Capture the Flag - Brian Hastings

Last December, cash-game pro Brian Hastings took on Isildur1 — poker’s former nosebleed catalyst — in what turned out to be the most profitable session in the history of online poker. Hastings won more than $4 million from the mysterious Swede in just five hours on the virtual felt.

The 22-year-old Pennsylvania native currently is finishing his last semester at Cornell University. Even though he has been busy with the end of his undergraduate career, Hastings has found about 10 to 15 hours a week to play some of the highest-stakes poker in the world.

“I am really happy with how my last semester is going,” the economics major said. “I am taking only three classes right now to finish up. I think the classes I have been taking are really interesting. I could see myself doing something with my degree down the road, but after I graduate, I am going to be focusing on poker for at least the short term.”

Hastings recently completed filming the first-ever pot-limit Omaha cash game on the popular poker TV show Poker After Dark. The CardRunners instructor did battle at $300-$600 against a stacked lineup that included the likes of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan.
Card Player caught up with Hastings to have him discuss his start in poker, his historic session with Isildur1, and any advice he has for up-and-coming poker players.

Brian Pempus: How did you get started playing online?

Brian Hastings: I deposited $50 three times. I started out playing microstakes cash games, such as 5¢-10¢. I stagnated there for a while. I eventually built up my bankroll to around $500, and then I had a tournament score in which I won about $1,500. It tripled my bankroll at the time. From there, I experienced a downswing in which my bankroll fell pretty low. Right around that time was a summer when I had a lot of free time to work on my game. My bankroll took off during that period, mostly by playing cash games.

BP: Did you have any doubts early on about whether or not you could play poker as a profession?

BH: I never viewed it as a possible career when I first started playing. I just enjoyed the game, and it was something I was doing on the side while pursuing my studies. It was almost like a video game when I saw my online bankroll. I didn’t view it as real money at first. I didn’t cash anything out for a while. It was just like a video game, in that I was seeing how high my bankroll could go. I remember that one of the most fun things for me was sitting at a table and trying to run up a really big stack, something goofy like 10 buy-ins. It felt like I was scoring high, or something. But after a while, I realized that it was serious money. When I first started playing, I wasn’t under any pressure to make money. A lot of players, at least among my group of friends, started off playing poker needing, or wanting, to make a decent amount of money in a hurry.

BP: How important do you think it is to have proper bankroll-management skills from the beginning?

BH: It is very important for people to stay disciplined. Not doing so is one of the biggest mistakes that beginners make. When I was moving up in stakes, I tried to practice proper bankroll management, but I didn’t really know what that was. The guideline for me at the time was something like 10 buy-ins. That was what my high-school math teacher taught me. If you study the game and know what you are doing, and you can beat the competition at the low stakes, it is just a matter of not taking stupid risks that could jeopardize your whole bankroll. If you do it the right way, your bankroll is bound to keep growing.

BP: Your high-school math teacher gave you some poker advice?

BH: It was actually how I got interested in the game in the first place. My high-school math teacher played a bit online and had done pretty well with it for a while. I was the best student in his class, and I would always get my work done before everyone else. Afterward, I would just chat about poker with him, and it led to me eventually opening an online account. I started with play money, and after I was done dominating the play-money circuit [laughing], I thought that would translate to real-money success. I still talk to my math teacher now and then. We play golf once or twice a year. He’s aware of my success and thinks it’s really cool. He’s a fan of poker TV shows, and I told him about my upcoming Poker After Dark appearance. I am sure that he will be happy to see that.

BP: You seem to have a lot of friends in the poker world. Do you think that it’s beneficial for up-and-coming players to have a close circle of friends to talk strategy with or sell action to?

BH: Yes, it’s great to have that. Selling action is something that’s viable only at the high stakes, just because of the nature of the way that it works. Right now, with the state of the high-stakes world, you have games running at the $25-$50 level in no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha, and occasionally at $200-$400. There really is nothing in between. That is where the action-sharing comes into play. You might have the bankroll for playing a lot of $50-$100, but those games don’t run. For people playing the smaller stakes, selling action isn’t a big component of having poker friends. But having a good circle of friends whom you can ask questions and discuss hands with is a really good thing. I’ve always had people to talk poker with. It is important to your growth as a player. I met all of these friends pretty much through poker. A lot of times, it was other regulars at the stakes I was playing.

BP: You won more than $4 million from Isildur1 last winter. What is it like in the high-stakes world, a year later, not having him around?

BH: I know the railbirds are missing him. It was nice having the challenge with a guy like that. He threw up a lot of action, and usually, opponents like that are some of the most fun to play against, regardless of what happens with the money, because I really enjoy playing aggressive heads-up matches. Aside from the draw games [on Full Tilt Poker], the action has been pretty dead online lately. It would be nice to have some more guys like him in there right now who are throwing up some action. He could be back, though. He is a very talented player, and just has some issues with bankroll management. There is always the potential for him to go on a big run and get back up to the highest stakes. I am not really sure what he is doing right now. Earlier this year, he was playing a lot of $25-$50 again, but he lost a lot of money and had to drop back down. I think it is very likely that we will see another player of that nature. With the sheer number of people playing poker, some of the guys who are really talented and play a high-variance style are bound to go on a run and move up to the nosebleed stakes.

BP: Do you think that one of the worst aspects of Isildur1’s game was his propensity to go on tilt, and do you think that controlling that urge is key to the bankroll survival of a beginning player?

BH: Absolutely. During my big session with him, he was on tilt for probably the last two-thirds of the session. I could tell that he wasn’t playing his A-game and wasn’t thinking straight. The overriding theme of his game was trying to get unstuck, and that is never a healthy style for a cash-game player. By contrast, that is one of the biggest strengths of my game. I am able to be pretty honest with myself. Sometimes I’ll be stuck quite a bit, but I’ll still be playing well and can realize that. I am good at being self-aware and realizing when tilt is affecting my play. I am able to walk away and just call it a session. I don’t have any specific buy-in rules, but I think that having some is a good idea for most players, especially up-and-coming players. It would have been a good thing for me to adopt some strict rules a couple of years ago. However, right now I have enough confidence in myself to realize when it just isn’t a good idea for me to be playing anymore, even if the game is really good. I think of poker as one long session. There are going to be upswings and downswings. You are going to make your downswings bigger if you are playing at times when you are not playing your best, or are sitting in games that are tougher than you should be playing. When people have that getting-unstuck mentality, they tend to seek out tougher opponents than they normally would. They compound the problem by also not playing their best. Situations like that are not good for your bankroll. ♠