Peter Eastgate has revealed that he has ‘lost his motivation for playing high-level poker’ and now wants to decide what to do with the rest of his life.
Friday 9th July 2010
Only 20 months after becoming the youngest player ever to win the main event of the World Series Of Poker (WSOP), Peter Eastgate has announced that he has decided to step away from the game that made him a millionaire.
Eastgate made poker history in 2008 by defeating Russian player Ivan Demidov heads-up while taking away over nine million dollars in cash. At only 22, the Dane had qualified for his seat at the main event through Ladbrokes.com and went on to surpass the record set by Phil Hellmuth, who won poker’s most prestigious event in 1989 at the age of 24.
In a statement released through his sponsor, PokerStars.com, Eastgate revealed that he had lost the motivation to play high-level poker and wanted to focus on what to do with the rest of his life.
“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,” read the statement from Eastgate.
“My goal was to become financially independent. I achieved that by winning the WSOP main event in 2008.
“The period following has taken me on a worldwide tour where I have seen some amazing places and met many new people. It has been a great experience.
“In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high-level poker along the way and I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life.
“What this will be, I do not yet know. I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker and try to focus on Peter Eastgate the person.
“I want to thank PokerStars.com, my friends and family for their support over the last 20 months and for their support in my decision to take a break from poker.”
Following his WSOP success, Eastgate began playing at tournaments around the world and cashed in the main event of the European Poker Tour’s PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure before taking down a side event for $343,000. He also finished in second spot at the London stop of the 2009 European Poker Tour for $530,000 to take his total live tournament winnings to over $10.9 million.
“We know that poker will miss this world-class player and world-class role model but PokerStars.com has only the deepest respect for Peter's decision,” said Michael Holmberg, Nordics Director for PokerStars.com.
“Poker is about determination and excitement and, if Peter lacks this in his game, the right decision is to take a break. Peter has played among world champions and he has carried his title in the most admirable fashion. Tournament after tournament, the young poker player from Odense, Denmark, has achieved great results and has established himself as one of the greatest natural talents the poker world has ever seen.”
