2008 World Series of Poker champion Eastgate taking break from poker life, skips main event

‘08 World Series of Poker champ leaving card game

LAS VEGAS — A 24-year-old Danish poker player who won $9.15 million at the World Series of Poker main event in 2008 is taking a break from high-stakes gambling and says he likely won’t return unless he needs money or is doing nothing.

“I was bored of the game, lacking motivation, did not need the money any more so saw no point in continuing,” Peter Eastgate told The Associated Press in a Facebook message on Wednesday. “In case I return, it will be because I need an income again or because I am bored doing nothing.”

Eastgate told the AP he has no immediate plans and isn’t sure what he will do next.

Eastgate, who announced his decision through a statement issued by tournament sponsor PokerStars through its blog, said he needs to focus on himself as a person.

“When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player,” Eastgate said. “My goal was to become financially independent.”

Eastgate beat 6,843 players two years ago for the win, breaking 11-time gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth’s record as the youngest World Series of Poker champion ever.

Hellmuth was one of 2,314 players who entered the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament on Wednesday on the third of four starting days. That brought the total number of entries for the tournament to 4,928 with one starting day left.

Hellmuth, who won the main event in 1989 at age 24, said Eastgate’s move will be atypical of young poker players who find a windfall of cash and fame through a big tournament win.

“I think that Eastgate is smart. He’s going to step away and figure out who he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back a more confident, better person in four years,” Hellmuth said. “He seems like a levelheaded kid anyway.”

Annie Duke, a longtime poker professional famous for her play and TV appearances including “The Celebrity Apprentice,” said she thinks one secret to a long career — poker or otherwise — is having balance and other interests to avoid burning out.

“I think it’s really impressive that somebody particularly as young as he his, particularly who is so very well defined in his life by poker and the championship that he won, is willing to say, ‘Hey, you know what? I took some time off during this world series and I realized I was happier,’” Duke said.

Eastgate wrote in a blog post last month that he only planned to play in the main event at the series this year, instead choosing to stay in Europe and attend the World Cup in South Africa.

Eastgate cashed once at the series last year, placing 78th at the main event to win $68,979. He entered 14 tournaments, including two non-bracelet events. One was free; the others cost between $1,500 and $40,000 each to enter.

Some 1,800 seats for the main event on Thursday were already sold, with room for a total of 3,800 players on the tournament’s last day to enter. Tournament officials steered entrants toward earlier days in hopes of avoiding a sellout on its last day and rejecting possible entrants, like they did last year. Last year, some 500 players were shut out of the tournament.

The seats already sold guarantee this year’s prize pool will be richer than last year’s $61 million, when Joe Cada won a top prize of $8.55 million. But the tournament will likely push past its 2008 showing, as well, when the prize pool was $64.4 million.