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Peter Eastgate

Poker Player Profile – Peter Eastgate Poker Player

Peter Eastgate started with online poker and then made good in live poker tournaments. He is the youngest poker player to win the WSOP Main Event.

Entry To Poker

Peter Eastgate was born in 1985 and lived his childhood in Odense in Denmark. He learnt how to play poker while in school. Later he went to Aarhus University. There he started playing poker online. He broke even in his first year. Eastgate realized that he could not cope with both his studies and poker. He therefore took a considered decision to drop out of college. Eastgate turned professional in 2005 at the age of 20.

Live Poker Tournaments

Eastgate got his first recognition in live poker tournaments in 2007. He reached the final table of the Irish Open and finished in 9th place. The same year he also cashed at the Copenhagen stop of PokerStars EPT Season 4, finishing in 32nd place.

In WSOP 2008 Eastgate entered the Main Event by paying the $10,000 entry in cash. He played under the PokerStars banner. On the way to the final table he knocked out Tiffany Michelle, the last woman standing. He was in fourth position when the final table was set. In the heads up he beat Ivan Demidov to win the first prize of $9,152,416. Eastgate became the youngest poker player to win the WSOP Main Event beating Phil Hellmuth’s 19 year old record. This victory brought Eastgate in the limelight at live poker tournaments and in the months that followed he cashed in the London stop of the EPT and in the Main Event of PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure and won the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em of the PokerStars tournament. Eastgate’s total live tournament earnings are about $9.6 million. He has had 2 first place finishes and 6 cashes.

Online Poker

After becoming a professional poker player, Eastgate had made a name for himself in online poker rooms. He played poker online regularly at PokerStars and Ladbrokes. Eastgate prefers short-handed and heads-up high-limit cash games at the $200/$400 level at which he is very good. He is often equated with Denmark’s most famous poker professional Gus Hansen.

Recently Eastgate joined Team PokerStars Pro. He will be playing at PokerStars online poker room under the alias ‘PeteEastgate’. He will also be playing live poker tournaments as a member of Team PokerStars Pro. Daniel Negreanu, a senior member of Team PokerStars Pro said that Eastgate represents “the young new rising poker talent emerging in Europe” and will be an asset to PokerStars.

Other Poker Achievements

Eastgate not only won the WSOP Main Event in 2008 but he also won the hearts of the poker community. Though he is not to be tampered with on the tables he is gracious and humble away from them. After winning $9 million he said, “I won’t be splashing out on expensive things or living a crazy life now that I’ve won. I’m thinking carefully about how to invest the money so that I make the right decision.” One of the decisions was to engage Poker Royalty to represent him. Poker Royalty is the most sought after representation agency with clients like Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.

Eastgate lives in Odense and when not playing poker he plays and watches soccer.

Media Mentions