by Peter Eastgate

The World Series of Poker may have already started in Las Vegas, but while you are reading this, I am to be found in my apartment in London - fully focused on enjoying the sport, like the recent French tennis open. I have booked my flight to Las Vegas, but first I'll be going to South Africa for the football World Cup. I'll be there after the quarter-finals and then enjoy the games before going to Vegas.

I'll be at the WSOP in time for day 1D of the Main Event. At first I was meant to play the $25,000 tournament (6-max) on June 30, which would suit me well because of its buy-in, format and challenge. Under normal circumstances I would have played it, but there are several reasons to why I have postponed my departure.

First and foremost, there's the World Cup - an event I look forward to very much, especially to see all the big teams play great football. Of course I support Denmark, and hope they'll do well, but it's just not as thrilling as it once was. Honestly, I don't think they play that well for the moment.

Secondly, I prefer the summer in Europe rather than the one in Nevada where temperatures can reach up to 50 C degrees during the day.

Finally, I don't have the motivation to play all the small events at the WSOP. That would be a waste of money. To me it's not that important to win bracelet number two. I'm sure if they didn't have huge bracelet bets going on that many of the other big poker names would feel the same.

I see no reason to enter into such bets (like the ones involving Tom 'durrrr' Dwan) as I'm primarily a hold'em player. If you're to enter bracelet-bets, you have to play all the events and I have never had a flair for mixed games.

So it suits me perfectly to be home in London at the moment and leave all the attention to the defending World Champion Joe Cada. On the other hand, I'll make sure to be motivated to play a good Main Event when I arrive in Vegas in July!

Have a nice early summer!

by Peter Eastgate

The first two weeks of May I'm going to play 'Spring Championship of Online Poker' - also known as SCOOP - for the second time at PokerStars.

This series of tournaments is one of the highlights for me during this year when it comes to online poker. I like to get in a lot of action, something that's very possible during SCOOP weeks. The greatest thing about SCOOP is every event has low, medium and highstakes edition, so everyone can join.

Several times last year I established an early chip lead without it developing into anything worth mentioning. I don't remember my exact account from last year, but I know I didn't win, so this year I'm out for revenge.

I expect to play the $10,200 Main Event, the $25,500 Heads-Up tournament, as well as several other attractive hold'em-events. I don't know how many events I will play. I'll simply wake up every day and decide what feels right.

Just for fun I'll probably also play some medium- and low-tournaments, but if I play in some of the biggest tournaments at the same time, I might have my focous on that table

For now I don't have a complete overview of my calendar because even though there might not be any EPT-tournaments before until the end of summer and the World Series of Poker hasn't yet begun, I may have other obligations that decide whether I have to pass on some of the good events.

If you want to rail, look out for PeteEastgate on PokerStars.

Peter Eastgate is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and the 2008 WSOP champion.