Brian Hastings, Poker Millionaire, Struggles With Fed Shutdown Of Online Gambling

[bukowski72]

Brian Hastings, Poker Millionaire, Struggles With Fed Shutdown Of Online Gambling
by Ron Dicker
Posted: 03/30/2012 5:09 pm Updated: 03/30/2012 9:42 pm

"To be 23 years old and making a fortune as a poker player sounds like the life, doesn't it? Brian Hastings isn't so sure.

The money part can be great. Hastings once earned more than $4 million in five hours of online poker as a Cornell student during finals week.

The problem is that Hastings wants to put down roots. A Department of Justice shutdown of the major Internet poker sites on April 15, 2011, has turned Hastings and other poker pros into nomads who often set up shop in foreign countries to ply their trade online."


"His penchant for making money at astounding rates has been well-documented. On Dec. 8, 2009, while still a Cornell undergraduate, Hastings played a five-hour game of Pot Limit Omaha against a Swedish wiz named Viktor Blom. Hastings won $4.18 million after starting $1 million in the hole, and took Blom for another $1.5 million in a rematch. He and his colleagues at CardRunners.com studied Blom's tendencies before the showdown (which caused a kerfuffle about alleged collusion), and Hastings exploited Blom's habit of becoming more aggressive after losses, according to Cornell Alumni Magazine."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1391534.html

[Steve-O]

I love how every outlet that talks about him, throws in the bit of him cheating against Isildur like it's ho-hum stuff, and never touch upon them abruptly leaving the table and rotating in and out of the game to tilt Isildur in the first place (not that this is illegal, but it does show a premeditated effort on their part to gang-up on Isildur). Townsend is sketchy at best and we pretty much know Hastings will skirt the rules, so who's to say that they ONLY shared data --that's just what they admitted to after Hastings made a super-stupid comment.

[shortbuspoker]

I love how every outlet that talks about him, throws in the bit of him cheating against Isildur like it's ho-hum stuff, and never touch upon them abruptly leaving the table and rotating in and out of the game to tilt Isildur in the first place (not that this is illegal, but it does show a premeditated effort on their part to gang-up on Isildur). Townsend is sketchy at best and we pretty much know Hastings will skirt the rules, so who's to say that they ONLY shared data --that's just what they admitted to after Hastings made a super-stupid comment.

Not for nothin but if he didn't break the rules then he did nothing wrong and the rules should have been changed to combat doing it. The sharing of information digitally is the risk that you take when playing online.

The whole thing about sitting in and out of the game to tilt Blom is really no different than talking shit at a live table. It is just a tactic and someone who is playing at stakes that high should not tilt so easily. I think that the biggest shit stirred up by the whole situation was that it should all of the Isuldur fanboys that he was not the second coming and they blew up the forums in response.

[Steve-O]

I love how every outlet that talks about him, throws in the bit of him cheating against Isildur like it's ho-hum stuff, and never touch upon them abruptly leaving the table and rotating in and out of the game to tilt Isildur in the first place (not that this is illegal, but it does show a premeditated effort on their part to gang-up on Isildur). Townsend is sketchy at best and we pretty much know Hastings will skirt the rules, so who's to say that they ONLY shared data --that's just what they admitted to after Hastings made a super-stupid comment.

Not for nothin but if he didn't break the rules then he did nothing wrong and the rules should have been changed to combat doing it. The sharing of information digitally is the risk that you take when playing online.

The whole thing about sitting in and out of the game to tilt Blom is really no different than talking shit at a live table. It is just a tactic and someone who is playing at stakes that high should not tilt so easily. I think that the biggest shit stirred up by the whole situation was that it should all of the Isuldur fanboys that he was not the second coming and they blew up the forums in response.

They did break the rules, and FT slapped them on the wirst as usual (I think Townsend lost his Red Pro status for 30-days). What they did violated the T&C of the site, as well as what is considered ethical in the poker community as a whole. The bit about sitting in and out is extremely relevant when you consider their other transgressions, because it shows that Townsend and Hastings (possibly CTS) formed a premeditated plan on sharing data and using it to fleece Blom.

I'm indifferent to Blom, other than his ability to draw in readers, so there is no bias on my part. I'm sorry but if you think how that match went down was good for poker, or neutral, you're not seeing the big picture. They broke a clearly understood rule and in the process acted in a very unethical way

[shortbuspoker]

I can see what you're saying if it was in the TOS for FTP. I just view sharing info as being part of the game. On this past week's episode of the WPT, Tony Dunst actually did a segment about the pros having other pros watch the play from the rail and helping them with strategy. He even went as far as to show Hellmuth giving Matusow what he thought was a tell that ended up getting Mike busted.

[Steve-O]

I can see what you're saying if it was in the TOS for FTP. I just view sharing info as being part of the game. On this past week's episode of the WPT, Tony Dunst actually did a segment about the pros having other pros watch the play from the rail and helping them with strategy. He even went as far as to show Hellmuth giving Matusow what he thought was a tell that ended up getting Mike busted.

The only difference is the "real-time" sharing of information. The rule itself is a good idea, but almost completely unenforceable. In that respect it's like Steroids in sports, where you have to be an idiot to get caught, BUT when you do get caught the consequences should be severe. #1 for the act itself, and #2 for being dumb enough to get caught.

In my estimation, virtually every recent rule (or change to the rules) and "innovation" has been detrimental to poker. Everything poker has done over the past 5 years, be it online or live, has been solely for the benefit of high-volume, high-limit, players; it's as if their was a cabal of top-level poker pros who simply said, "it's taking us tooooooo damn long to part the fish with their money, what can we do to speed-up the process?"

From the VIP Loyalty Programs taking over for deposit bonuses, to the data-mining and HUD's available, to showing live events on a 30-minute delay: Everything helps tip the scales even farther to the better players, at some point the fish will stop biting.

[zealanddonk]

Obv question, was he paying taxes?

[BeerAndPoker]

Brian Hastings is an amazing player. If any of you ever saw a any of his videos on cardrunners back in the day you would agree with me.

However, with that said if your a millionaire I feel way less sympathy for you then all those tens of thousands of people grinding out that living instead of working some shit day job.