Professor explains Eastgate's major poker tournament win in mathematical terms.
A combination of luck, psychology and complex mathematics helped Peter Eastgate to become the youngest ever winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event this week.This is according to maths professor Marcus du Sautoy, who has analysed the 22-year-old Dane's heads-up victory over Russian player Ivan Demidov in terms of probability.
Writing in the Times, the numbers expert claims that, by calculating the likelihood of which cards his opponent was holding, Eastgate applied an understanding of the laws of probability to defeat Demidov in the final hand.
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Because he was holding a straight - ascending numerical cards - Eastgate knew that Demidov could only beat him with a higher straight.
This meant that only 12 of a possible 990 hands could win – a chance of about one per cent.
"Sure enough, Demidov had only two pairs and Eastgate's maths had won him the 2008 WSOP bracelet," Du Sautoy states.
Eastgate won over $9 million (£5.8 million) at the event, which is held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
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