Brian Rast

Brian Rast is a professional poker player and the winner of the first Super High Roller Bowl at Aria Las Vegas. Find his Poker Biography & Videos here.

Brian Rast is a professional poker player and the winner of the first $500k Super High Roller Bowl at ARIA Resort & Casino.

Rast was born in Colorado, but attended high school in Poway, California, where he became valedictorian in 2000. He discovered poker in 2003 after watching the cult hit Rounders. All it took was a few games with friends, and just one or two trips to the casino, for him to be hooked. Once he started reading books and taking it more seriously, he put most of his money and time into poker, quitting the temp job that he had been working. A new identity, “tsarrast,” was created and he began to take the online world by storm.

After making $20k his first summer playing, he was still not convinced that it would be a career path and he continued attending college. The following summer, however, he grew a respectable bankroll and the fall semester of school had barely begun before he simply stopped showing up for classes. At that point, he had a bankroll of $100,000 and felt confident that his future was in cards.

Managing that $100k is largely what is responsible for his continued success. He credits a conservative approach with getting him through the first few years as a professional player without going broke like so many others. He is the first to admit that he was not very good at the start of his career, but by managing his money he was able to continue to support himself while he improved. Even with swings of $100k, he could play in smaller games and keep following his dream. At the start, he played $10/$20 live games and $2/$5 online, but as time passed he moved on to stakes as high as $50/$100 online. Even after getting a taste of high stakes action, no game was too small if it meant that he could keep calling himself a professional poker player.

Upon moving to Las Vegas, Brian Rast moved into the now famous Panorama Towers. There he surrounded himself with high stakes professionals who were working their way up the ranks, including Jason Somerville, Isaac Haxton, and Antonio Esfandiari. This led to what he called a “downswing in my life,” living the party life of Vegas and playing very little poker. When he did play, the results were not pretty unless you were his opponent. No matter how conservative his bankroll approach was, this could have been the end of his career. Upon making a no-drinking bet with Esfandiari, however, he turned around both his life and his poker playing.

Several large cashes came after this change in lifestyle. His total live earnings come in at over $16 million thanks, in part, to his consistent deep runs in the past few years. In 2011 he won the $50k Poker Players Championship, where many consider the true “best poker player” to be decided, for $1.7 million. 2012 brought another large score at the Big One For One Drop, where he came in 6th for $1.6 million. Yet another high roller was put in the books in 2013 at the WPT $100k event for $1.08 million.

Most recently, Rast made a name for himself as the winner of ARIA’s Super High Roller Bowl. He outlasted many of the top names in the game, like Daniel Negreanu, Ben Sulsky, Dan Coleman, and even fellow Panorama tenants like Isaac Haxton and Antonio Esfandiari. At the end, he turned a $25k buy-in satellite into a monstrous score of $7.5 million. While he has three other seven-figure scores on his resume, this was by far the largest and the one that put him in 11th place on the all-time money list according to Hendon Mob.

Brian Rast can be found on PokerStars under the same name.

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8 years ago7,856BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Premier League - Rast Bluffs All-In Against Duhamel

Brian Rast makes an audacious bluff all-in on the flop against Jonathan Duhamel in the Party Poker Premier League

9 years ago6,861ThePokerAces,

Published 9 years ago

Premier League - Cates vs Colman vs Rast

3 way pot during the PartyPoker premier league season 7.

6 years ago6,820PokerTube,

Published 6 years ago

Jeff Gross VLOG S01E38 - Dinner w/ Esfandiari, Rast and Laak!

Jeff Gross brings you his 38th episode of his WSOP VLOG and he has some big news to share...he is officially announced as the late...

9 years ago6,573BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Mess with Rast Die Like the Rest

Jonathan Duhamel vs Brian Rast

9 years ago5,913ThePokerAces,

Published 9 years ago

Brian Rast Bluff versus Jeff Gross

Rast makes a play against Jeff Gross during the Party Premier League Season 7.

9 years ago5,277BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Brian Rast Dominating Sorel Mizzi

Brian Rast and Sorel Mizzi testing their bluffing arms

9 years ago5,101ThePokerAces,

Published 9 years ago

Jeff Gross Representing Against Brian Rast

Jeff Gross representing a straight on the river against Brian Rast in the Party Poker Premier League

6 years ago4,726BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

$196,000 PLO Pot Analysis: Dwan vs Hansen vs Rast

Daniel Negreanu brings you another hand history review video featuring Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan and Brian Rast played back in the day ...

9 years ago4,340BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Brian Rast Puts Jeff Gross to the Test

Brian Rast makes a move on Jeff Gross

Gross, Rast, Esfandiari & Michael Phelps $10,000 WSOP Tag Team (Live Updates)

In Phelps, Jeff Gross believes he has found the man who can help him take down the gold bracelet in Vegas.

Major Wager: New Poker Reality Show on PokerGO

A reality series based on absurd prop bets has found its way into production at Poker Central and will make its debut next week.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

Top Moments From Aria Super High Roller Bowl

The Aria Super High Roller Bowl was a $500,000 buy-in event aired on NBC and was presented by Poker Central. Review some of the action between top pros.

Silly Season in The Prop Bet Stakes?

The crazy wagers which poker pros make with each other to pass the time usually die off after the WSOP, but a couple of new prop bets have just come to our attention and it would be churlish not to share them with you!

Daniel Negreanu Offers $50k Bet with ‘Special Offer’ for Phil Hellmuth

It was a super-confident Daniel Negreanu who took to Twitter to lay down a $50,000 wager to anyone who fancies taking it on.

Gus Hansen is Back on Poker After Dark!

Gus Hansen, a popular figure on the original Poker After Dark is back on the show’s new, exclusively online incarnation, playing PLO.

The $300Million Woman Taking On The Big Boys

The only female in the SHRB 48-player field took on the best and handed them their asses on a plate.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

Super High Roller Bowl Ring for Brian Rast

Brian Rast claimed the victory in a tough field of inaugural Super High Roller Bowl event, picking up the $7.5 million first prize and a custom-made championship ring

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Dan Bilzerian Shows Up at WSOP

Dan Bilzerian rolled into the WSOP looking to play high-stakes No-Limit Hold’em in the brand-new King’s Casino cash game section at the Rio.

From The Felt Into The Boxing Ring

There will be blood, Sorel Mizzi warned his followers on Twitter yesterday morning. ‘Sorel Mizzi is going to try to beat down the same man he’s hugging on his Twitter background picture,’ Brian Rast replied setting the stage for an unusual battle between two top poker players.