The Epic Poker League, about to start the third tournament series of its first season, has decided to grant the legendary Doyle Brunson its first lifetime player card, which will grant him eligibility for every Epic Poker League event, regardless of whether or not he met the entry requirements.
“It’s unnecessary but I guess it’s nice to be remembered for what we went through to get poker to this point,” Brunson told The Associated Press. “Most people just don’t realize exactly what all transpired … but we went through some pretty adverse things.”
Jeffrey Pollack, Executive Chairman of Federated Sports & Gaming (FS&G), the company that owns the Epic Poker League, cites Brunson’s contributions to the game, in addition to his success at the tables, as the reason for the lifetime exemption.
“The modern history of poker is Doyle’s life,” Pollack said.
Annie Duke, Executive Vice President of FS&G and Commissioner of the Epic Poker League, said, “He just has this secret sauce of every accomplishment you can imagine, big generosity to the poker community, incredible longevity, amazing ambassadorship. And then on top of that he’s just an easy guy to really like.”
Brunson currently holds a 2-year Category A membership card, indicating that he is eligible for the Epic Poker League through 2013. Players who have achieved this level of eligibility have at least $2 million in adjusted lifetime tournament earnings, with a maximum of $1 million counting from any single tournament, at least one major lifetime title, and at least six cashes since January 1, 2008 for a total of least $300,000.
We all know that Brunson has won his share of major titles, including ten World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets. And while his tournament play has slowed down in recent years, he still has more than enough winnings since January 1, 2008 to hit the $300,000 threshold. His WSOP and World Poker Tour cashes alone easily take him over that mark.
Brunson has yet to play in an Epic Poker League event and just because he now has lifetime eligibility doesn’t mean he’s about to pony up $20,000 for every league Main Event. “As I’m getting older, these tournaments are getting too hard to come through,” he said. “It’s probably not worth it to me anymore to really go on the tournament grind, so I don’t plan on playing a whole lot of tournaments the rest of my life.”
“I much prefer to play cash games.”
The Epic Poker League Tournament Series Three Main Event begins Wednesday at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. It is slated to run five days, concluding with the final heads-up matches on December 18th. The tournament is a bit different than the standard No-Limit Hold’em tournament, as it is a Mix-Max event. On Day 1, the tables will be 8-handed. Day 2 will feature 7-handed tables and will redraw to 6-handed if the field gets down to 36 players. Day 3 will be 6-handed and will redraw to 4-handed if it gets to 12 players, while Day 4 will be 4-handed. The final day will feature just two players competing in a best-of-three heads-up battle. Interestingly, for the first two heads-up matches, the players will start with the chip stacks they had at the beginning of heads-up play, but if it goes to a third match, the chip stacks will be evened out.
