Home / Poker News December 2010 / Looking back at 2010 – Champ quits poker
Looking back at 2010 – Champ quits poker
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Fri, 2010-12-31 12:04
Without a shadow of a doubt, 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate’s decision to quit poker was one of the top stories of 2010. I remember a while ago I compiled a list for a blog about various
WSOP Main Event champions and their overall contributions to the game of poker. On that list, there were guys who did a lot and guys who did little, but there wasn’t a single player who entirely quit poker in the wake of his WSOP success.
The first clue that things weren’t entirely clicking for the champ poker-wise, came during the first few weeks of the 2010 WSOP when he failed to show up. Instead of hitting the green felt, he was over in South Africa watching the World Cup unfold. Although at that time he had still apparently planned to return to poker, a few days later he announced that he was going to take a break.
That break proved to be an indefinite one for the young Dane. After the WSOP, he dropped the bomb: he was going to quit poker for good. In a statement released in an apparent effort to justify his decision, he said he never really planned to play poker his entire life.
Though the real reasons behind his move may never come to light, one thing is quite certain: there were probably no financial issues behind it all. After all, Eastgate wasn’t the type of champ to ride into the sunset never to be seen or heard from again like so many others before him. He actively played in various live events and he won quite a few high-stakes affairs as well, so money was definitely not a problem.
To top things off, he auctioned off his precious bracelet, thus symbolically severing all ties he had to the game.
