Epic Poker League meets expectations on debut weekend

The Epic Poker League has been one of the most talked about, and guessed at, entities in the poker world over the past few months, and now that the league has finally began its life with its first-ever Pro/Am tournament this weekend, many of the questions seem to have been answered.

Two things were working against the Epic Poker League from the outset:

• Would the league generate the interest of poker’s biggest names?
• Would the league generate the interest of amateurs to participate in the qualifiers?

On both fronts the answer has to be a resounding yes, even though the Epic Poker League Main Event has yet to get underway! The first ever Pro/Am event, which will award 9 seats to the Main Event, saw two Day 1 starting flights hit the tables on Friday and Saturday respectively, and attendance far exceeded even the optimistic attendance numbers. Furthermore, many of the players in the Pro/Am were players who received an Epic Poker League tour card, which hints at the professional poker community’s willingness to support the league, and take part in the preliminary tournaments.

On Day 1 of the Pro/Am 92 players registered, with a similar number, 98, registering on Day 1b. Overall, the Epic Poker League needed a mere 120 players to cover the cost of the nine guaranteed seats to the Main Event, a number easily eclipsed in their first time out.

While rank amateurs have steered clear of the Epic Poker League Pro/Am, this was to be expected, considering the field will likely be one of the toughest in the history of $1,500 buy-in poker tournaments -after all, few whales and degens are willing to put-up $1,500 of their money to win a seat into the toughest tournament fields of all-time!

The EPL Pro/Am did see a great mix of league players trying to get into the tournament on the cheap –$1,500 compared to plunking down $20k-as well as some pro’s and semi-pro’s who failed to qualify for an Epic Poker League tour card.

So why would so many players, who constantly talk about finding +EV situations, try to conquer such a tough field? Well, each Main Event will have $400,000 in added prize-money and is rake-free. There is also the possibility of getting into the $1 million freeroll at the end of Season 1. Basically the overlay for each tournament -if you include the $1 million freeroll-is $650k; which is more than enough reason for most players to try to best such a murderer’s row poker lineup.