The native Californian earned a degree in electrical engineering before immersing himself in the world of online poker in August of 2005. Starting out in $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em ring games, Brian Townsend managed to work his way up the stakes in limit games. Then he turned his attention to the no limit games, again starting with the lowest stakes, and methodically climbing to the higher levels. In just over one year, Townsend had successfully made poker his day job.

Brian Townsend achieved Full Tilt Poker Pro status in March of 2008, and began playing under his real name, instead of the handle 'sbrugby'. In August, Townsend's red pro status was suspended for six months upon discovery that he had used a second account at Full Tilt Poker to play lower limit cash games. In December of 2009, Townsend's Full Tilt status was suspended again - this time for one month - when Brian Townsend accepted sole culpability for a hand history sharing violation, which may have helped Brain Hastings to win $4 million from Isildur1.

Less active on the live tournament scene, Townsend has cashed four times, including one final table at a WSOP Circuit event in 2006. Brian Townsend has also made appearances on GSN's High Stakes Poker and NBC's Poker After Dark. He has accumulated nearly $300k in live tournament winnings, a mere speck next to Townsend's 2009 online poker revenue of $2.4 million.