Peter Eastgate Retires From Poker
Written by Renee K | Thursday, July 8th, 2010
Having made more money he could ever dream of, doing the one thing he loved best before the age of 23, Peter Eastgate announced that he is retiring as a professional poker player for good. Only two years after becoming the youngest player to win the World Series of Poker Main Event, Eastgate admitted that he has lost the drive and determination in the game and is ready to call it quits.
The surprise announcement came in the midst of the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Eastgate stated that he always knew that he would not play poker forever and only wanted to establish financial stability for himself before he quit. “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. My goal was to become financially independent,” he said. “I achieved that by winning the WSOP Main Event in 2008.”
That particular achievement earned Eastgate a staggering $9,152,416 – the second largest poker prize of all times, beaten only by the $12 million won by Jamie Gold in 2006.
Eastgate has been an excellent ambassador for PokerStars since he was signed up to represent this top online poker room. However, he felt that his lack of ambition and fire for the game was unfair to the site and to his fans. “Poker is about determination and excitement, and if Peter lacks this in his game, the right decision is to take a break,” said Poker Stars in a statement. “Peter has played amongst world champions and he has carried his title in the most admirable fashion.”
Eastgate has not revealed just what he intends to do with himself and his fortune at the ripe old age of 24. Perhaps he’ll be going back to Aarhus University to complete his graduate course in economics, which he dropped in favor of poker several years ago.
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
