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Peter Eastgate


Name: Peter Eastgate
Nickname: Isser / Icegate
Birth Date: December 13th, 1985
Birth Place: Odense, Denmark
Current Residence: London, England
Poker Room: PokerStars

Peter Eastgate is a new name on the poker circuit but has already broken the record as the youngest player to win the WSOP, as he did in the 2008 Main Event final table.

He was raised in Dalum, a suburb of Odense, Denmark and went to Sct. Knuds Gymnasium, where he encountered poker through his classmates. He then attended Aarhus University to study finance, but then dropped out from his economics degree to play poker full-time. He started playing poker with a small deposit he made at an online poker room and managed to break even during his first year of play. Soon after that came his first real cash, that allowed him to start building his bankroll.

Peter turned pro since 2005 and started earning his money online with his speciality being short-handed and heads-up high-limit cash games at the $200/$400 level. In April 2007, he placed in 9th place during the first Irish Open in 2007 earning $46,714 and made a money finish in the 2008 European Poker Tour event in Copenhagen.

After some cash tournaments he decided to compete in the 2008 WSOP Main Event with $10,000 cash through the online poker site Ladbrokes Poker and then travelled to Las Vegas as part of Team Ladbrokes. He reached the final table with 18,375,000 in starting chips, the fourth largest stack behind Scott Montgomery (19,690,000), Ivan Demidov (24,400,000) and Dennis Phillips (26,295,000). He faced another 6,800 players and became the youngest final-table finisher of the event after winning over Ivan Demidov and winning $9.1 Million for his first place finish

The final consisted of a two-day final table consisting of 274 hands that took 15 hours and 28 minutes to play. By winning the Main Event at age 22, he became the youngest WSOP Main Event champion, surpassing Phil Hellmuth, who was 24 when he won in 1989. That day Eastgate became the youngest player to ever win the World Series at 22 years old.

Following his WSOP Main Event victory Peter took to the tournament trail and kept being successful. He cashed in the European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event and then won the $5,000 side event for $343,000. In 2009, Eastgate participated and managed to defend his title until day 6 when he was eliminated in 78th place.

An interesting comparison could be made between Gus Hansen and Eastgate, with them both being 2 big Danish poker pros. A heated competition is to be expected if they had to face each other on the felt. Eastgate does not just do online games but also offline playing where he has finished well in quite a few live tournaments. He has also played in the Poker Millions heats twice but did not qualify as yet. In February 2008, he placed 32nd in the 2008 EPT Scandinavian Open in February 2008 winning $16,416.

Nowadays, Eastgate is widely regarded as one of the top Internet pros in Denmark and has been associated with the online operators; Ladbrokes Poker, Fortune Poker and mainly PokerStars. He is known for being down to earth and really nice. Despite his age, Eastgate is considered as an internet poker professional in the business. He enjoys shorthanded and heads-up high limit cash games, somewhere in the level of $200/$400.

Peter Eastgate’s other achievements

  • 5 Cashes and over $9,300,000 in total winnings
  • 1 First Place finish and 1 WSOP Bracelet
  • 1st at the 2008 WSOP, Event 54, Main Event No Limit Hold’em
  • 9th at the 2007 Special, Irish Poker Open
  • 18th at the EPT Season 4, EPT Scandinavian Open

As of 2009, Eastgate’s total live tournament winnings exceed the $9,700,000 mark. 2008 was definitely his best year when he made it to the November 9 final table at the Main Event.

He is a highly skilled and respected a player in the poker circuit and we can expect to hear more of him soon.