LAS VEGAS — A 22-year-old college dropout from Denmark won the World Series of Poker main event and its $9.15 million first prize, then spent the wee hours partying with friends at a suite reserved for this city's biggest gamblers.

And why not? He is one of them.

Peter Eastgate became the WSOP main event's youngest champion early Tuesday, making a wheel straight and eliminating his final opponent, Ivan Demidov, a 27-year-old semiprofessional card player from Moscow. Demidov held two pair, twos and fours, when Eastgate called his all-in bet.

Phil Hellmuth, among poker's most famous ambassadors, was 24 in 1989 when he won the first of his 11 tournament titles.

Eastgate hit poker's jackpot about 2 ½ years after he learned to play no-limit Texas Hold'em from high-school friends in Denmark. He said he tried college for a week, but got into poker and found he was good enough to make a living as a pro.

The main event began with 6,844 players in July; the nine who made the final table started play Sunday.

Demidov settled for $5.81 million.

After capturing the tournament and the gold bracelet that goes to the winner, Eastgate celebrated with about two dozen friends and family members at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in a room that is usually the territory of A-list celebrity guests.

Eastgate had said he would have been content with a top-five finish, but he thought he had a chance to win it all after eliminating a few players from the final table.

"My motivation was $9 million and a bracelet," Eastgate said.



The Seattle Times