Update: Eastgate Gets Back in the Game

Feb 16, 2011
Young player overcomes pressure imposed by fame An exciting announcement came this week from a former WSOP champion Peter Eastgate who announced that he will return from the retirement for which he opted last year, when he sold his WSOP winner's bracelet and donated the funds to UNICEF. He became widely popular when at the age of 21, in 2008, he became one of the youngest players to win the prestigious competition, which brought him millions, but he soon found himself swallowed by his fame. When he decided to retire, the news caused much speculation, but this week Eastgate decided to announce the real reasons for such a decision: "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 importing 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." Well, now he's back, and he's renewed his cooperation with Pokerstars, and his first two appearances will be on two events where he will be sponsored by the giant online poker company: the PokerStars.com EPT Copenhagen and NBC Heads Up Championship.
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