Peter Eastgate Pulls a Brett Favre: Retires and Then Unretires
That was quick!
Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate, who won the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and then last year abruptly announced his retirement from poker at the age of 26, has announced that he is unretiring.
Eastgate shocked the poker world when he retired in 2010, two years after winning $9.1 million at the '08 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.
At the time of his retirement, he said he had had enough poker and never intended to make poker a career.
Around the same time, he sold his WSOP championship gold-and-diamond bracelet on online auction site eBay (www.ebay.com), further displaying his separation from poker.
How times have changed with the New Year!
On his blog at Poker Stars Blog (www.pokerstarsblog.com), Eastgate last week wrote: "Sometimes in life a person can feel lost and wake up one morning not recognizing who he is. Last summer that was how I felt. Prior to winning the WSOP in 2008, my life was very much a good solid routine of playing online poker and hanging out with my friends and family.
"Winning the WSOP changed that. I relocated to London and started a new life, the life of a high-profile poker pro. For almost 2 years I was in a constant spotlight, travelling from poker tournament to poker tournament, doing thousands of interviews and never had a chance to catch my breath. In the whirlwind that followed winning the WSOP, I lost track of the most important thing in my life, myself.
"Last summer I decided that I wanted to stop playing poker and catch my breath and find out who I am and what I want to do with my life. Over the last 8 months I have had a chance to reconnect with my friends and most important, my family. I have spent quality time with my family and really had an opportunity to figure out who I am and what I want to do with the rest of my life. When there is no financial pressure it can sometimes be hard to get motivated to move forward as a person.
"I truly enjoy playing poker. I love the competitive element and the mental challenges of tournament poker. I feel it is important to constantly grow as a person and for a while I didn't feel I was moving in the right direction. Having had time to think about my life and future I feel I have figured out how I can combine playing poker with a healthy life outside of poker.
"I do not consider this a comeback, as I always knew there was a good chance I would play poker again. During my hiatus from poker, PokerStars have been very supportive. Therefore, I am pleased that I will start out with playing two events where I will be sponsored by PokerStars. First, I will be playing the PokerStars.com EPT Copenhagen which of course means a lot to me, since it is on my home ground. Then I will play the NBC Heads Up Championship. I am fortunate that PokerStars have the best online tournaments, so I have an opportunity to get back in tournament shape.
"There have been some questions about the sale of my WSOP bracelet. I was not trying to devaluate the WSOP name. It was not sold to make any kind of statement. It was sold to raise money for UNICEF and I am very proud and thankful that the sale raised £100,000 to UNICEF."
Brett Favre.
Peter Forsberg.
Dave Cowens.
All were champions who retired and then came back.
Now you can add Peter Eastgate to that list.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
