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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