In just his second year of eligibility, Brian Rast has been elected to the Poker Hall of Fame. Celebrating him in a ceremony before the $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em at the World Series of Poker, WSOP Vice President Jack Effel called Rast “one of the best poker players we’ve ever seen.”
Afterward, Rast and his family attended the unveiling of his picture at the new Poker Hall of Fame exhibit at Horseshoe Las Vegas.
Rast has two headline resume bullet points, both cemented at the 2023 WSOP. He won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, becoming the second player to win it three times (Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi” was the first); in his HOF acceptance speech, Rast called it his “favorite” poker achievement. With that win, Rast also became just the 19th player to win six career WSOP bracelets.
the only player to have scored $1m in tournament cashes seven years in a row
All told, Rast has over $25m in career live tournament earnings and is the only player to have scored $1m in tournament cashes seven years in a row.
Perhaps more than his tournament prowess, though, Rast is known among his peers for dominating high-stakes cash games. In an interview with PokerNews in 2021 just before his 40th birthday (40 is the minimum age for Hall of Fame eligibility), Rast said he deserved to be in the Hall, stating, “The Hall of Famers that play in Bobby’s Room (at Bellagio) know who the best cash game players are.”