Toward the end of the series this year, everyone was talking about the odd absence of 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate.

According to his blog, the 24-year-old Danish pro said he is burnt out on tournament poker and taking an indefinite leave of absence.

“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,” Eastgate said in a press release.

He's got money, now Peter Eastgate is taking time off of poker

Eastgate became the youngest World Champion in WSOP history, breaking Phil Hellmuth’s 19-year-old record. His cash immediately propelled him to the number two position atop the all-time WSOP earnings list – a ranking he still holds.

That financial security is now leading him to explore opportunities beyond the felt.

“The period following [my WSOP victory] 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,” Eastgate said.

“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,” he said.

I’m amazed by this. It should be required of WSOP Main Event champions to return to at least play the Main Event each year.

A lot of us have been frustrated with tournament poker at one time in our careers, but Eastgate hasn’t exactly struggled since winning the Main Event. Eastgate has had notable poker success away from the Rio since his win. He won a 2009 PCA event for $343,000, then finished in second place in the 2009 EPT London main event for $844,285.

It’s not known whether he’s burnt out, or exactly why Eastgate is calling it quits. But when one starts evoking the third person, usually that’s a bad sign.

It will be interesting to see when or if Eastgate returns, he did not give any timetable on the leave of absence, though he also didn’t use the term retirement or categorically rule out a return to professional tournament play.