Peter Eastgate 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion
November 12, 2008
Three days ago marked the first day of the final table action in the 2008 WSOP main event tournament and it finished the day after. Yesterday ESPN broadcasted the final table action on the television, but if you weren’t able to watch it then we’ll tell you how things went down. The final table started with nine players, but was played down until there we’re only two players left.
The two players left in the tournament we’re Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate, both representing www.PokerStars.com with Eastgate having the chip lead going into heads-up action. Many believed that Demidov would win the match, but the very young Danish player took control of the match and ended it. Eastgate who is only twenty-two years old passed Hellmuth’s record for being the youngest player ever to win a WSOP main event bracelet. This record has been unbeaten for almost twenty years and it goes to show you what Eastgate has done isn’t simple and he has earned his stripes in the poker world.
Eastgate who took out Phillips in third place at the end of the first day should have been feeling confident going into heads-up play. Demidov had also said numerous times that he didn’t want to play many hands against Eastgate and he managed to avoid him for most of the final table until they we’re heads-up. I’m wondering if his mental game got in the way of him winning his first career WSOP bracelet, Ivan hasn’t said anything yet, but he didn’t look like himself in the heads-up battle.
By the first break in action in the heads-up battle Eastgate had managed to increase his lead by another 6 million chips on Demidov. After the break Eastgate continued winning hands and crossed the 100 million chip mark which was enough to put away Demidov. The action slowed down for a bit with Eastgate protecting his lead, and then finally there we’re a final few big hands which ended with Eastgate leaving the champion. The final hand was won with an A-5 straight from Eastgate and Demidov had two pairs which he was forced to basically go all-in with.
With a $9.1 million dollar first prize going to Eastgate he is know already in the top five for the highest tournament winnings in Poker Internet and live poker history. Considering this is his first win at a major tournament it’s hard to believe, but you need to realize that most poker tournaments never used to reach over $1 million in prize money. Nowadays those things have changed dramatically and every year there is a higher prize pool available to the winners.
At such a young age it’s hard to know for sure what Eastgate is going to do for the rest of his life, but I think he’ll end up playing poker for a living. He definitely has a talent that not many people have and he could potentially become one of the best poker players in the world if he keeps at it. Demidov has been on a tear recently as well and although he only won second place he still took home over $5 million. Both players will continue to represent PokerStars and I’m sure will take a bit of a break from poker, but I expect them both to be around for many years to come.
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