heads-up opponent turned out to be little known Jason Mo. This was a relatively one-sided match as Hastings quickly defeated Mo to win the $371,498 top prize.
After winning the tournament, the Pennsylvania native talked about how much the bracelet meant by saying, “I’ve had much bigger scores than this online. But there’s only one gold bracelet, and this means more than the money to me.” Aside from his newly-minted WSOP victory, Hastings also has some other impressive tournament finishes, including the following:
- 2011 WSOPE €10,000 Mixed NLHE – 8th place, $73,219
- 2011 WPT Regional Summer Splash – 1st place, $213,877
- 2011 EPT Grand Final €5,000 Heads-up – 2nd place, $68,571
Online Vagabond
As you can see, Brian Hastings has definitely been experiencing some major success in the tournament world. However, his recent inclination to tourney play is not totally voluntary since Hastings has been struggling in the aftermath of Black Friday. The high stakes phenom has moved to several places around the globe hoping to find the perfect combination of a homey feeling, and spot that legally allows him to play at the biggest poker sites.
His recent decision to buy a house in Fort Lauderdale, Florida may have finally satisfied this search. Now Hastings can jet off to the nearby Bahamas and play online poker for a week or two, and come back to the United States to play major live tournaments around the Florida area.
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