WSOP Bracelet No. Two for Brian Hastings

The name of Brian Hastings is well known within the poker community, although he is more recognized as the high stakes cash game pro. Up until yesterday, Hastings had one WSOP bracelet to his name, but he was able to double that number after defeating Scott Clements heads-up for the title in the $10k Seven Card Stud Championship.

Brian is no stranger to WSOP final tables, despite of the fact cash games, online and live, are his battleground of choice. In fact, this was his seventh final table appearance and it culminated in the victory worth $239,518, bringing his total WSOP earnings to well over a million ($1,139,000).

While it was not a huge event in terms of number of entries, as only 91 players put up $10,000 participation fee, it was anything but a soft tournament, gathering the likes of two-time bracelet winner Dan Kelly (third place finish good for $92,621), Max Pescatori, three WSOP bracelets holder and Chris George with more than $700k in live tournament earnings. Of course, there were also those who need no introduction, like Daniel 'KidPoker' Negreanu and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.

It was a small, but select bunch of top notch professionals with years of experience under their belts, so this triumph is no small matter for Hastings. He was happy to admit it afterwards for WSOP blog, explaining that the victory had a special significance since it was a tournament played by many older, well established pros who have been around for a while.

Hastings also admitted that this victory has an ever bigger financial impact as it enables him to collect on his bracelet bet that he had going on the side. Although he did not give an exact number, he hinted it was somewhere in the $500k region.

Scott Clements, who was the last obstacle standing between Hastings and the bracelet, had to settle for the runner-up finish and $148k score. This means that Clements will have to continue the quest for his third gold; however this did mark his 40th WSOP cash bringing his WSOP earnings to around $2.6 million. His total live earnings, according to Hendon Mob, amount to almost $7,000,000.

Hasting now has his eyes really fixated on the prize, as he is looking forward to the $50k Players Championship, regarded by many as the real Main Event. There is no denying that this event brings out some of the best players around to fight not only for the money but for the pride that comes along with this prestigious title.