Event #12 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is one of those categorized in the “real thing” category or as the organizers put it “notable” events. These carry a certain aura about them – plus an unashamedly higher entry price. None of this seemed to affect 23-year-old online specialist Brian Hastings who took down the field to earn his first bracelet and a tidy $371,498 as 2012’s latest Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em champ. Hastings only looked in danger once – when last 8 opponent Jeffrey Gross outnumbered him 4:1 in chips – and cruised to the final where he devoured Jason Mo’s ‘A’ game. If only there had been two players in the final with the surname Hastings and upon the final match beginning they both donned 11th century battle get up before heading to the felt. Now that would be a finale.
12 players will return to the tables to battle it out on day 3 of the Event #14 NLHE Shootout, all within 10,000 chips of each other. The slim lead belongs to Brandon Schaefer and Michael Corson with a stacks of 432,000 and there’s a clutch of players, including birthday boy Jeff Madsen, on 431,000. It’s true that Madsen winning would be a perfect birthday present. Then we realized something. That would mean he wins a bracelet every year and we wouldn’t stake our house or a WSOP bracelet on that.
Late into the Vegas night Event #13 finally threw in the towel and called it a day when a man that sounds like a rear end beat another that could describe the state of a pork sword. David Arsht finally took down the $1,500 Limit Hold’em after a short heads-up with Stephen Hung had followed an extensive period of fourhanded play. Arsht takes home a prize fund of $211,921 for his three days work and one of those coveted gold bracelets.
IN EUROPE…
Even though Vegas might have you think otherwise, poker is continuing in other parts of the world with Bulgaria hosting the latest stop on the increasingly popular Eureka Poker Tour. Season 2’s latest stop has completed its second day with Dutchman Ted Stolzenbach leading the way after day 1A.
PokerStars have opened up the first satellites ahead of the ninth season of the popular European Poker Tour. The first stop takes in the sunny climbs of Barcelona and begins on August 15th – the main event taking place on August 19th. Satellites can be entered for as little as €2.22 or a pitiful 100 frequent player points.
