The dynamics in the nosebleed-stakes cash games on Full Tilt abruptly shifted in mid-December when Brian Hastings annihilated "Islidur1" for $4.2 million. The single session lasted fewer than 3,000 hands and Hastings walked away with the largest single-session score in the history of online poker. Many pundits and pros hypothesized that Islidur1, an unknown player from Sweden, would eventually redistribute the millions he had initially won due to his erratic and hyper-aggressive play. But no one imagined that when Isildur1's roll was busted, it would be embroiled in controversy.

Brian Hastings, a Cornell student and partner in online training site CardRunners, studied Isildur1's tendencies. Brian Townsend, Hastings' friend and fellow CardRunners pro, diligently analyzed a database of 50,000 hands that Isildur1 had previously played heads-up against Hastings, himself, and others. Townsend then shared his findings with Hastings, who took that knowledge into his epic session against Isildur1. A couple of days after the fleecing of Isildur1, Hastings admitted that he and his buddies discussed and shared information on trends in Isildur1's play.

The ensuing reaction from the poker community was divided into two camps; those who did not see any wrongdoing from Hastings, and those who strongly felt that Hastings colluded.

In my opinion, Hastings should have kept quiet and not revealed the methods he used to beat Isildur1. Hastings took an intelligent approach and studied his opponent. He did not act any differently than guys like Howard Lederer, Erick Seidel, and Dan Harrington did back in the Mayfair Club days in New York City. After a session of poker, the trio would routinely retreat to a nearby Irish pub to discuss hands over pints of beer. These days, amateurs and pros alike discuss their hands on the internet in blogs and on forums. They get plenty of feedback on their hands from other members of the online poker community.

Isildur1 was peeved when he heard about the data mining by Townsend. Of course, you'd be irked too if you just dropped $4 million and went busto. In an interview with PokerNews.com, Isildur1 mentioned that he does not study his hand histories or use any external software to track and analyze his opponents' play. Now, maybe I'm just cynical or it's the dubious New Yorker in me, but I never believe anything a poker pro says to the media. If Isildur1 is telling the truth and never analyzes his play, then he's foolish, especially at the nosebleed stakes with millions of dollars on the line during every session. Online poker is trench warfare and you need to use every possible weapon at your disposal. And at the least, you need to be aware of what your opponents are doing.

Studying Isildur1's hand histories is similar to football coaches breaking down game tape to identify the trends of their opponents in specific situations. Peyton Manning has every single play scrutinized and analyzed by himself and his coaches. Why? Because his opponents are doing the same exact thing-trying to identify his weaknesses and deficiencies.

Full Tilt, however, outlawed data mining last summer and they do not allow players to share their personal hand histories with other players. As a result, Full Tilt suspended Townsend for violating their terms of service after he shared his hand histories with Hastings. It is important to note that Hastings did not receive a reprimand.

Isildur1 disappeared from Full Tilt for over a month, supposedly went busto on the iPoker network, and was recently spotted playing on Betfair. Isildur1 finally returned to Full Tilt Poker at the beginning of February, but he only logged a very brief session and played at much lower stakes. Perhaps he's building up his bankroll and wanting another shot at Hastings?

Paul 'Dr. Pauly' McGuire is the author of the upcoming book 'Lost Vegas'. You can read his poker blog, Tao of Poker, over at www.taopoker.com.