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At shortly after 2.30am local time in Las Vegas, the biggest prize in poker was won by Denmark's Peter Eastgate.

The 22-year-old from Odense took Main Event glory at the World Series of Poker, winning the gold bracelet and $9,152,416.

A field of 6844 players were whittled down to nine over 11 days in July and the 'November Nine' returned to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday.

A 14 hour session set up the following night's heads-up between Eastgate and Russian Ivan Demidov.

A four hour heads-up ended when Eastgate hit an ace-to-five straight on the turn and called an All-In bet from Demidov on the river for the last of his chips.

The 27-year-old from Moscow held two pair and was forced to settle for second place and $5,809,595.

117 days after their journey began, the final nine began their quest for the crown 40 hours earlier with Dennis Phillips leading with 26.3 million chips.

In last place was Kelly Kim with just two percent of the chips in play but he won the first pot before the community cards were revealed and it was Craig Marquis who was first to be eliminated after four hours of play.

The 23-year-old from Texas got a bad beat when he pushed All-In with pocket sevens and got a third on the flop. But Scott Montgomery who had called with an Ace, Queen got a ten on the flop, a jack on the turn and then a king on the river for the straight.

One hand later Kim did depart. The 31-year-old from California went All-In pre-flop with a pair of fours but was usurped by a pair of nines from Darus Suharto.

David Rheem was downcast after going All-In with Ace, King for around four million chips before Eastgate called from the small blind with Ace, Queen and got a second Queen on the board to send his rival out in seventh.

Suharto was ousted in sixth place on the 105th hand after going All-In pre-flop holding Ace, eight against Montgomery's Ace, Queen.

Four spades gave Montgomery the nut flush and left Suharto drawing dead and going home with $2.4 million.

Eastgate then took out the next three players at the final table on his way to amassing 80.3 million chips, nearly 24 million more than Demidov.

Montgomery finished in fifth place after pushing All-In over the top of a raise by Eastgate, who promptly called. The Canadian led post-flop with a pair of Aces which became trips on the turn only for Eastgate to get the full house on the river.

New Yorker Ylon Schwartz departed in fourth after trying to bluff Eastgate on the river when the Dane hit a full house.

The pot gave Eastgate 64.9 million chips and a 12 million chip lead over Demidov. Phillips was third in chips with 19.5 million.

300-plus fans clad in white shirts and St Louis Cardinals cheered every time amateur Phillips, who won his $10,000 buy-in and trip for the main event in a $200 satellite tournament in St Louis, won a hand.

But his glorious run ended when he tried to bluff Eastgate with a ten high and the Dane held a pocket pair of threes with a third on the board.

Demidov returned the following night with 56.6 million chips without eliminating any of his opponents.

Boxing's famous ringside announcer Michael Buffer welcomed the pair with a cry of "Let's get ready to shuffle up and deal" before tournament director Jack Effel wished them well in their native tongues.

And the Russian won a number of big pots in the first hour of play to take over the chip lead.

However Eastgate took control by winning two monster pots in the space of four hands, firstly when Demidov bet 12 million chips on the river with an Ace high, and Eastgate called with a diamond flush to land a pot worth roughly 44 million chips.

And then a full house from the Dane took him to 100 million chips and a seven to one chip lead when the players had a 20 minute break.

Hand number 274 began at 2:31am and saw Eastgate being crowned the youngest ever champion of the World Series of Poker's Main Event, breaking the record held by Phil Hellmuth for the last 19 years.

For Eastgate, who had only claimed two live tournament cashes in the past two years at the European Poker Tour event in Copenhagen and at the 2007 Irish Open, riches now await.

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport