Brian Hastings is a six-time World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, with $3,927,431 in total WSOP results. He has over $6.3 million in live earnings in total, and millions more in lifetime online profits. Hastings clearly stands as one of the most consistent tournament winners of the last two decades.
But there’s one tournament in which that high level of success has been tantalizingly elusive. Hastings has reached the final 100 players in the WSOP main event on two separate occasions. Both of those runs, in back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015, ended in tough spots.
“I’d say overall, I have a very positive view of those runs,” said Hastings. “I mean, it was a lot of fun making them. I do kind of remember how they ended. And, yeah, I mean, the end is always going to be sad.”
Back-To-Back Top 100s
In 2014, Hastings saw his stack shrinking and made his stand with A♥J♠. He ran into Andrey Zaichenko’s pocket kings. Despite making a full house, Zaichenko made a bigger one, and the run ended in 64th place.
Hastings made it even deeper the following year. A few rough hands had him out in 49th place in short order.
“I had 90 big blinds on my bustout hand with, I think, 49 left, and ran kings and aces in a late position/blind spot,” said Hastings. “And the other one, Neil Blumenfeld, who’s a guy I really like, put a pretty gnarly beat on me with, like, 60 left to take most of my stack. Would have been fun to run even deeper, but I have great memories of them anyway.”
Hastings is in the midst of one of his best runs since those back-to-back top-100 finishes. A few hours into day 5 of the 2025 WSOP main event, Hastings is sitting among the top 30 with just over 300 players remaining.
Hastings has been here before, both in terms of this specific tournament and other big events. He’s deeply focused on the task at hand, and knows how much poker is left to be played.
“At this stage of the tournament, I mean, it’s still kind of a stage where the pay jumps aren’t so real yet,” said Hastings. “So I’m still just kind of trying to play normal tournament strategy, which at this stage is mostly trying to accumulate chips. Because when the pair jumps get real, we’re all gonna have a lot more chips than we have right now.”
A Solid Comeback in 2025
It’s already been a solid summer for Hastings, with seven WSOP cashes. That includes a fourth-place finish in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event for $243,144 and a 12th-place showing in the $10,000 eight-game.
Brian Hastings (@brianchastings) is currently the chip leader in Event #82: $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship. The remaining players will bag at the end of the night and return tomorrow to play down to a winner. Follow along on WSOP+! #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/9LVOvdvy4R
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 4, 2025
“I definitely consider this a successful summer,” said Hastings. “I mean, last summer I had my worst WSOP ever. Just kind of didn’t make any real runs and had a lot of bricks. I’ve already kind of locked up a profit for the summer, which is one metric of success. But you know, you also have to separate process and results, too. I think I’ve shown up well every day, taking care of my body, and put myself in a good position to succeed. I can consider that successful as well.”
As far as advice for those hoping to follow in his path to deep WSOP main event runs, Hastings is realistic. There are no shortcuts to be had, but there are absolutely lessons to be gleaned from more than a decade of playing this tournament.
“You know, some of it’s just luck,” Hastings said. “But also, I think there’s something to be said for just learning how to play in these kinds of fields. People play the main event differently than they do a lot of other tournaments. I hear Jared Bleznick ranting about that on the stream a lot.”
“But [it’s important to] identify which players you think are going to be really risk averse in the main event, of which there are many. Which players are just going to play it like a normal tournament, and even maybe some, occasionally, who go in the other direction, more willing to take risks than usual. It’s important to play appropriately against each player, in that sense, depending on your read of them.”♠
