In a surprising move this week, Peter Eastgate has announced that he will be stepping away from poker. Just twenty months after bursting into the poker limelight, the young pro has made the decision that soul-searching and introspection are called for in his life, putting poker at least temporarily on hold.

Everybody who has come into contact with poker in a serious capacity knows that, while the game can bring riches and be a lot of fun, it is mentally draining both on and off the felt. The swings involved in high stakes play cannot help but weigh down on the mind, and if this kind of pressure is not dealt with it can become a potent source of stress across a player’s day-to-day life, affecting seemingly everything. For these reasons, it is not at all uncommon for poker players to walk away from the game, but it is slightly unusual for somebody with the success of Peter Eastgate to do so.

The Team PokerStars Pro became instantly famous in 2008 as he battled through literally thousands of players to win his first bracelet and become the World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. Since that time, Eastgate’s poker journey has continued and as well as continuing to enjoy success playing live tournaments, he has also been made more famous by his appearance on TV poker shows, most notably GSN’s High Stakes Poker. This new-found fame has, however, perhaps done more harm than good to the young Dane’s perspective on poker.

Friend and fellow Team PokerStars pro Dennis Phillips commented that Eastgate “is a bit of an introvert, and it’s not really in his nature to be a public figure.” In the announcement made by the man himself, he made it clear that it was time to undertake new endeavors. “In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high level poker along the way and I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life,” he wrote on his PokerStars blog, going on to suggest that some introspection was needed in his life before he found out what was on the cards for him. “I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker, and try to focus on Peter Eastgate, the person.”

The poker world should applaud Eastgate for making the healthy decision of taking a break from the game if it has become a negative influence in his life. We all wish him the best, and hope that one day he sees fit to returning to the card game for which we know him!