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Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008

Eastgate becomes youngest Main Event winner

By Jason Kirk

After a nearly four-month wait, the November Nine have given way to the November One - Peter Eastgate.

Last night Peter Eastgate of Odense, Denmark, became the youngest player ever to win the Main Event title, topping Russia's Ivan Demidov en route to winning $9,152,416 - the second-largest prize in tournament poker history.

The November Nine

After a bevy of introductory remarks and presentations, including one for Erick Lindgren's Player of the Year award, the long-awaited final table began on Sunday morning with all of the "November Nine" seated and a full-throated crowd of supporters filling the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio. Play proceeded throughout the day and one by one the players fell by the wayside, reducing the number of variables in the equation that would eventually produce a world champion.

Craig Marquis and Kelly Kim, the two shortest stacks coming into the day, were also the first two players out. Professional player David "Chino" Rheem, many observers' dark horse favorite to win, followed the early departures in seventh place when his A-K fell to Eastgate's A-Q.

After a dinner break for the six remaining players, the two representatives of the Great White North would be the next to go. Darus Suharto's timing was off when he shoved A-8 into fellow Canuck Scott Montgomery's A-Q, and a nut flush for ScoMo meant the end for Suharto. But Montgomery soon found his way to the exit as well, melting down with A-9 against Ivan Demidov's K-K and then stacking off with A-3 against Eastgate's pocket sixes.

Ylon Schwartz had jumped out to an early lead at the start of the day, but he suffered a few major setbacks with his money in ahead. In the end he bluffed off the remainder of his $12.5 million stack on a river card that had given Eastgate a full house.

The incoming chip leader, Dennis Phillips, nearly imploded at the beginning of the day but used the support of some 300 friends and followers in the crowd to rally himself back into contention. He eventually brought an end to the night's proceedings by bluffing off his stack to Eastgate with ten-high against the Dane's flopped set of threes.

The stage was set for the climactic heads-up battle everyone had waited 117 days to see - but the crowd would have to come back Monday night to find out who would win.

Heads-up

When play resumed Monday evening at 11 p.m., Eastgate entered heads-up with the chip advantage, holding $79,500,000 in chips to Demidov's $57,225,000. But Eastgate wouldn't remain the leader for very long. Russia's shining new poker star took a healthy $21 million pot with a rivered two pair early on in the proceedings, boosting himself ahead of Eastgate by a small margin and taking control of the match.

Demidov continued to rule the roost for the next hour or so, but after a short break Eastgate managed to gather himself and began a dominant run that would see him take advantage of a few big hands - and a few mistakes from Demidov.

First the Dane grabbed a pot worth $25 million holding J 8, making a call for $7 million on the river with a board of 9 7 6 J Q. Demidov had been firing away throughout the hand with nothing more than A T for a gutshot straight draw, and a good read from Eastgate gave him a lead he would never relinquish.

The turning point came when Demidov again got too frisky with ace-high, this time when Eastgate had turned a flush. That gave the Dane a chip lead of better than six-to-one, a margin which allowed him to lean heavily on his Russian opponent going into what proved to be the final hand.

When all the money went in the middle Demidov had hit two pair, deuces and fours, on the turn. Unfortunately for him, the same card had filled in Eastgate's gutshot wheel draw with A-5. When Demidov failed to fill up on the river, the poker world had crowned its newest champion.

"I was lucky on the last hand," the young champ told the press after the match. "Ivan had two pair, and I had a wheel. When that happens heads-up, all the money is (going to go into the pot)."

Demidov was understandably disappointed after the match was done. "I think I played really well at the start, but I did not play as well towards the end," he said. "It is really tough to say what went wrong. Every time I tried to bluff he called, and had a hand."

Record breaker

Aside from the noteworthy 117-day delay after play ended in July, the November Nine final table set a number of other WSOP records.

This year's finale was the longest final table in the history of the $10,000 buy-in event, clocking in at an amazing 15 hours and 39 minutes. That broke the previous mark of 14 hours and two minutes set in 2005 when Joe Hachem won the last final table ever to be played at Binion's Horseshoe, birthplace of the WSOP. Final table play spanned a total of 278 hands, with more than a third of them coming heads-up.

The final blind level of the tournament also happened to be the highest blind level ever used, according to Tournament Director Jack Effel. The $1 million big blind posted each hand was worth the starting chips of 50 players.

The Rio's Penn and Teller Theater played host to the proceedings and maxed out its capacity of 1,065 on both days. Harrah's, organizers of the WSOP, estimated the crowd that gathered to watch the spectacle over the two days at a total of 3,000; that would be the largest crowd ever to watch a live poker match.

The most significant record, though, is a matter of age. At just 22 years, ten months, and 28 days, Eastgate became the youngest player ever to win the WSOP Main Event. The previous record holder was none other than poker's most notorious serial self-promoter (and 11-time bracelet winner) Phil Hellmuth, Jr. The man known as "The Poker Brat" was 24 years, ten months, and five days old when he triumphed heads-up over Johnny Chan in 1989.

For his part, the champ didn't put much stock in all the record-breaking. "I was not focusing on the records I could break," Eastgate told the media after his win. "I just concentrated on the game."

In the end it remains to be seen whether the public will focus on the game or the spectacle surrounding it. Much of that determination will be made tonight, when ESPN airs its first-ever same-day broadcast of the Main Event final table. For now, though, the young champ will let the magnitude of his victory sink in while the world watches his exploits.

"I do not think I have realized yet what a big moment this is," Eastgate said following his victory. "It will come the next days and weeks. I expect I will get emotional about it later. But not as much now."

PokerListings.com was on the scene at the final table and our coverage is unmatched. We have a full recap with Paula Elle on PokerListings TV as well as an exclusive interview with the champion and a written recap of the Main Event's final day. Check out the 2008 WSOP section for details.