Aug 14 2011

Chino Rheem wins inaugural Epic Poker League tournament

written by: Steve under News Comments: Comments Off

Despite the grumblings from some in the poker community regarding the long-term solvency of the league, the debut of the Epic Poker League has to be viewed as a solid success from start to finish. The week-long event concluded on Friday as a stacked final table competed for the $1 million in first-place prize-money, and the honor of becoming the inaugural Epic Poker League Champion.

The tournament had 137 entries, and was played in a 6-Handed No Limit Holdem format. The tournament prize pool totaled $2,740,000, and with the $400,000 added by the Epic Poker League the first place prize-money landed at a cool $1 million.

The final table was made up of a mix of poker pros, ranging from fairly well-known players like Gavin Smith, Hasan Habib, and Chino Rheem to poker superstars like Huck Seed, Erik Seidel and Jason Mercier. In the end it was Chino Rheem –who has been in the news for all the wrong reasons as of late—who would capture the title and go down in the poker history books as the first-ever Epic Poker League Champion.

Rheem’s road was not an easy one, and standing in his way at the end was one of the hottest players of 2011 in Erik Seidel. Alas, even with a luckboxen The Micros t-shirt on, Seidel couldn’t overtake Rheem and had to settle for second place, and a mere $600k!

Here is a look at how the final table fared in the EPL Main Event:

  1. Chino Rheem — $1,000,000
  2. Erik Seidel — $604,330
  3. Jason Mercier — $360,970
  4. Hasan Habib — $237,560
  5. Gavin Smith — $154,260
  6. Huck Seed — $107,980

Comments Off - Click Here to Speak Up