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Peter Eastgate recently announced that he is taking a break from poker. Some people are calling it a retirement while others question how long this “break” will last. Here is his official statement from PokerStar’s blog:

It's his money. Let him use it the way he wants. (J.G. Wentworth did not sponsor this post.)

“When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player. My goal was to become financially independent. I achieved that by winning the WSOP Main Event in 2008.

“The period following has taken me on a worldwide tour, where I have seen some amazing places and met many new people; it has been a great experience. 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.

“What this will be, I do not yet know. I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker, and try to focus on Peter Eastgate, the person. I want to thank PokerStars, my friends and family for their support over the last 20 months and for their support in my decision to take a break from poker.”

Different Than Other Breaks?

Normally, when we hear of players “taking a break” from the game it’s because they either are “burnt out,” “aren’t motivated,” or in some cases, they’re just plain broke and can’t afford to play at the high limits anymore. While Eastgate clearly stated he had lost the motivation to play, he also stated something that I thought was very telling.

Eastgate stated that one of his goals was to become “financially independent.” He said that winning the Main Event in 2008 allowed him to do just that. That doesn’t sound like someone that is playing the game for a career. That sounds like someone planning on using poker as a means to an end. 

In other words, this really sounds like someone that may be mulling retirement.

Will He Be Back?

There is a lot of speculation as to whether Eastgate will be back in poker or not. The amount of time is all over the board, but Phil Hellmuth thought he would be back in three years. 

Personally, I just hope this doesn’t turn out to be some bogus break like we have seen from the likes of Gus Hansen and Shaun Deeb. Deeb claimed he was burnt out and was back within month. The same holds true with Hansen. After his actions this summer, I kinda wish Deeb had stayed “burnt out.”

If Eastgate truly feels that he is financially independent and doesn’t need or want to play poker anymore, then by all means go. The poker community many times is hung up on players, especially Main Event champs, going out and continuing to play and put their money at risk. 

Main Event winners have no obligation to put their money at risk if they do not want to. They won their title fair and square. If they want to pocket it, they should. I have always wondered if someone would come along, win the Main Event, and go “screw you guys, I’m going home WITH my money.”

In a way, it looks like Eastgate may have done just that. He may have decided to go elsewhere in life and leave “high level” poker behind. 

Regardless of where he winds up, I hope he takes the experiences learned in the game and applies them to his life in a successful way. It would be great to hear about Eastgate being successful in some other endeavor five or ten years down the road, or maybe even how he invested wisely and will be able to live off of his investments for the rest of his life.

In other words, I hope we never see Peter Eastgate in poker again.