September 12 2011, Donnie Peters

Everyone knows the Epic Poker League is giving plenty back to its players, including plenty of perks and $400,000 in added prize money to each prize pool. Another thing that EPL is doing for the players is a $1,000,000 freeroll at the end of the season for the top 27 money earners from the four regular-season Main Events.

In the first event, it was Chino Rheem who defeated Erik Seidel heads up to earn the $1,000,000 first-place prize. In the second, Mike “Timex” McDonald bested David Steicke to win $782,410. The first event awarded payouts to 18 spots while the second only paid 12.

For the freeroll at the end of the season, the 27 best-performing players will have their chance to play for a $500,000 first-place prize in this event that will be paying out the top six spots. Let’s take a look at the top 27 money earners after two of the four regular-season Main Events have been completed.

Out of all of the in-the-money finishers from both Main Events, only Seidel, Isaac Baron, Adam Levy and Matt Glantz have cashed in both events. Brandon Meyers, Sean Getzwiller and Dan Fleyshman are making the most of their chances in the Main Event and are currently in the top 27 money earners. All three of them don’t have EPL membership cards and have won in via the Pro/Am Qualifier.

The final two spots are still up for grabs, but that should all come into play next time around. The benchmark seems to be making the final table of one of these events in order to just about guarantee your way in the top 27 – at least that’s how most of the players feel.

The next event of the EPL takes place on December 14-18 and more names will find their way into this list. It’ll be interesting to see who gets moved in and who gets bumped out, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of our coverage of the EPL.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for all your up-to-the-minute poker news.

*Photo courtesy of Epic Poker

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters

September 12 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

It’s Monday, so we’re back at it. Over the weekend, Sorel Mizzi added a high-roller title to his already impressive list of earnings. On top of that, we learned a little bit about the cast of the new Survivor series, and more. We’re going to share that with you now, so enjoy.

In Case You Missed It

We know that being healthy is important to a lot of poker players. One way to do that is with fresh produce. For the latest episode of the Sin City Series, Sarah Grant got to check out the farmers market in downtown Las Vegas recently to speak with some of the vendors and the organizer.

Just because the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is off and running doesn’t mean the Sunday Majors are taking a break. Get caught up on all of the results from some of the biggest Sunday tournaments in the Sunday Briefing.

On Day 8 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, no bracelets were awarded, but two of the series’ biggest prize pools were created. Check out our daily WCOOP recap to find out who moved on to Day 2 of Events #21 and #22.

Looking for a book to help advance your poker game? Check out our book review of Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker.

World Poker Tour Paris High Roller

On Friday, the “15,000 buy-in high roller kicked off at the 2011 World Poker Tour Rendez-Vous à Paris. Among the 36 players who entered was last year’s winner, Freddy Deeb, and last year’s runner-up, Sorel Mizzi. Would history repeat itself? A “521,100 prize pool was created and “234,495 was reserved for first place.

Mizzi moved into the second day of play as the chip leader, and when five players were left on Sunday, Mizzi tweeted:

Sure enough, it was déjà vu for Mizzi and Deeb, but this time, there was a twist. On a flop of Deeb shipped his remaining stack in the middle holding . Mizzi snap-called, tabling . The turn and river blanked for Deeb, giving Mizzi the title and the “234,495 first-place prize.

WPT Paris High Roller Results

Read more at FR.PokerNews.com.

The Tribe Will Speak – Eventually

Survivor: South Pacific kicks off on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. EDT. We’re not huge Survivor fans, seeing as how there is nothing about living on an island with little to no food, with people we would probably loathe that’s appealing. Regardless of our thoughts on the show, there’s a poker aspect to the new season, and that’s why you’re reading about the reality show in the Nightly Turbo.

One of the 18 Survivor: South Pacific cast members is a bit of a poker player. Jim Rice, or James Rice III if you searching him on Hendon Mob, will be part of the Savaii Tribe this season. In his bio on CBS.com, his current occupation is listed as a medical marijuana dispenser. Other than working on Wall Street, his personal claim to fame is winning over 40 poker tournaments. We’re not sure which poker tournaments he’s talking about, probably home games, because his Hendon Mob results only lists five cashes, one of which was a win.

We’re just curious if he reached out to Jean-Robert Bellande for tips on surviving.

Find out more at CBS.com.

UKIPT Dublin Update

The PokerStars UK & Ireland Poker Tour kicked off on Thursday last week. Through two Day 1 starts, the field attracted 718 players, creating a prize pool of “348,230. Among the field were notables, Dermot Blain, Liv Boeree, Rebecca McAdam, David Vamplew, Andy Black, Dominik Nitsche, and Jude Ainsworth.

McAdam finished in 55th place (“975) and Dermot Blain bowed out in 16th (“2,050). PokerStars player Jason Tompkins went into the final table with the chip lead but could not hang on to it. He was eliminated in fifth place. PokerStars qualifier Joeri Zandvliet ended up walking away with the “83,500 first-place prize when he rivered the holding and bested Chuck Fabian’s on a board of .

To get a look at all of the action from the UKIPT, check out the PokerStars Blog.

Partouche Poker Tour Begins

The Partouche Poker Tour kicked off on Monday in Cannes, France, at the Palm Beach Casino. The “8,500 buy-in event boasted a guarantee of “4 million. A number of well-known pros showed up for the event, including Vanessa Selbst, who won the event last year, Jean-Robert Bellande, Arnaud Mattern, Phil Laak, and Men Nguyen.

We’re not fluent in French, so it’s difficult to bring you updates, because it’s all in French, but this video is an interview with Phil Hellmuth and half of it is in English, so bon appétit!

There are chip counts for the event at PartouchePoker.com.

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Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV