The inaugural Epic Poker League has finally reached the money places after the 63 survivors from Day 2 were whittled down to the final 18, after 13 hours of play on Thursday. Leading the way going into Day 3 is British pro Sam Trickett who is the only player to break through the one million chip mark so far.
The money bubble was burst by double World Series of Poker bracelet winner Matt Graham when he clashed with Chino Rheem. In the hand the action folded to Graham in the small blind and he decided to limp in with his JhJs but Rheem was not going to let him see the flop cheaply and quickly moved all in holding KcJc. Graham called off his last remaining 142,500 chips and was an almost 65% favourite to double up. However, the board ran out Ac-6h-4c-9c-4d to give Rheem the nut flush, to eliminate Graham in 19th place and pause the tournament until 1200 noon Las Vegas time.
Graham’s elimination also meant that the 18 players who still had chips in front of them were all guaranteed no less than $43,190 in prize money and that will increase to $107,980 by the time the six-handed final table is reached. The eventual winner will now walk away with a cool $1,000,000 after the players voted to take $17,340 from the runner-up prize to boost the winner’s purse to a seven-figure score.
Although Trickett’s 1,032,000 stack contains almost 400,000 more than second placed Hasan Habib, it will not be plain sailing for the talented Englishman as he has been given the seat draw of death! Keeping him company at the start of Day3, over on Table 3, are the aforementioned Habib, Eugene Katchalov, Jason Mercier, Justin Bonomo and Erik Seidel! Between them these six players have won an EPT Main Event, two WPT Main Events, 12 WSOP bracelets and a staggering $41,491,822 in live tournament winnings! It looks like the Epic Poker League finally has a potentially epic table to brag about.
Top six chip leaders going into Day 3
1.) Sam Trickett: 1,032,000
2.) Hasan Habib: 646,000
3.) Isaac Baron: 637,500
4.) Erik Seidel: 609,000
5.) Adam Levy: 587,000
6.) Jason Mercier: 535,500
