Epic Poker League Set To Debut On Television Next Weekend

The first two tournaments of the Epic Poker League, the professional tournament circuit modeled on professional golf’s PGA Tour, are ready for broadcast beginning next weekend.

A “sneak peek” of what will happen on the EPL will make its debut on the new cable network Velocity on September 30. This new network, which currently is operating as the HD Theater network to cable subscribers, will follow that preview with the first full-fledged broadcast on October 7 and the American television network CBS will air part of the EPL festivities on October 8. Future broadcasts will be divided between the two networks, with a majority of the tournaments seen on Velocity.

The EPL has culled the tournament poker ranks in an attempt to provide the “best of the best” for fans of tournament poker. The EPL events, which feature a changing format for each event and have a $20,000 buy in, have strict qualifying standards which, according to Commissioner Annie Duke, allow for fans to have knowledge of the participants and set the EPL in a different niche than other tournament circuits.

“Every other sport, even snowboarding and skateboarding, had a format where the best players in the world could play against the each other,” Annie said last week in an interview with Bloomberg.com. “There’s a lot of value to limiting your field, both for the player experience and for the fan experience.”

The broadcasts of the EPL will take on the feel of watching something along the lines of the Olympics, with player profiles of participants in the tournament. In the first broadcast, Eugene Katchalov is one of those players featured, detailing out his story from his family’s departure from the Ukraine to the United States as the former Soviet Union was collapsing. Along with these features, the EPL is promising innovative statistical analysis for its viewers. The television productions are filmed by 441 Productions, who produced the World Series of Poker broadcasts up until last year.

One worry about the EPL broadcasts is that they have not in actuality been purchased by either Velocity or CBS, denying a revenue stream that could help the EPL. The CBS broadcasts are a “time buy” – in essence, the EPL’s ownership, Federated Sports & Gaming, is purchasing the airtime much like an infomercial – and Velocity is receiving the programming for free for promotional purposes. As many major networks are shedding poker programming following “Black Friday,” it would be a good shot in the arm for the EPL and FS&G to have the broadcasts purchased.

Another worry following the EPL is some of the controversies that have erupted surrounding their first two events. The first tournament, in August, featured an electric final table that saw David “Chino” Rheem and Erik Seidel battling for the inaugural title. After Rheem defeated Seidel, however, an uproar over Rheem’s professionalism – allegedly his failure to properly pay off backing debts – saw the EPL take the unprecedented step of putting Rheem on probation under the threat of being suspended from the league.

The second tournament featured a controversy before the Main Event even began. One of the players who won their way into the tournament through the EPL Pro/Am, Michael DiVita, was found to be a registered sex offender resulting from a 1991 conviction. Depending on who you believe, either DiVita was forced out of the tournament by EPL officials or he voluntarily withdrew. DiVita has threatened a lawsuit, as he wasn’t paid the $20,000 he feels he earned by winning the seat in the Main Event and only received his $1500 buy in back from the Pro/Am tournament.

Finally, this last week saw the suspension of two of the higher profile qualifiers on the EPL roster. As a result of their addition to the amended complaint on Tuesday against three online poker rooms that served American players up until April 15, former World Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Howard Lederer were stripped of the five year player cards, prohibiting them from playing in any EPL tournament. These events have cast a pall as the EPL looks to its next tournament in December but, if the broadcasts of the EPL events on CBS and Velocity are successful, could help to change the tide for the fledgling tournament series.

Related Poker Tournaments News:

Huge 100% Match Bonus up to $500 Free! Plus $75 Free Refer-A-Friend!

Full screen 3D animated & 2D ("bird's eye") view options, Extra games

Poker lexicon:

BOAT - A FULL HOUSE, three of a kind and a pair.
EXPECTATION - The long-run [dis-]advantage of a given situation, specifically without reference to any particular outcome. I.e., what you figure to win [lose] on average after a large number of repetitions of the same situation.
MAIN POT - The main pot, as related to one or more side pots, when there are one or more all-in player(s). The main pot is the one in which all active players participate.
POSSIBLE [STRAIGHT/FLUSH] - Up cards that quite possibly could lead to a straight and/or a flush.
COMPUTER HAND - Texas Hold'em hole cards of Q-7 offsuit. More generically, any hand that computer analysis/simulation determines is positive but turns out to be difficult to play in practice.
OVERCALL - To call a bet after one or more players already called.

♥ Bookmark Us! ♠

Poker Information