Eastgate becomes youngest Main Event Champion

News / Matthew Pitt / 11 November 2008 / Leave a comment

The 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event finally crowned its new champion after an epic heads-up match between Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov that lasted 104 hands.

Coming into the match, it was the aggressive Dane, Eastgate who held the chip advantage with his 80,300,000 stack of chips eclipsing Demidov's 56,600,000 b ut over the course of the heads-up battle the stacks would even out.

Demidov drew first blood from the encounter when he called a 1,500,000 raise out of position and then checked a Ts Kh Th flop. Eastgae also checked and both players saw another king, this time of diamonds, arrive on the turn. Once again both players checked but when the Kc fell on the river, Demidov lead out for 8,000,000, bringing a wry smile from Eastgate but ultimately a fold too.

After 18 hands, the young Russian had chipped away at Eastgate's stack and evened things up to within just 900 chips. However, just 21 hands later, after his Js 8s were good against the As Th held by Demidov on a board that read 9h 7s 6d Jh Qs, Eastgate's stack ballooned to a massive 100,300,000, dwarfing the Russian's 36,600,000.

Despite the 3/1 chip lead, it took Eastgate a further 66 hands to despatch his opponent and even then it took a cooler of epic proportions to shake off the dogged Russian.

Eastgate limped on the button and Demidov checked his option. A flop of 2d Ks 3h saw Demidov check and then call a 1,250,000 bet from the Dane. The four of clubs on the turn prompted Demidov to check once again but Eastgate did not slow down, this time firing out 2,000,000.

After twenty seconds, Demidov raised to 6,000,000, essentially committing him to the hand, and Eastgate called after a brief pause. The dealer turned over the 7s on the river, Demidov moved all-in and Eastgate instantly called!

Demidov revealed 4h 2h for two pairs but Eastgate held Ad 5s for a turned straight, more than enough to make him the youngest-ever Main Event champion, breaking Phil Hellmuth's 19-year record.

Four months after the "Big Dance" started, we finally have our champion. Peter Eastgate of Denmark takes home the coveted WSOP bracelet and $9,152,416 for his troubles, with Ivan Demidov claiming $5,809,595 for his runners-up finish.