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Youngster Takes 2008 WSOP Main Event
15 Nov 08
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It took a while—about three months by our count—but the 2008 World Series of Poker's main event finally has a champion.
Danish poker professional Peter Eastgate, who is 22-years of age and entered the final table with a chip count of 18,375,000, outlasted eight others—including runner-up Ivan Demidov—and will succeed Jerry Yang as the WSOP's main event champion.
According to the WSOP's website, heads up play between Eastgate and Demidov was one-sided with the Dane triumphing at the end.
"It kind of summed up the heads up. I had him crippled to below 20 million and I was lucky that he hit two pair where I hit the wheel," Eastgate said after his win on Monday.
"I really had no idea how he was going to play heads-up and he has way more experience than me," said Demidov after the loss.
"So maybe I was playing a bit passive and sometimes I made the bad calls when I should have just folded."
Eastgate took home a first prize purse of $9 million and became the youngest player to ever take home first place at the WSOP's main event (in the U.S.), an honor previously held by Phil Hellmuth.
Youth and WSOP main event winners seem to go hand in hand these days; Annette Obrestad took the inaugural WSOP Europe in 2007 at the tender age of 18, a day before her 19th birthday.
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