It seems that the defending World Series of Poker champion Peter Eastgate is making the list on bettors’ odds taking for performing very well, but more and more fans from online casinos are predicting that Phil Ivey has what it takes this year to come out on top or at least to advance to the main event. The 2009 World Series of Poker is still anybody’s game and it has taken over the casino scene in the heart of Las Vegas to the delight of Vegas business owners.

It seems that Peter Eastgate, a hero to many folks in the online casino business for his from-out-of-nowhere win at last year’s World Series of Poker, has been given odds of 250/1 over at the casino betting site Bet365.com in terms of his chances for taking the big prize this year just like he did last year. And the people over at SportingBet.com have listed Eastgate a little further back with odds of 500/1.

But amazingly enough, Eastgate’s chances of coming out ahead of his fellow casino and poker gaming rivals are a bit better over at Paddy Power where he was able to command more favorable odds at 66/1. But that is just for whether or not he is able to advance all the way to the final table. As far as some of the other online casinos and betting sites are concerned, Eastgae only receives middling odds rankings with 100/1 odds at Ladbrokes.

Both Bluesq.com and 888Sport.com have Eastgate showing odds of 25/1. Really, it is way to early to tell who will end up being the big winner of this sensational casino and poker event. But since this is the biggest tournament of the season and arguably of the entire year, everyone wants to get in on the action and try to predict who will come away as the big winner for 2009.

With great power comes great responsibility. That sentiment holds true not only for superheroes like Spiderman but also for successful poker players like Peter Eastgate. As the winner of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, he is now recognized as the world champion and will be regarded as the face of poker through the next full year.

To help him in his new role as patron saint and world ambassador of the game of poker, he has chosen Poker Royalty to help him out in fulfilling all of his noble duties.

Poker Royalty will serve as Eastgate’s international management and marketing representation through all major platforms. That includes everything from sponsorship to licensing, commercial endorsements, public appearances and assorted media activities.

Eastgate said he had chosen Poker Royalty to help him because he thought their services were best suited to meet his particular needs. Originally from Denmark, Eastgate has emerged as a quick-to-rise multimillionare after winning the final table of the main event. At only 22 years of age, he walked away with $9 million and the highly acclaimed status of being the youngest world champion ever. Before Eastgate came along, a player by the name of Phil Hellmuth had managed to hold onto that particular title for around 20 years until Eastgate came along and blew him out of the water.

Eastgate, who has been going along as a professional poker player since 2005, went so far as to quit college in order to pursue his dream of playing online poker as his main life pursuit. He specializes in short-handed and heads-up cash games that hover around the $200 to $400 level.