Denmark's Peter Eastgate beat
Russia's Ivan Demidov in four hours of
heads-up play to win the World Series of
Poker Main Event and $9.1 million.
Demidov walked away with $5.8 million for
finishing in second place.
With the victory, the 22-year-old Eastgate
became the youngest WSOP Main Event champion.
Phil Hellmuth, the previous record holder, was
24 when he won the prestigious event in
1989.
Immediately after his victory, Eastgate shown
below said he was happy the way the final table
went, "especially because I won."
Eastgate also showed grace in victory. "Ivan
was a very tough opponent. He's an excellent
player and we'll see a lot more of him in the
coming years."
Demidov thought his
inexperience showed up during heads-up play. "I
had no idea how Peter was going to play,"
Demidov said after being closed out on the 274th
hand of the final table. "He has a lot more
experience than me in heads-up play and I think
that helped. Looking back, there were times that
I called when I should have folded and that cost
me."
The match between Eastgate and Demidov was
billed as the biggest night in poker, and
Harrah's pulled out all the stops to make it
so.
Eastgate began heads-up play with 79,500,000
chips, while Demidov began with 57,725,000
chips. And with the blinds at 300,000-600,000
with 75,000 antes, Demidov started the night on
fire.
On the 11th
hand of the night, Demidov took the chip lead
and appeared to be comfortable at the table
despite having to take an emergency bathroom
break.
After the bathroom break, Eastgate reclaimed
the lead as both players settled into a
comfortable playing rhythm.
The crucial hand in heads up play came at
1:54 a.m. when Eastgate, holding 4d 7d saw a Kd
10d 7c flop. A jack of diamonds hit on the turn,
giving Eastgate a diamond flush. Demidov,
holding Ac 9s in the hole, raised to 8 million
on the turn and Eastgate called. The river saw a
three of spades and a 12 million bet from
Demidov. Eastgate called and won a pot of over
44 million in chips and elicited the first
"Ooba, Ooba" song from his fervent
supporters.
After taking down the monster pot, Eastgate
led Demidov 109 million to 27.9 million and
proceeded to take control of game. Two hands
later, Eastgate pushed Demidov out of the hand
with a sizable bet on the turn. Moments later,
Eastgate parlayed pocket threes into a full
house -- threes full of eights -- to win another
major pot. And on the very next hand, Eastgate
pushed all in pre-flop and induced a fold from
Demidov. At the end of this furious flurry of
activity, Eastgate led Demidov 120.45 million to
16.45 million and the players went on a
20-minute break.
On the very first hand after the break,
Eastgate ended the tournament when Demedov went
all in with two pair, only to see Eastgate
finish Demidov off. Eastgate limped in on the
button and Demidov checked in the big blind. The
flop came out 2d Ks 3h. Demidov checked and
Eastgate bet 1.25 million. Demidov called and
the 4c hit on the turn. Demidov checked again
and Eastgate bet 2 million. Demidov then
check-raised Eastgate to 6 million. Eastgate
called the raise and a 7s hit on the river.
Demidov then moved all in and Eastgate instantly
called. Demidov flipped up 4h 2h for two pair.
Then Eastgate revealed Ad 5s for the wheel and
the title.
Demidov and Eastgate, who
both admitted to being fatigued after the
tournament played down from nine players to two
on Sunday, appeared fresh and alert when play
began.
And the presence of poker royalty like
Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson and
Jamie Gold, along with showgirls and 1,000
people in the crowded auditorium didn't seem to
unsettle them.
The 2008 World Series of Poker marked the
first time the event was paused to allow taped
TV coverage to air. The goal was to generate
interest and drama surrounding the final table
and provide the opportunity to create a
"plausibly-live" same-day final table telecast.
And early results indicate the TV strategy has
paid off.
