History was made at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas, when 23-year old Peter Eastgate from Denmark won the 2008 WSOP Main Event Championship. The young Scandi broke Phil Hellmuth’s 19-year old record when he beat Ivan Demidov heads up for the victory. Peter Eastgate won $9,152,416, while Demidov collected $5,809,595 for second place.Action was paused once Dennis Phillips busted out in third place. The final two returned on Monday night for the showdown. Before cards went in the air, there was a Player of the Year ceremony honoring Erick Lindgren for his sensational overall performance at the 2008 WSOP. Everyone’s favorite FullTilt pro finally won his first bracelet in $5,000 Limit/No Limit Hold’em. He cashed five times at the 2008 WSOP and made three final tables overall including a fourth place finish in $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball and a valiant third place finish in $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.. In case you were wondering, Lindgren also had a 10th and 18th place finish this summer.
“This is awesome. I can’t believe all of you are here to watch poker!” joked Lindgren. “One of my best friends, Daniel Negreanu, have won this award. It’s truly an honor.”
Plenty of big names were on hand to check out the action including former champions Jamie Gold, Chris Moneymaker, and Jesus. Other notables included Daniel Negreanu, Dennis Phillips, Hevad Khan, and Madeline Ugar (Stu’s widow) and Stephanie Ungar (Stu’s daughter).
Over the first 25 hands or so, there was not too much action. Lou the dealer mentioned that both players were nervous early on, which resulted in passive play. Shortly after the first break, there was the first big hand of the night as Eastgate increased his lead and pushed his stack over the 100m mark. Demidov had been applying the pressure with A-10. Demidov raised preflop and bet out at the flop even though it missed him. Eastgate called with an open-ended straight draw. Eastgate turned a pair of Jacks. The river was a blank and didn’t improve Demidov’s hand. He fired one last bullet and Eastgate quickly called. His pair was good against Demidov’s Ace-high. After that hand, Demidov slipped to around 30M in chips.
Demidov slowly chipped away and climbed back to the starting stacks by winning several small pots. He bottomed out at 30m and ran his stack back up to 53m until he lost a decisive pot.
Demidov raised 2m and Eastgate called. The flop was Kd-10d-7c and everyone checked. The turn was the Jd and Eastgate fired out 2.5m. Demidov raised to 8m. Eastgate called. The river was the 3s. Eastgate checked. Demidov fired out 12m. Eastgate called with 7d-4d for a flush while Demidov showed Ac-9s for only Ace high. Eastgate increased his stack to 108m, while Demidov slipped to 28m.
On the 105th hand of heads up play, it was all over. Both players limped. The flop was Ks-3h-2d. Demidov checked. Eastgate bet 1.25m and Demidov called. The turn was the 4c. Demidov checked. Eastgate bet 2m. Demidov check-raised to 6m. Eastgate called. The river was the 7s. Demidov moved all in for the rest of his stack. Eastgate quickly called with Ad-5s. He made a Wheel on the turn. His straight was better than Demidov’s 4h-2h. Demidov’s two-pair was not good enough and he was eliminated. The young gun from Russia won $5,809,595 for second place.
Peter Eastgate From Odense, Denmark collected $9,152,416 for first place, won his first ever WSOP bracelet, and became the youngest ever WSOP champion breaking Phil Hellmuth’s record.
“This was a good final table, obviously, because I won it,” joked Eastgate moments after his victory. “There was a lot of competent players at the final table. It’s was tough. I’m really tired. I’m exhausted.”
Well, the 2008 WSOP is finally over and we have a brand new champion. Congrats to Peter Eastgate for etching his name in poker’s history books. The torch has been passed down to the young Scandinavian player. Peter Eastgate is the newest WSOP world champion and will be poker’s ambassador over the next year.
1 Peter Eastgate $9,152,416
2 Ivan Demidov $5,809,595
3 Dennis Phillips $4,517,773
4 Ylon Schwartz $3,774,974
5 Scott Montgomery $3,096,768
6 Darus Suharto $2,418,562
7 David “Chino” Rheem $1,772,650
8 Kelly Kim $1,288,217
9 Craig Marquis $900,670