PETER EASTGATE QUITS POKER AND GUS HANSEN TAKES A BREAK AND SKIPS THE WSOP MAIN EVENT

[flipflops_n_shades]

Gus Hansen and Patrick Antonius are now the best players without a wsop bracelet IMO.

 

[forsakenone]

doubt Gus Hansen is broke, plus he had a huge comeback at fulltilt before wsop, he is still down a lot on fulltilt however.

 

[bonflizubi]

eastgate didnt say he quit- he said "...taking a break"

People would be surprised how often hitting the *dream* tuyrns out to be a very hard toil... be uit winning the ME or becoming CEO of IBM.

I give the guy credit in pursuing whatever he wnats to do...

 

[Poker Orifice]

If I were Eastgate, I would continue to play the big live events as long as PokerStars is backing him. No need to stop if they are paying you to play. However, if his contract with Stars is up, then he should probably pack it in for a while and stop sustaining the type of losses shown in the chart above.

The losses on the chart are from online cash tables (I'm assuming HeadsUp play).
I don't believe his decision is anything about the losses shown there... he's stated that he no longer feels motivated to play high buyin poker & has chosen to move on. Sounds good.. wtg Peter imo.

sidenote... losing $500k is babyfood for the guys playing highstakes cash game.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Gus Hansen and Patrick Antonius are now the best players without a WSOP bracelet IMO.

You really believe that? Antonius is a cash game specialist so whether he has a bracelet or not seems irrelevant.. and imo... Gus Hansen is a huge donkey (have you read his book?... wasn't impressed at all... unless perhaps he's leaving out what was really goin' on in his mind... cuz the book seemed like donkey donkin' to me. I found it a big letdown.

 

[Ice Wolf]

1) Yes, I think
Please lets not forget Mike "TheMouth" Matusow has also had some very deep runs in the Main Event. I think he finished 9th in 2005, 54th in 2008, 87th in 2004. All these since the 2003 poker boom. He also finished 6th in 2001.

Yeah Mike is the man. I cant stand the other loud mouth and buddy of his Hellmouth though. Dude just cant seem to finnish it off though. Cant deny the serious skills with deep runs every year in the biggest poker event there is though.

On another note this is the first Im hearing of the Eastgate thing though. Although I think if I were ever finacially set to where I would never have to work agian, I would walk away too.

 

[OzExorcist]

sidenote... losing $500k is babyfood for the guys playing highstakes cash game.

While this is true, I'm pretty sure Eastgate was never a regular at those kind of stakes.

 

[ander]

Taking a break sounds more realistic to me imo..the rest sounds SF

 

[Exit141RTe1]

No motovation, No interest transulates less than stellar play, and at the level of poker he plays without it I would think your toast!

 

[salim271]

Kind of like cerebral spinal fluid... Except in the unfortunate case of head trauma or hemorragic stroke. If my lame joke has offended anybody, I'm sorry.

Yeah and WSOP on ESPN is kinda like the Ependymal cells that beat the CSF that is poker into your brain and never lets you forget... ^_^

 

[aikindoma]

I saw Gus playing the last days at FTP and he had some good cash...!!!

...so he's not broke...

I didn't watch long enough to see if he won much, but he was ahead....

 

[KCLEE816]

YEA TALKED TO A BUDDY OF MINE HE SAID DURING THE WORLD SERIES HE SAW GUS AT THE BELLAGIO PROBALLY SMART CAUSE WITH MOST OF THE PROS IN THE WSOP THERE WAS ALOT OF FISH TO EAT UP

 

[dmorris68]

Late to this thread, but...

1) Yes, I think Eastgate had what it takes to have a long poker career and be a winning player, because he played alot before he even won the Main Event.

Not sure where you got this info or exactly what you mean by "a lot." I don't know how many hands he was playing online, but Eastgate admitted after his ME win that he had only been playing poker for 3 years prior, and the first two years he said he was a losing or barely break-even player. He only started turning a profit the year he won the ME. Dennis Phillips said in a post-ME interview that Eastgate was a good kid and obviously had skills, but came across as inexperienced at the time, and Phillips was quite surprised that he won. I think just about everyone pegged Demidov as the best player at the final table that year.

 

[Trimming1]

Read the article at card player

Don't think anyone has posted this yet, but Peter Eastgate is done with poker.

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/9388-former-world-champion-peter-eastgate-quits-poker

Interested in your thoughts.

Peter said he was taking a break from poker not quitting. Big differants between the two. I`f I had his dough, you can do what ever you want when you want to do it. Gus Hanson is one of my personal favorites as far as pro players. He`ll be back.

 

[poker d player]

Gotta give him credit. For someone to make a difficult choice like that when there is certianly plenty of pressure for him to keep playing is rare these days. If he's not motivated to play then he ought to look for other things he might pursue. He can always turn back to the felts at a later time.

 

[OzExorcist]

Peter said he was taking a break from poker not quitting. Big differants between the two.

He also says that he never intended to play poker long-term as a career so you can call it a break or whatever else you like, it doesn't sound like he's planning on coming back as a full-time player.

 

[Russ gervasi]

Wow...That is a disturbing graph. I def think that most of the top names in the game have other means of making money. I am surprised that Peter's not in the main event...especially with that bankroll. With the free buy in it's just bad biz. I mean, he could even his losses and further promote himself which would in turn ensure him an extension on his internet contract.

Also, Is he playing limits to unstable for his bankroll? Those some big swings.

 

[OzExorcist]

I am surprised that Peter's not in the main event...especially with that bankroll. With the free buy in it's just bad biz. I mean, he could even his losses and further promote himself which would in turn ensure him an extension on his internet contract.

I think you're missing the point - he doesn't want an extension on his internet contract because he doesn't want to play poker. He wants to take however many million he has left after expenses, downswings and Danish tax and go do something he actually enjoys.

I say good for him.

 

[mosseyAJ]

1) Yes, I think Eastgate had what it takes to have a long poker career and be a winning player, because he played alot before he even won the Main Event. Then he followed it up a year later with a deep run finishing 78th. Only Dennis Phillips, Greg Raymer, and Dan Harrington have had similar type runs since the boom in '03.

2) I enjoy poker too much to quit. I'd invest wisely and use the interest generated to sustain a pro bankroll.

3) Gus will be fine. We know he's at least a huge tennis fan, perhaps he decided to be in South Africa for the World Cup.

You really wouldn't count Joseph Hachem as having good returning years? He finished 238th the following year, which i think is pretty impressive. He also finished 2nd and 4th in two other WSOP events in 2006, as well as winning a WPT title. Just sayin...he deserves a lot of credit as well.

 

[naruto_miu]

He wants to take however many million he has left after expenses, downswings and Danish tax and go do something he actually enjoys.

I say good for him.

Just curious what you think he actually has left? I personally don't believe he has what it takes...I mean, he's a nice person by the seems of it, but Poker can mess with you mentally...Not to mention the Pressure also of having to actually cash on a Continuous basis, Does end up taking a Toll on a person also, and the same is also said for the Lack of cashing in-itself....The pressure of the money it-self is a burden...By this I mean, Family members always asking for shit....


That Graph someone posted also is taking a TOLL ON ME, AND IT'S NOT EVEN MY MONEYY

 

[dmorris68]

A lot of you seem hung up on the 400k downswing in his graph. Realizing he's not a huge cash player, but 400k is is not a huge deal to a multi-millionaire poker player. Regular cash players like Durrr have had million dollar swings in one day before. Eastgate is nowhere near their level, so a 400k swing isn't surprising.

I don't remember ever hearing if he got out from the Danish tax burden or not. When he registered for the '08 ME he was a Danish resident, but before the final table he had moved to London -- most likely in anticipation of a nice cash (since the final 9 each received 9th place money, almost $1M each) and trying to get away from the ridiculous 72% Danish tax. If he did manage to pull that off, then I don't believe gambling winnings are taxable in the UK so he would have kept it all. $9M invested wisely would set him up for life in so many ways, with so much residual income (and not counting his contract/endorsement income), that a $400k downswing would barely be noticeable.

 

[OzExorcist]

I don't remember ever hearing if he got out from the Danish tax burden or not.

He didn't, and he got taxed out the wazoo on his Main Event win. I forget the exact figures but someone did the numbers and worked out that, after tax, Ivan Demidov actually made more for finishing second than Peter Eastgate did for finishing first. He only walked away with a couple of million or something.

That said his endorsement deal with Stars will likely have made him some money and even with the $400K downswing he's probably got a million or so left over.

 

[CntryBoys]

If I had Peter Eastgates Money I would Quit also. He has enough money if he is smart with it to live the rest of his life. So why try to gamble it away. As for Gus he shoulda quit when he was ahead also.

 

[Cdub512]

I think I know why gus didnt play in the ME. Im friends with him on facebook, and his status said he went back to denmark to see his mom. A couple days later she died.

He is definitely not broke.

 

[KoRnholio]

Gus Hansen is a huge donkey (have you read his book?... wasn't impressed at all... unless perhaps he's leaving out what was really goin' on in his mind... cuz the book seemed like donkey donkin' to me. I found it a big letdown.

I found his book to be decent, definitely above average as far as poker books go these days. He plays loose (maybe even too loose) obviously, but there is some method to his madness.