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.
How much of Howard’s and Jesus’ money is secretly wrapped up in the Epic Poker League I wonder?
I’m hard pressed to be a fan, regardless of the star power, until Annie’s brother pays back all the players from Full Tilt.
In my opinion, she shouldn’t be the Commissioner, given her families high profile right now as part of the largest poker scandal of all-time to date. I understand she isn’t her brother, but everyone knows these folks just hand each other oodles of cash on handshakes and winks.
It’s just not kosher. She could be totally clean, and the EPL could be totally legit (although I question their ethics already concerning their handling of DeVita’s satelitte win and forced refund that didn’t total what he won), but until Howard makes good (which may never happen), their name is tarnished way too much to be trusted, respected, or looked at as any authority or governing body.
It may be unfair, but it’s reality. No one in their right mind wants Pol Pot’s cousin running Cambodia, even if he’s a saint. Catch my drift?