Twenty two year old Danish Poker Professional early Tuesday won the World Series of Poker and became the youngest champion in the history of the no-limit Texas Hold'em main event.


Previous youngest champion was 11-time gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth who was 24 when he won the tournament in 1989. Hellmuth called Eastgate wishing him luck before his longer than three-hour session.

Eastgate hit an ace-to-five straight on the turn and instantly called an all-in bet from Ivan Demidov on the river to win the title and $9,152,416. Demidov held two pair, twos and fours.

With stacks of $100 bills and his new gold bracelets Eastgate stated "I was not focused on the record that I could break, I was just focused on the game."
Eastgate built a 7-to-1 chip advantage before the decisive hand by sniffing out two bluffs by Demidov for big pots.
Eastgate stopped his opponent from bluffing a pot worth roughly 44 million chips with an ace high. He called with a diamond flush.

The pressure was on for his final opponent when Eastgate won a significant pot four hands later with a full house.

"My motivation was $9 million and a bracelet," Eastgate said. "That's what kept me focused."
Second place 27 years old Semiprofessional Demidov from Moscow took home
$5,809,595 stating ''I'm someone who's not going to cry'' continuing ''I'm disappointed, but I'm going to be happy. That's the way it turned out.''

In less than 30 minutes to start the night Demidov erased Eastgate's initial chip advantage in their quest for the gold bracelet.

But Eastgate regained his chips taking a 35.8 million chip lead after hitting two pair, aces and queens.

Eastgate took a nearly 2-to-1 chip advantage after calling a 7 million chip river bet with a pair of jacks. A queen was on the board, but Demidov turned over an ace high. The call indicated that Eastgate sensed his hand was good despite the large bet and plenty of cards that could have beaten him.
"He was playing me very aggressively so I was kind of looking to kind of trap him," Eastgate said. "It worked out in different spots."
To win the tournament required one player to collect all the chips in play (some 137 million) Chips have no monetary value and each player started the no-limit Texas Hold'em tournament in July with 20,000 chips.


Deliberate decisions where made by the two players who didn’t rush to shove their chips in the middle early on. As Eastgate distanced himself from Demidov it became apparent that Demidov would need to double his stack to keep his options unhindered.



"I learned that I need to improve my hands-on game," Demidov said.

Source:  Online Poker 777 Staff

Tuesday, 11 November 2008