Inaugural Epic Poker Legue Main Event Draws 137 Players

The Epic Poker League’s inaugural main event launched on Tuesday with 137 players. The $20,000 buy-in six-handed tournament raised some concerns among the poker community, particularly because of it’s August launch in Las Vegas right after a long WSOP, but the skepticism subsided when over half of the leauge’s 260 qualifiers showed up to play at the Palms Casino.

Thanks to no rake and $400,000 added by Federated Sports and Gaming, the first EPL main event prize pool was able to exceed $3.1 million, with $982,660 going to the eventual winner.

After one day of play, the field was cut in half with just 63 remaining. Leading the way is Eugene Katchalov, who bagged up 356,300, over seven times his starting stack. Unsurprisingly, he is followed closely by current WSOP Player of the Year conteder Ben Lamb and $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Brian Rast.

Antonio Esfandiari and Noah Schwartz round out the rest of the top five. The action will resume Wednesday at noon and the field is expected to get close to the money bubble at 18 players.

Here is a look at the top 15 chip counts.

1. Eugene Katchalov — 356,300
2. Ben Lamb — 287,200
3. Brian Rast — 260,500
4. Antonio Esfandiari — 248,100
5. Noah Schwartz — 220,200
6. McLean Karr — 191,800
7. Hoyt Corkins — 187,400
8. Isaac Baron — 167,700
9. Dan O’Brien — 163,300
10. Erik Seidel — 161,200
11. Gavin Smith — 161,000
12. Shawn Buchanan — 155,700
13. Justin Young — 154,200
14. John Racener — 153,600
15. Dan Fleyshman — 152,200

Check out this EPL update from Card Player TV.

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