ESPN Poker Blog

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Norman Chad characterized Eastgate perfectly in a press release sent out Wednesday to promote the final table. Cool, calm and collected. It must be nice to be Peter Eastgate. The 22-year-old is only days away from the final table of the World Series of Poker and, sitting in fourth place, he has a great chance to earn the title of the youngest main event winner. However, the record doesn't interest him. He's simply here to win.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

Peter Eastgate will be an active champion in 2009.

"It's quite irrelevant whether you are 50 years old or 22 years old. It's still a once in a lifetime experience," Eastgate said. "It's very cool. Obviously incredibly cool. I can win a lot more money at the final table. That's amazing as well. On the other hand I've been living off poker for the last two years so its not that much of a big change even though its a big change!"

Having knowledge well beyond his age is nothing new for Eastgate. He was first introduced to poker in high school and was immediately taken in by the strategy and math behind the game. Playing primarily online, Eastgate has been making a living off of poker for the past two years. At first he just broke even, but then he went on a rush, built a bankroll and hasn't looked back. Being able to sustain himself by playing poker is what he considers his greatest poker success to this point. At the same time, he admitted he's lost up to $100,000 during a single session and been OK with it.

It seems that poker, nosebleed stakes and young players just go hand in hand these days. For Eastgate, the WSOP final table will simply be another opportunity to pad his bankroll and secure a life in the spotlight from here on out. Besides the money, fame and bracelet, there's one major motivating factor on Eastgate's mind: increasing poker's popularity in his Denmark.

"It would be very good," said Eastgate about the future of the game in Denmark if he were to win. "It would get poker on the landscape. People like Gus Hansen have done a lot, but I think it would make poker boom once again. I'd like to be a great ambassador if I were to win. We have a ton of talented players in Scandinavia and I'm just one of many."

Ivan Demidov has similar hopes for increasing poker's popularity in his native Russia. If either Eastgate or Demidov were to win, this year's WSOP bracelet would reside overseas and it would be good for the growth of the game.

With all of these factors building in his mind, how heavy are Eastgate's shoulders? Surely he must be a little tense prior to the finals. Somehow, pressure isn't in the vocabulary of this Dane, who likes his ESPN-given nickname of "Icegate."

"I'm naturally nervous because there's a lot of money on the line, but I'm not too anxious about the final table," said Eastgate. "I know that someone has to lose and someone has to win and when you go into something like this and you lose, you shouldn't be that bothered. That's just part of playing poker. I'm going in with the mindset that someone has to bust out early and that might be me. I'll try to play my best and just keep in mind that someone has to bust out and there's not much more that you can do.

"I don't think there's added pressure being European," he continued. "I'm playing for them, but I'm playing for myself primarily. I'm going to have to the take the responsibility of busting out."

Since the 117-day break began, Eastgate has been living in London, trying to gain experience in the live realm. Accustomed to sitting in front of a computer, Eastgate needed to get out, play more live and adjust himself for what is to come.

Finishing 18th in the European Poker Tour stop in London, Eastgate added another $29,871 to his bankroll. He also played on the Partouche Poker Tour, but failed to cash.

"I've been going around the circuit as if I wasn't on the final table," he said. "I feel like I'm getting used to the live atmosphere and reading people, so I don't think that I'm that disadvantaged."

He continues to play online, staying on top of his cash games and taking preparation into his own hands.

"Playing online you can improve so much faster because you can play so many more hands," Eastgate said. "You can catch up pretty quickly to those that have been playing for a decade."

Though Eastgate is well ahead of the poker education curve, it wasn't all smooth sailing throughout the main event. After staying with the pack through the first four days, Day 5 turned out to be Eastgate's turning point. When the final 10 was set, it was Eastgate who took advantage of the three hours of bubble play to the fullest extent, increasing his chip stack from $10 million to $18 million.

And then there were nine.

"The main thing in poker is try to adjust to your opponents," Eastgate said. "That's what I'm going to try to do at the final table."

Will he set all sorts of records or simply be another member of the November nine? At his age and with his talent, great things are sure to come for the Danish pro, but will they start this weekend?