blonde poker forum

The much vaunted Epic Poker League (http://www.epicpoker.com/) starts its first main event today. Nobody else in the poker world seems that bothered by this, but I'm quite excited so I thought I'd start a thread. The idea is:

* it's a series of $20,000 4-day events held at the Palms casino in Las Vegas
* you can only enter if you are a qualifying player.- basically you have to over $1.25m in live tournament cashes and have cashed 9 times since 2008. They're trying to operate it along the lines of the PGA tour in golf- you've got to qualify for your card and keep it to play. The full qualification rules are at http://www.federatedinc.com/poker-league/qualification-criteria (http://www.federatedinc.com/poker-league/qualification-criteria). The idea is to match up the best players in the world against each other. There are
* Why would you play it if the field is ultra tough? Because they have added money: they are putting in $400,000, and the reg fee is very small.
* They plan to get back the added money through TV rights etc.

If you've ever heard big name poker players whinge about TV making demands on players (showing hole cards, using their image rights) etc. without getting anything back, then this project is an attempt to change that.

It'll be interesting to see who out of the 200 or so people qualified turn up and play.

I really like this idea, but I suspect it's just me.

any live updates anywhere?

There is some stuff on www.epicpoker.com, but not a lot. Not sure what will appear later- they appeared to live update the final table of the side event.

its all bullshit and whichever over qualified rubber stamp PR desk johnny came up with the name needs kicking in the face

hope someone I like wins and it fails miserabley

Yes


Neutral


Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Why? Good for poker IMO.

Live updates;
http://www.epicpoker.com/poker/tournaments/seasons/season-one/event-one/main-event/live-updates.aspx#tabs

53 (?) people in at the start. Bigish names: Mercier, Ike, Laak, Russo, Selbst. If you read this you'll have heard of most of the names, but no really big names as yet.

Why is a poker tourney that is selective about entrants good for poker ? Couldnt agree less

I'm not saying all tournaments should be run like this.

This format is good for poker because it gives the best possible show for railers and TV viewers. TV likes tournaments because they get a "winner" and a shiny cup at the end. Unfortunately most of the time most of the feature tables consist of a superstar, a moderately known player and 7 randoms.

Cash games have the good table, but they don't really have a "winner".

This is a table from the start of the Epic Poker event. You're telling me you don't want to watch this table? There are many others nearly as good.

1    Michael Mizrachi    50,000
2    Isaac Baron    50,000
3    Sam Trickett    50,000
4    Barry Greenstein    50,000
5    William Reynolds    50,000
6    Mike McDonald    50,000

I think it's good for poker if it could work because it is good for the players involved, as they are getting something for their efforts from TV and sponsorship in added money, and it's good for poker on TV because I think it will be the most compelling poker on TV, which in turn will hopefully increase viewers and interest.

Day 1: 63 remain from 137 starters.

Katchalov leads. At this point I'm supposed to point out notable players, but their all notable.

Player    Chip Count    Difference For Level
   Eugene Katchalov
Table 3    356,300    +356,300
   Ben Lamb
Table 6    287,200    +237,200
Brian Rast    Brian Rast
Table 4    260,500    +210,500
   Antonio Esfandiari
Table 2    248,100    +198,100
   Noah Schwartz
Table 9    220,200    +170,200
   Mclean Karr
Table 10    191,800    +191,800
   Hoyt Corkins
Table 8    187,400    +137,400
   Isaac Baron
Table 8    167,700    +117,700
   Daniel O'Brien
Table 11    163,300    +163,300
   Erik Seidel
Table 6    161,200    +111,200
   Gavin Smith
Table 3    161,000    +111,000
   Shawn Buchanan
Table 1    155,700    +105,700
   Justin Grant Young
Table 9    154,200    +154,200
   John Racener
Table 1    153,600    +153,600
   Dan Fleyshman
Table 1    152,200    +152,200
   Brandon Meyers
Table 3    149,500    +149,500
   Jason Mercier
Table 10    146,700    +146,700
   Justin Bonomo
Table 7    140,800    +140,800
David    David 'Chino' Rheem
Table 2    131,000    +81,000
   Hasan Habib
Table 5    128,100    +78,100
   Vitaly Lunkin
Table 5    121,200    +71,200
   Sorel Mizzi
Table 5    117,300    +67,300
   Matthew Glantz
Table 8    111,300    +61,300
   Matthew Graham
Table 2    110,100    +110,100
--------- Average Chip Count 108,730 ---------
   Mike Sexton
Table 8    108,700    +108,700
   Joanne Jishung 'J.J.' Liu
Table 11    107,500    +57,500
   Vanessa Selbst
Table 11    107,400    +107,400
   Jason Lester
Table 4    107,200    +57,200
   Samuel Stein
Table 4    107,100    +107,100
Tom Marchese    Thomas Marchese
Table 5    100,100    +50,100
   Amit Makhija
Table 8    100,100    +100,100
   James Mackey
Table 6    99,100    +49,100
   Huck Seed
Table 6    96,300    +46,300
   Sean Getzwiller
Table 6    95,000    +45,000
   Erik Cajelais
Table 1    90,700    +40,700
   Shannon Shorr
Table 2    87,000    +87,000
   Daniel Shak
Table 10    87,000    +87,000
   Adam Levy
Table 7    87,000    +87,000
   Ted Lawson
Table 9    83,000    +83,000
   Steve Brecher
Table 9    79,000    +79,000
   Timothy West
Table 4    73,000    +23,000
   Lee Markholt
Table 1    70,100    +20,100
   Alec Torelli
Table 5    69,400    +19,400
   Brandon Cantu
Table 10    68,500    +18,500
   Chad Brown
Table 7    59,300    +9,300
   Frank Kassela
Table 1    57,900    +7,900
   David Paul Steicke
Table 11    57,800    +7,800
   Matt Brady
Table 3    56,300    +56,300
   Dwyte Pilgrim
Table 3    55,600    +55,600
   Matt Hawirlenko
Table 4    54,200    +54,200
   Hafiz Khan
Table 9    53,000    +3,000
   Matt Marafioti
Table 2    50,900    +900
   Sam Trickett
Table 9    50,700    +700
   Daniel Alaei
Table 2    50,000    0
   James Van Alstyne
Table 10    42,100    -7,900
   Gavin Griffin
Table 11    41,400    +41,400
   Michael Martin
Table 3    39,900    -10,100
   Clifford Waite
Table 10    39,700    -10,300
   Jeremiah DeGreef
Table 5    38,600    -11,400
   David Bach
Table 11    33,000    -29,000
   Phil Laak
Table 7    28,700    -21,300
   Nam Thien Le
Table 4    25,100    -24,900
   Nenad Medic
Table 7    16,400    -33,600

can ben lamb settle the fuck down please?

Hell yes, that is exactly what I am telling you ;-)

Number of players who have 100% of their action and paid for it themselves

12-14

Only losing players have 100% of their own action these days.

Not entirely accurate but there is some truth in that statement. If anything 12 was a sell. Anyway im with LilDave on this one- ridiculous tournament, and couldnt give a toss who wins

Wether this is a crap tournament or not, Ben Lamb is on FIRE

Not only a ridiculous tournament but lining the pockets of the most disgusting member of the most reprehensible family in poker.

the days of me playing $20k events are long gone & i doubt i'd ever have played a $20k niche event

i've got a 2 year card & most definately won't be making an appearance.

and lol, annie duke, really?

Yeah the Annie Duke thing and the name are the two big missteps I think they've made.

I anticipated this level of enthusiasm, hence the thread title. :-)

Day 2 complete, bubble burst, the remaining 18 players are in the money:

Trickett winning, obv.

   Sam Trickett
Table 1    1,028,000    0
   Hasan Habib
Table 2    702,500    0
   Jason Mercier
Table 4    607,000    0
   Adam Levy
Table 1    533,000    0
   Isaac Baron
Table 2    529,000    0
   Matthew Glantz
Table 4    477,000    0
   Erik Seidel
Table 4    454,000    0
   Eugene Katchalov
Table 3    396,000    0
--------- Average Chip Count 360,526 ---------
   Hoyt Corkins
Table 4    316,000    +184,000
   Gavin Smith
Table 3    315,000    0
David    David 'Chino' Rheem
Table 2    285,500    0
   Noah Schwartz
Table 3    235,000    0
   Ted Lawson
Table 1    210,000    0
   Brandon Meyers
Table 3    140,000    0
   Huck Seed
Table 3    132,000    0
   Hafiz Khan
Table 1    130,500    0
   Dan Fleyshman
Table 1    130,000    0
   Justin Bonomo
Table 2    55,500    0

Be a lot of people hoping Chino ships!

gan on trickett

Negraneau on Epic

Daniel - Poker Journal
Why I didn't Play the EPL
11 Aug 2011


Many of you have asked me why I have chosen not to support, or participate in the Epic Poker League, and while I have a laundry list of reasons, I'd point out that I chose not to take part in the World Team Poker event for one sole reason: I didn't think it would be a success. The same holds true with the Epic Poker League. Not just because of the bizarre choice in name, but because I don't believe this product will resonate with the public and based on my intimate knowledge of how these types of things work, I don't think it's possible to bring in enough revenue to survive. The only legitimate chance the league has to survive is if regulation happened in the U.S. and they were able to create an online poker site.

Jeffrey Pollack wouldn't admit that to you publicly, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math here. Millions of dollars being given away to players, money spent on a TV time buy, money spent on staff, etc. with no way of recouping those funds through licensing or sponsorship. Networks aren't going to pay you for poker programming because the necessary ratings just aren't there. The WSOP is the world's most prestigious brand at this point with hundreds of hours of poker programming on TV, and yet they have been unsuccessful in bringing in major money from mainstream sponsors. Ty Stewart, a straight shooter/great guy, and the man behind all of the sponsors the WSOP has been able to bring in over the years, struggles to entice mainstream sponsorship. We have Jack Links and Dearfoam slippers, but there isn't a Lexus, or Caddilac type brand that's stepped up to the plate at this point.

The Epic Poker League has 7 hours on CBS and 13 hours on a network that is yet to launch. That pales in comparison to the hundreds of hours of coverage on ESPN. Does anyone really believe that Jeffrey will be able to pull in enough money from sponsorship to sustain the amount of money going out the door? I'm always careful about what I attach my name and likeness to, and after doing my due diligence on the "business plan" I don't think this league can succeed. Of course I could be wrong... but I'm not.

The WPT and the WSOP both have a social media site, which EPL also launched. Cool idea bro, but these things don't really make money, certainly not enough money to cover the operational costs of this league.

So, as I said previously, any and everyone involved behind the scenes knows full well that the league is depending on creating a brand in the hopes of entering the U.S. market with an online poker site. That's the business plan. The best thing that happened to the EPL to date was Black Friday. If Black Friday didn't happen, the first event wouldn't have gotten off the ground.

People talk about another boom in the U.S., but the more realistic view sees poker as a popular niche sport followed religiously by die hards, that will never quite regain the popularity it once enjoyed... and that's OK. Many parts of the world are experiencing a boom much like the one we had here in the U.S., but there is no reason to think that the EPL will be able to create a boom in the U.S. that rivaled the original Moneymaker boom.

To this day, while the die hards may be in awe of names like Galen Hall, Randal Flowers, Matt Hawirlenko, Sam Stien, and Isaac Haxton, when the mainstream audience thinks of poker they think of names like Chris Moneymaker, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, and Doyle Brunson (none of whom played in the first event).

It will be the EPL's job to make stars out of these younger players really quickly. They have 7 hours of network TV time to show the all in hands, a few others, and then do background pieces on these players to get the audience invested in these people. In some cases that will work, and in others it just won't. There are only so many "I dropped out college because I was making more money 24-tabling online" stories you can do. There are certainly some really great, interesting young players in the game that the public will be drawn to, but that's the exception not the rule. While the 2+2 crowd may love a featured table with online pros they adore, the mainstream public wants to see Sammy Farha bluff Phil Hellmuth and watch him go on a tirade!

The only real difference I see between this league and something like the WPT is:

-much tougher field in the EPL means that even with $400k added most of the field will still be -EV, while the truly elite players, like a Vivek Rajkumar or a Sam Trickett will feast on the bankrolls of lesser skilled pros.
-no real Cinderella stories at the final tables.

Like I said, I could be wrong and they could create something I'm not seeing here in terms of a televised product that captures the mainstream audience and brings in mainstream sponsors, but I'm not.

I get the enthusiasm, and understand why the hype has convinced people otherwise, but the league's financial structure is fundamentally flawed from a revenue standpoint and is doomed to be an #epicfail. For the truly elite players, this is free money for them in terms of EV, but the vast majority of entrants are just not good enough to show a profit against this super tough field.

The saddest fallacy at this point is that a lot of these players believe that the 'exposure" they might attain from being on TV could land them some kind of endorsement money...unfortunately, after Black Friday, that ship has sailed in the U.S. If a random player with a less than interesting story/personality wins the first TWO EPL's, that isn't going to get him any closer to a lucrative sponsorship deal of any kind. I don't want to call anyone out, or hurt anyone's feelings, but there are ample examples of absolutely incredible poker players involved in this league that will simply never make any endorsement money from poker, no matter how good they are, or no matter how much they win.

Yeah, but none of that is a reason not to play it. I don't think the Grand Prix at DTD is going to be a financial success for DTD (but I hope it is), but I'm still going to play it. I think it's odds against the EPL being anything other than a waste of a few million dollars for the organisers but I'd like to see it succeed, so I've supported it. I think Negraneau could do the same. I suspect the reason he isn't isn't in this blog.

Some people who definitely have made some money from the Epic Poker League:

   Chip Count    Difference For Level
   Hasan Habib
Table 1    1,655,000    +1,009,000
   Jason Mercier
Table 1    1,495,000    +959,500
David    David 'Chino' Rheem
Table 1    1,432,000    +1,024,000
--------- Average Chip Count 1,141,666 ---------
   Erik Seidel
Table 1    1,109,000    +500,000
   Gavin Smith
Table 1    766,000    +408,500
   Huck Seed
Table 1    396,000    +302,500
Busted Out Players
Player    Ranking    Payout
   Adam Levy
   7th    $70,960
   Eugene Katchalov
   8th    $70,960
   Brandon Meyers
   9th    $70,960
   Isaac Baron
   10th    $49,360
   Sam Trickett
   11th    $49,360
   Ted Lawson
   12th    $49,360
   Noah Schwartz
   13th    $43,190
   Matthew Glantz
   14th    $43,190
   Dan Fleyshman
   15th    $43,190
   Hafiz Khan
   16th    $43,190
   Hoyt Corkins
   17th    $43,190
   Justin Bonomo
   18th    $43,190

sigh trickett

cliffs on Chino Rheem?

would be a popular winner, I gather

may as well have but seidel and mercier straight on the final and let the others battle for the four seats.

don't get negreanu's reasoning...loads of added money, so what if it goes tits up after two events, he isn't behind organising it so none of the shit hitting the fan will come his way. Why doesn't he just reiterate that he won't play coz he thinks annie duke's a c*&t.

Chino Rheem beats Seidel hu for the win

Makes Blatch look nice.

Owes the entire world and has done >$5m in degen activities.

yeah comedy that Rheem won, he owes like every name pro going money. Wonder if it gets him out.

I think WCP got this right - Great for the poker community, horrible for the tour itself.

Press reports today

After finishing the Epic Poker League Pro/Am in 8th place, Michael DiVita was one of the nine players who were able to secure a seat in the $20,000 buy-in Epic Poker League Main Event. However, when DiVita attempted to register for the Main Event he was promptly told that he was not welcome to participate in Epic Poker League tournaments and was escorted off of the Palms Casino property. DiVita’s $1,500 buy-in from the Pro/Am tournament was refunded by the EPL.

After an Internet search it seems DiVita has a number of criminal convictions and is a registered sex offender. The decision to disqualify DiVita (who has some serious convictions) came in a much swifter manner than the Epic Poker League’s decision to place their first winner, Chino Rheem, on probation for a failure to repay debts in the poker community. However, after the amount of attention Chino Rheem’s EPL win received, the last thing the EPL would want is a registered sex offender to win their second title.

DiVita’s spot in the Epic Poker league Main Event was awarded to the bubble boy from the Pro/Am Jamie Kaplan. Kaplan made the most of his opportunity in the Main Event, ending the day as the chip-leader, with Chino Rheem right in the hunt sitting in 6th place on the leader-board heading into Day 2.

A total of 97 players registered for the Main event, far fewer than the first go-round which exceeded everyone’s expectations when over 130playersenteredthe tournament. However, with the poker world currently in Europe to play in a number of EPT and WPT tournaments coming up on the tournament schedule the drop off was anticipated, and the 97 entrants is actually right around EPL expectations.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2 of the tournament:

   1. Jaime Kaplan — 324,600
   2. Daniel O´Brien — 321,400
   3. Alec Torelli — 231,500
   4. Mike McDonald — 199,600
   5. Nam Thien Le — 176,300
   6. Chino Rheem — 173,300
   7. Sean Getzwiller — 165,400
   8. Andrew Robl — 149,700
   9. Adam Levy — 145,400
  10. Marco Johnson — 145,200

With 97 entrants the total prize-pool reached $2.3 million. In all, 12 players will make the money, with the winner of the second EPL Main Event set to receive a hefty $782,410 payday. Not quite the $1 million awarded to Rheem, but still a very respectable score.

surely that disqualification is outrageous?

There's a thread on 2+2 about it.

I've changed my mind on this one so many times I actually don't know what I think.

Agree. Grounds to sue?

No one would want to defend the convictions for offences, but presumably he's done his time and is complying with any requirements of a register

the League runs a satellite (? Pro-Am), and he wins an entry. Then he's disqualified?

WTF.

If they want a closed shop then don't run satellites/leagues ino the event then, and keep it fully invite only

If you do hold opportunities for players to win in, then a winner from any walk of life is the risk you take imo

Yeh I gotta say I agree. I mean he'll be playing a poker tournament in a casino with 95% men and 100% people over 21. I guess disqualifying him and excluding him from poker doesn't do anyone any good.

So did they refund him the buy in of the satellite? I took it to mean that which is well out of order. He should at least get 20k cash prize if they won't let him take the seat.