Brian Hastings Seizes Second Bracelet of the Series

Just ten days after Brian Hastings won the $10,000 buy-in Seven-Card Stud Championship and claimed his second career WSOP gold bracelet, he did a repeat performance to seize the day in the to the $1,500 buy-in Ten-Game mix (six handed).

$1,500 buy-in Ten Game mix event which was played over a three day period at the Rio in Las Vegas attracted 380 players. Best known among the final seven players were Todd Brunson, one of the Vegas’ top earners in high-stakes cash games, Hastings and Owais Ahmed, all three former bracelet winners.

Bryan’s share of $513,000 prize pool was $133,403, which was certainly on a smaller side for a WSOP event; however, the dollar amount didn’t have any influence on Hasting’s play as he was very enthusiastic and confident.

It is impressive that Hastings managed to outlast such world class field but this win is even more impressive as Hastings became the first double winner of 2015 World Series of Poker. He now hopes to become the fifth player in the history to win three gold bracelets during a single series, joining the select company of Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Phil Ivey and Puggy Pearson.

When asked about his confidence at the final table, Bryan admitted for WSOP.com blog that he somehow knew he was going to win this event. He also mentioned that the difference between this year’s series and previous series is that his girlfriend Sonya is in Las Vegas with him this year. Hastings believes she brought some balance into his life.

In the early stages of heads-up play, Rostislav Tsodikov, talented Ukrainian-born player enjoyed 4 to 1 chip advantage. However, Hastings is certainly not a type of person to easily give up so the heads-up duel lasted for nearly three hours, without either side showing signs of giving up. Even though he was at disadvantage during almost half of the match, Brian’s dream of claiming the bracelet eventually became reality, as he successfully outplayed and outlasted Tsodikov.

Among those who cashed but missed the final table were poker pros Daniel Negreanu (41st), Max Pescatori (32nd), Eli Elezra(24th) and Phil Hellmuth who finished 17th.

Todd Brunson got eliminated in third place and took home $52,977. Since Todd last won at the World Series of Poker ten years ago, he has made 7 final table appearances and has finished second twice. In 2005 Brunson collected gold bracelet in the Omaha High-Low Split event.

Russian player Alexey Makarov finished fourth and took home $35,130 while Tim Reusch from Germany got eliminated in fifth place and collected $23,982.

Mike Waston, Canadian poker player, finished sixth and took home $16,848. This was his third final table appearance at this year’s series.

Owais Ahmed ended up in seventh place and won $12,163. Owais won gold bracelet in Mixed Format playing two split games - Omaha and Stud.