Poker News 
/ Short-Stacked Shamus / 05 August 2011 / Leave a Comment 
While your faithful Betfair poker bloggers are traveling the world covering poker tournaments -- Matthew Pitt over at EPT Tallinn in Estonia and yours truly at LAPT Punta del Este in Uruguay -- much of the poker world's attention over the next few days will be upon the highly anticipated debut of the Epic Poker League at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. Today a "Pro/Am" event kicks off the league's first tournament series, while later will come a couple of other tournaments including the $20,000 buy-in Main Event that begins Tuesday, August 9th.
Calling a preliminary a "Pro/Am" in a way recalls the schedule one frequently finds at professional golf tourneys wherein pros and amateurs get together for an early round -- kind of a mini-tournament before the main event that occasionally features significant prize money.
The Epic Poker League Pro/Am that begins later today is a $1,500 buy-in event that will partially serve as a satellite into the Main Event, with the top nine finishers all earning ME seats. If the prize pool exceeds $180,000, the remaining money will be distributed among the other top finishers.
Expect a number of top pros and familiar faces to show up for today's Pro/Am. In fact, many players who have already qualified for entry into the Main Event according to the league's criteria will likely be playing in the Pro/Am as well in the hopes of landing an ME seat for a cheaper price. Epic Poker League members who have already indicated they'll be playing in the Pro/Am include Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, Ben Lamb, Mike Matusow, Michael Mizrachi, Mike Sexton, and Gavin Smith.
On Sunday, August 7th there will be a charity event, a $240 buy-in tournament (with $100 rebuys and an add-on) hosted by Brad Garrett of "Everyone Loves Raymond" fame. While the entire prize pool will be going to Operation USA, a relief organization currently helping victims of the tornado that tore through Joplin, Missouri back in May, additional prizes are being donated by the online company Zappos and others, including seats to future Pro/Ams and a $2,500 first prize.
Of course, it's the Main Event that most will be focusing upon come next Tuesday, with many curious to see how many of the 252 players who have qualified to play in the Epic Poker League actually come out to participate in the event. For a discussion of the criteria, see this article from early May from when the original list of qualifiers was announced. At the time 218 players had won enough on the tourney circuit to become league members; since then, 34 more have made it through.
That $20,000 entry fee is certainly a higher-than-usual price tag for tour events. And, of course, the field is guaranteed to be especially tough, which some believe might also further discourage some from participating. However, the league has come up with some significant incentives for players to participate.
Just 2% of the entry fees will be taken out for dealers and staff, and a handsome $400,000 will be added to the prize pool. Also, the highly regarded Matt Savage (interviewed here) is serving as the tournament director for the Epic League Poker events, and the tournament will be employing a structure developed by Savage. Players will start the six-handed no-limit hold'em event with super deep stacks (50,000 chips or 250 big blinds) and play 90-minute levels, so there is sure to be a lot of play.
Another possible incentive for some players will be the fact that if they do well in the tournament they may potentially score some television time in addition to the cash prizes. The league has struck a television deal whereby 20 hours' worth of coverage of Epic Poker League events will air on CBS (a major, non-cable network) and Velocity (a less well-known cable channel).
It's hard to say, really, how much of an incentive for players the television exposure might be, both because of the relative obscurity of Velocity and the uncertain situation for player sponsorships post-Black Friday. However, the virtual shutdown of the online game in the U.S. may also indirectly help the Epic Poker League. With the major sites no longer operating in America -- and thus the entire notion of the "sponsored pro" having been currently thrown into question -- there may well be a place in the poker landscape for a sports-like "professional poker league" that wasn't really there before.
More information about the Epic Poker League -- including details about all of the events' schedules and structures, player profiles, videos, news, and more -- can be found on its recently launched website.
By the way, if you hunt around over there on the Epic site long enough you'll find a number of columnists including your humble scribbler, there with a column called "Community Cards" that focuses on poker in popular culture. (Here is the first entry, on poker and late night television.) My plan for the column is to address both contemporary stories/issues as well as to delve into the history of poker now and then.
It is difficult to predict at present how the Epic Poker League will do or what its reception will be. In any event, it should prove intriguing no matter what happens, and I think once that Main Event plays down to its last few tables interest will certainly pick up within the poker community.
I know it will be grabbing the attention of both Matthew and myself -- once we make it back to our homes from all of our globetrotting, that is!
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