The Epic Poker League was a series of poker tournaments which took place in 2011, organised by Federated Sports + Gaming. Former World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack served as Executive Chairman, professional poker player Annie Duke was Commissioner, and Matt Savage was Tournament Director. The three events held took place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Season One received television coverage on CBS and Velocity Network. [1]
The League was exclusionary in that it was only open to poker players who met certain qualification criteria for multimillion-dollar lifetime earnings, multiple wins and/or cashes at high level tournaments, and who were supposed to maintain adherence to a specifically defined Code of Conduct.
On 29 February 2012, Federated Sports + Gaming announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [2] [3] The Epic Poker League brand was among the assets acquired by Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., at a bankruptcy auction in June 2012. [4]
According to league requirements, players could earn either a 5-year, 3-year, or 2-year membership in the League. Players had to achieve a combination of minimum lifetime earnings (adjusted for inflation) plus a minimum number of titles (overall winner) in major tournaments plus a minimum number of cashes in major tournaments. [5]
Length of Membership | Adjusted Lifetime Earnings | + Major Titles | + Major Cashes |
---|---|---|---|
5 year card | $4,000,000 | 3 | 9 |
3 year card | $2,500,000 | 1 | 9 |
2 year A card | $2,000,000 | 1 | 6 |
2 year B card | $1,250,000 | 0 | 9 |
NOTE: 2 year A and B cards are equal, simply denote the route to the card
While the Epic Poker League was exclusionary in that it was only open to poker players who met certain qualification criteria, a series of qualifying events were marketed and publicized to the non-member general public, in an effort to draw increased tournament play to the Palms Poker Room. Each tournament series began with a Pro-Am tournament. In addition to the players who have a membership card, the final 9 finishers of each Pro-Am won entry into that tournament's Main Event.
The Epic Poker League set standards for conduct, dress, and behaviour. [6] Conduct requirements stretched back to 2008 (but no further) when examining a request to obtain - or maintain - membership.
While David Rheem won the first event on August 12, 2011, his membership in the league was placed on probation [7] one week later in light of chronic financial irresponsibility. League rules prohibited membership to any players in violation of state or federal law, as well as players demonstrating chronic financial irresponsibility. [8]
On September 20, 2011, the Epic Poker League voted [9] to suspend the membership of Howard Lederer (brother of league Commissioner Annie Duke) and deny membership to eligible member Chris Ferguson, after the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion to amend a civil complaint, alleging that the two players and other directors of the poker website Full Tilt Poker were running a Ponzi scheme that paid out $444 million of customer money to themselves and the firm's owners. [10] The League stated that it would monitor the legal action to determine any future renewal of membership.
The only season of the Epic Poker League began in August 2011 with the first of a scheduled five tournament series.
The season was scheduled to culminate in a League Championship in February 2012, which was due to feature the top 27 money winners from the first four tournaments. However, the League entered bankruptcy after only the first three events were held, and the fourth tournament and the Championship did not take place.
Place | Name | Prize |
---|---|---|
1st | David Rheem | $1,000,000 |
2nd | Erik Seidel | $604,330 |
3rd | Jason Mercier | $360,970 |
4th | Hasan Habib | $237,560 |
5th | Gavin Smith | $154,260 |
6th | Huck Seed | $107,980 |
Place | Name | Prize |
---|---|---|
1st | Mike McDonald | $782,410 |
2nd | David Steicke | $506,260 |
3rd | Fabrice Soulier | $299,160 |
4th | Erik Seidel | $184,100 |
5th | Nam Le | $126,570 |
6th | Isaac Baron | $92,050 |
7th | Sean Getzwiller | $69,040 |
8th | Dutch Boyd | $57,530 |
Place | Name | Prize |
---|---|---|
1st | Chris Klodnicki | $801,680 |
2nd | Andrew Lichtenberger | $514,480 |
3rd | Joe Tehan | $306,800 |
4th | Michael Mizrachi | $174,460 |
5th | Scott Clements | $89,680 |
6th | Noah Schwartz | $89,680 |
7th | Jason Mercier | $89,680 |
8th | David Williams | $89,680 |
On 29 February 2012, Federated Sports + Gaming announced that they had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time of the bankruptcy, the EPL had over $5m in debts to creditors, with financial assets of under $200,000. [11] The majority of the debts were reported as being to Pinnacle Entertainment and All in Production, which were owed around $2m each.
At the time of entering into Chapter 11, both of the commissioners, Jeffrey Pollack and Annie Duke, stressed that the filing was a "reorganisation, not a liquidation," which would allow them to keep both the Epic Poker and GPI score assets. However, this did not happen in practice, and the assets of Federated were sold at a bankruptcy auction in June 2012 to Pinnacle. Subsequent to this, no further EPL events have been planned.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the final table of each tournament.
Anne LaBarr Duke is an American former professional poker player and author in behavioral decision science and decision education. She holds a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet from 2004 and used to be the leading money winner among women in WSOP history. Duke won the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010. She has written a number of instructional books for poker players, including Decide to Play Great Poker and The Middle Zone, and she published her autobiography, How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker, in 2005. Duke also authored two books on decision-making has been a repeat guest on the investing podcast "Investor Hour", and does speaking engagements to business and professional groups, combining her experience as a professional poker player with advanced thinking on decision making, integrating psychology, economics, game theory and neuroscience.
The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a prize pool in excess of A$7 million.
Below are the results of season three of the World Poker Tour television series (2004–2005).
The 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 1, 2007. The $10,000 (US) no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event began on July 6 and was completed on the morning of July 18. All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada by Harrah's Entertainment, which has run the annual event since its purchase from the Binion family in 2004.
Below are the results of season six of the World Poker Tour (2007-2008).
Jeffrey Pollack is a sports business consultant and President & Chief Executive Officer of the XFL. After a brief career in politics, Pollack moved into the industry of sports business where he's held executive roles with the NBA, NASCAR, and as a former Commissioner of the World Series of Poker.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
Below are the results of season seven of the World Poker Tour (2008-2009). The WPT Celebrity Invitational had the first female winner of the WPT.
David Y. "Chino" Rheem is a poker player from Los Angeles, California. In November 2008, Rheem finished in seventh place at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing for $1,772,650. He went out of this event on
to Peter Eastgate's with Eastgate flopping a pair of queens on a board of . He is also the winner of the World Poker Tour's Season VII Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning $1,538,730. Rheem had five previous WSOP cashes, his best result being a runner-up finish to Allen Cunningham in a $1,000 no limit Texas hold 'em with rebuys event in 2006. He cashed in the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 193rd place. He also made a final table earlier in 2008, finishing in fifth place in the $5,000 Mixed Hold'em event.The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker was already drawing larger crowds as more and more amateurs sought it out, the SBOP "was an affair limited almost exclusively to pros and hard-core amateurs."
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
Below are the results of season 10 of the World Poker Tour (2011–2012).
The Big One for One Drop is a $1,000,000 buy-in No Limit Texas hold 'em tournament hosted at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Added in 2012, it became the highest buy-in poker tournament in history as well as the largest single payout offered. The event is known for its charitable contributions, as $111,111 or €111,111 of each player's buy in is donated to the One Drop Foundation, an international non-profit organization created by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, which focuses on water initiatives.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) is a leaderboard index that ranks over 450,000 live tournament poker players in the world. The GPI poker rankings are updated on a weekly basis. Players’ performances are assessed by their finishing positions in poker tournaments occurring over six periods of six months.
Below are the results for season 15 (XV) of the World Poker Tour (2016–17).
The Super High Roller Bowl is a recurring high stakes No-Limit Hold'em poker tournament that takes place at venues across the world.
The 2019 U.S. Poker Open was the second season of the U.S. Poker Open, a series of high-stakes poker tournaments. It took place from February 13-23 at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were ten scheduled events with buy-ins ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. A short deck tournament was added to the schedule, while the buy-in for the Main Event was increased from $50,000 to $100,000.
Below are the results of season 18 of the World Poker Tour (2019-21). There are 29 scheduled events.