Hellmuth\’s Entrance + Eastgate Hangs Up the Gloves?

Lots of times poker players talk about \”retiring\” from the game. What they usually really mean is \”I\’m getting sick of running bad against the Delta Betas.\” But every once in a while, someone actually means it … and one of those could be 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate.

We knew earlier that he was more interested in the World Cup than WSOP preliminaries. But now he says, via PokerStarsBlog via Wicked Chops (with a nifty pic added from Pokerati, shortly before walking in to his televised raping on High Stakes Poker):

“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.”

Meanwhile, one man who will not be retiring (probably until he\’s dead) is Phil Hellmuth. Had to wonder how he could ever top Caesar … but this year he himself donned UB-branded MMA fighter attire, while surrounded by Dancing Bracelets, which I think are supposed to represent prize belts.

Check it out, by and via Pauly. Is it too early to wonder if Hellmuth will reach the ridiculousness apex* in the 2011 WSOP?

While he has no plans to retire for life, he does have a specific place where he will retire for the night.

Apparently Hellmuth doesn\’t understand why everyone\’s always talking Ivey, Ivey, Ivey … and it seems he musta went to some honchos at Aria and said, hey, why don\’t I get an Ivey Room, too? While they couldn\’t hook him up with his own super-high-stakes cash game area, they did put him up in one of their shmancy Sky Suites, and he gives a pretty cool 360-degree tour of it via All 360 Poker here.

* note: I\’m taking claim to the phrase \”ridiculousness apex\” — anyone wanna fight for it?