Epic Poker League Event #1

Day 2 of the inaugural Epic Poker League Event is in the books as we played our way down to the final 18 competitors. While that officially takes us into the money, more importantly perhaps, is that everyone is now guaranteed points towards the end of the season freeroll when $1 million will be up for grabs. Sam Trickett continues his fantastic 2011 and will enter Day 3 with over a million chips, good enough for the lead after almost a full 13 levels of play. Trickett, along with the other 17 players, decided at the end of the day to take $17,340 from 2nd place and give it to the winner, so they are now fighting for $1,000,000 up top.

We started the day with 63 people remaining and players were eliminated early and often. Dwyte Pilgrim, Dan Shak, Vanessa Selbst, Sorel Mizzi, Phil Laak and Daniel Alaei were just some of the Level 1 casualties. As play continued, we lost Chad Brown, Shannon Shorr, Mike Sexton, John Racener, and Justin Young. Antonio Esfandiari made a fantastic play early in the day against Chino Rheem when he overbet the pot on a flop by moving all in for nearly 150,000, despite the pot having only reached about 30,000 to that point. Rheem called and Esfandiari's held on against the of Rheem. He too, however, could not make it through Day 2.

After the dinner break, play got increasing tense as the possibility of cashing in the very first EPL Event became more and more real. Ben Lamb, Tom Marchese and Nam Le all got within a table of making the history books but fell just short. Brian Rast was busted by Jason Mercier near the end of the day as well, in a hand he won't soon forget. Creating a pot of over 600,000, he moved all in on a board of with but was drawing dead against the of Mercier.

The most unfortunate player of the day, however, was Matt Graham who found himself exit squarely on the bubble. He limped from the small blind before Chino Rheem jammed from the big blind. Graham called off his final 142,500 with and found himself ahead against the of Rheem. It didn't take past the turn, however, for Rheem to make the nut-flush when the board ran out .

While Graham was understandably unhappy about his elimination, it brought a quiet smile to 18 faces around the room as they began bagging up their chips for tomorrow. It should also be noted that of the eight players that owned temporary cards via entry from the Pro-Am, two still remain, Dan Fleyshman and Brandon Meyers.

The first two days of the Epic Poker League have exceeded expectations. The field was strong with the top talent from across the world showing up to test their skills against the best. The action has been sharp, the pots lively and entertainment vast. Tomorrow will be sure to continue right along with those trends so be sure to check back here tomorrow at noon local time when, as always, we will have as much action as you can take as we play our way down to the final table!

Action folded to Matt Graham in the small blind and he limped in. Chino Rheem jammed all in from the big blind and Graham called for 142,500 total.

Graham:
Rheem:

Graham was in dominating position to double up, but then the flop came down and Rheem added a flush draw to go along with his one overcard.

The turn brought the and that was all she wrote for Graham as Rheem turned an unbeatable flush. The river completed the board with the and officially ended the tournament for Graham. It also ended play for the night as there are only 18 players remaining.

We'll have a full recap coming for you shortly once the players finish wrapping things up.

From under the gun, Chino Rheem raised to 13,000 before Hasan Habib made it 28,000 to go from the cutoff. On the button, Isaac Baron four-bet to 63,000 which got Rheem out of the hand but found a call from Habib.

The flop came and Habib checked. Baron fired 55,000 and Habib decided to let his hand go.

From under the gun, Adam Levy raised to 12,000 before Sam Trickett three-bet from the small blind to 37,000. Levy made the call and the two players saw the flop heads up. Trickett checked, as did Levy.

The turn was the and this time Trickett led out for 28,000. Levy thought for a bit before raising the action to 75,000 which prompted a fold from our chip leader.

From under the gun, Huck Seed moved all in for his last 68,500. It folded around to Noah Schwartz in the big blind and he made the call.

Seed:
Schwartz:

The flop was which gave Schwartz some extra outs to officially burst the bubble. The hit the turn and Seed remained in the lead. The was dealt on the river and Seed's Ace-Queen high was good enough to take down the pot.

Seed now has 142,000 while Schwartz falls to 245,000.

The cards are back in the air.

With 19 players left, the clock has expired on the last level and the players are on a 15-minute break. The plan for today is to play down to 18 players remain and then call it a night.