Betfair Poker has signed a sponsorship deal with 2008 World Series of Poker champion Peter Eastgate. This will be the 26 year-old’s latest step into re-introducing himself to the game which made him a household name among poker fans.
Eastgate’s relationship with the game has been a complicated one. Since winning poker’s most coveted crown in 2008, he has played rather sporadically. In fact, after spending a stretch as a member of Team PokerStars, Eastgate took nearly a one year leave of absence from poker. His reasoning, quite simply, was that he felt that he’d last his desire to compete. With financial independence achieved, he said, it was time to step away. During that time, he went so far as to auction off his Main Event winner’s bracelet, with the proceeds going to charity. The sale, held on eBay, eventually raised $147,500 for UNICEF.
“I had a 10-month hiatus where I didn’t play poker,” he recently said, “then felt the lust to play again… I still enjoy the game and there’s still a lot of challenges to the game. I’m not by any means the best player in the world, so there’s a lot of challenges.”
Eastgate, a native of Denmark, now joins a Betfair Pro team populated by names such as John Tabatabai and Hans Martin Vogl, according to iGaming Business.