February 13 2012, Donnie Peters

Competition at the Epic Poker League is top notch, the prize pools have plenty of money added and the structures are extremely player friendly. In 2011, the EPL held its first three events in August, September and December with plans for the fourth to be held in early 2012.

It’s been some time since the last EPL event took place in Las Vegas at The Palms Casino Resort. The fourth event of the first season was set to take place at the end of January and early February, but has been moved to a to-be-determined date, mainly at the request of the players. One thing the EPL strives to do is cater to the players. Here is the Commissioner Annie Duke’s Letter to the EPL members about the fourth event.

Prior to Event 3, and even more so during Event 3, we received a lot of player feedback about the Event 4 schedule that extends over January and February (as it stands now, the fourth Pro/Am sits ten days in front of the fourth Main Event). We have heard you loud and clear that the 10-day break is not ideal from a player perspective – especially for those who have not yet completed their Pro/Am and/or Charity Event requirement. So, in response to your clear feedback, we have made the decision to move Event 4 away from the January and February dates to later in the spring and at a time that will allow us to run the Pro/Am and Charity Events during the same week as the Main Event.

We are working to set new dates that do not conflict with the global tournament schedule in the coming months and that fit with casino space availability. We will have new dates to announce after the New Year, but we felt it was best to let all of you know – as soon as possible – so that you can plan your schedules accordingly.

Annie Duke

Commissioner, Epic Poker League

Still, many fans of the game and media members working within the industry are anxiously waiting the fourth event. For one, many of us want to see the EPL succeed and continue to work on bringing poker into the mainstream. Much like professional golf has the PGA Tour, building a selective tour for poker is something the game needs.

All must not be forgotten about the EPL, however. Season One still has one event left to be completed and then there is the 27-player $1,000,000 Championship Freeroll, which is set for February 13 through 14, 2012, although subject to change. With the EPL not being in the news so much as of late and, right now, no event to look forward to in the near future, we can’t forget about the tour.

As it stands now, 32 players have cashed in the first three events. Eight of them – Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, Isaac Baron, Noah Schwartz, Adam Levy, Amit Makhija, Hafiz Khan and Matt Glantz – have cashed twice in hopes of solidifying themselves in the top 27 in order to make it into the Championship Freeroll. Here are the complete standings after three events.

With the top 27 players getting seats into the Championship Freeroll, both Amnon Filippi and Sorel Mizzi are on the edge. Because the two are tied at the bottom of the qualifying section, there are actually 28 players in the top 27. PokerNews reached out to the EPL for tie-breaker information and was told that in the case of a tie, the EPL would let all tied players compete in the Championship Freeroll.

There’s still one more $20,000 Main Event to go, meaning some of these players sitting in the top 27 could fall out while others could jump in. In the first three events, an average of 14 players cashed. The pressure will really be on the players who are sitting on the leaderboard but outside the top 27. Right now, there are six of them – Ted Lawson, Sam Trickett, Tim West, Hoyt Corkins, Dan Fleyshman and Justin Bonomo. It will be interesting to see if and how these standings affect their play along with those who are just barely in the top 27. Our estimated guess is that anyone sitting above and including Matt Glantz should be safe for a spot in the Championship Freeroll.

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February 13 2012, PokerNews Staff

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the PartyPoker Weekly where we have news on the recent WPT Venice Grand Prix including Hellmuth-esque entrance, the upcoming WPT Vienna and Premier League Poker V, the Card Rush promotion and details of how you can grab yourself a free $50 bankroll!

WPT Venice Grand Prix Completed

The World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix came to a thrilling conclusion over the weekend when Rinat Bogdanov took down the “4,950 buy-in Main Event for a cool “229,800. Bogdanov outlasted a star-studded field of 155 entrants to become the latest WPT champion.

The PartyPoker blogging team was in the historical city providing live updates on the tournament along with a recap of the final table.

During Day 1 the infamous Tony G made a, shall we say different, appearance at the casino. He says in his popular blog that his outburst was caused by the fact he was “pi**ed off” with his new PA. To see Tony G’s entrance in full check out his personal blog.

Win a $7,000 Package To WPT Vienna

You only have until Mar. 25 to win your way to a $7,000 package to the World Poker Tour Vienna Main Event. Satellites are now running in the PartyPoker lobby but time is running out if you want to grab yourself a seat.

Last year Dimitry Gromov outlasted a field of 555 to get his hands on the Champions Cup and the massive “447,840 first place prize. Will you be following in the Russian’s footsteps and taking your place amongst poker’s elite?

Each package consists of:

• The $4,700 WPT Vienna Main Event buy-in
• Hotel accommodation for six nights
• $900 spending money
• PartyPoker’s legendary hospitality

PartyPoker Premier League V

During WPT Vienna the famous PartyPoker Premier League takes place and you could be part of it. Until Mar. 18 there will be satellites on PartyPoker that award a massive $13,000 package that could see you compete for a slice of a prize pool expected to exceed $2 million!

Each $13,000 package consists of:

• A $10,450 seat at the televised PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker playoffs. Two qualifiers will win a $125,000 entry into the Premier League Poker V Final
• Four nights’ luxury hotel accommodation in Vienna
• $1,350 spending money

For full details of the PartyPoker Premier League V check out the dedicated page in the promotions section on the PartyPoker site.

Card Rush Promotion Is In Full Swing

The superb Card Rush promotion is well and truly under way but PartyPoker players still have until midnight on Feb. 28 to get their hands on as many of the 1,013,000 remaining cards as they can. Players will receive an instant win card for every 15 PartyPoints they earn and PartyPoker is giving every player their first card for just 5 PartyPoints!

Prizes include instant cash prizes of between $1 and a staggering $5,000, freeroll entries worth between $2,000 and $20,000 or between 10 and 25,000 PartyPoints, all for just 15 PartyPoints!

In addition to these amazing prizes players can also be awarded Card Rush Race points that could win a $9,000 cash prize! There is a Card Rush Race points leader board that will pay out the top 200 Card Rush Race points earners between $200 and $9,000! Also, PartyPoker will also be awarding $50 to every 20th spot between 220th place and 2,000th place so everyone stands a chance of some free cash!

Join PartyPoker Now!

$50 Bankroll For Free

Would you like a free $50 bankroll? Well thanks to the special relationship between PokerNews and PartyPoker you can help yourself to a free $50, all you need to do is follow the simply steps below and the $50 is all yours to keep!

• Download the PartyPoker software through PokerNews
• Create a new PartyPoker account and enter the bonus code “PN50FREE”
• Fill in the registration form in the PartyPoker cashier
• DO NOT make a deposit when prompted
• Return to PokerNews and fill in our small registration form
• Check your email inbox for a confirmation email from free50@pokernews.com

Once you have received the confirmation email $20 will be placed into your PartyPoker account. You must earn at least 40 PartyPoints before you will be able to withdraw the free $20. If you do not earn 40 PartyPoints within 60 days the initial $20, or whatever remains of it, will be forfeited. PartyPoints are earned at a rate of two (2) PartyPoints per $1 in rake or tournament fees so earning 40 of them within a 60 day time frame is quite an easy task.

Once you have earned 40 PartyPoints a further $30 will be deposited into your account bringing the total free cash amount to $50. You must then generate another 160 points before you can cash out any of the the $30 and must do so within 120 days otherwise the $30 or the remainder of it will be forfeited.

If you experience any problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.

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