jontm

I have been following this for a bit and while I find the whole "pro card" structure a bit confusing as far as just skimming, huge fan of both Kat Kowal and Matt Savage and believe they know what players want.

All in all, truefully, they have one of the most experienced management teams out there and now owning the HPT is even bigger. The TV should be good for even the casual fan. Few of our favorites and PFC members also have pro-cards. I think this might get big in next few years.

Ps. Dan Fleyshman and Peter Jetten playing Day 2.

Thoughts??

Inaugural Epic Poker League Event Sees Top Canadians In Attendance *

getem76

Thoughts?? Heres some sickness: Erik Seidel comes 2nd NOT 1st.....the only thing that shocks me about this guy is that he didnt actually win a bracelet at the series yet!...This guy almost seems to be some kind of 2011 unstoppable force a good sized STACKED field too...shame about the onyx cup I think he would have crushed it

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Milo

My thoughts are that Seidel has won several bracelets at the Series, just not the big one.

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getem76

my bad milo, I had meant "this years" series....outside it hes won damn near everything else worth anything!! now of course theres Phil Ivey free fields but even so....still a monster!

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kwsteve

My thoughts are:

Negreanu and Annie Duke, what's up with that? I liked them both, but now I think at least one of them is lying and a jerk. And I don't know which one. Insight?

jontm

I was a huge Negreanu fan and always thought Duke more "stuffy", though I think she is one smart woman. However, if you were to google Negreanu and Duke feud, blog, I think you would find he has thrown out some pretty harsh Towards her in the past. I don't even care about that, but I thought before the names of those who qualified were announced, it would be Duke looking for away to alienate Daniel and not the other way around.

I am 100% confident in saying that the very best and most respected team is behind Epic; aside from Duke you have the former WSOP Commissioner, the most respected TD in the world, who set the standards for tournament rules and has designed some of the worlds most popular events and structures and one of the executive members from the original WPT team, Deepstacks and dream team poker. If these guys and gals do not know what their doing, then absolutely nobody does.

So for Negreanu to say that he wont support what will eventually fail is crap and he has had a lot of people on him to justify his comments. His twitter for the last week will give you a lot of insight.

I started to be less of a fan when he started bitching about needing exclusive events at Wsop as part of the board I believe and epic has basically created this. Negreanu has not been shy about bashing Duke in the past and clearly wants everything to center around the old school A list. If you haven't read his last blog, it explains this further.

Let's call it all for what it is, the Onyx Cup was a way that the high rollers could almost guarantee that the richest players in the world would get TV time. They keep raising the cost because, as the WSOP and other open events prove, it's pretty tough for them to stay in the spotlight other wise.

read Negreanu's blogs and tweets, think you might find that Annie is prob the favorite in this argument

windbreaker

There's no doubt that Negreanu has had a past with Duke, but he does bring solid concerns that no one has answered.

These events can only work if the players show up to play. The biggest reasons they would play in one of the toughest fields is because of the added money, lower rake, comped rooms, and tv coverage. All of the costs of these benefits are coming out of the backers of this league. Take away some or all of these benefits, the event will fail.

How long can the backers continue to dump money into this venture before they see a return. Money doesn't grow on trees.

jontm

I would think that they would have thought of this, given the business minds running the show. It all goes back to the old saying "does Eatons tell Sears it's business?"

windbreaker

Well no one expects them to announce their entire business model, but it's obvious that they are going to lose millions in the first year. No business is going to survive unless they generate revenue. The EPL model has virtually no sources of revenue.

Daniel suggests that their plan is to start their own internet poker site once regulation occurs in the US. No one knows when that will happen.

Even if they are able to generate money from an internet gaming site, these EPL tournaments will always have to have added prize money for it to work. Poker players follow the money. Without adding money, pros will find better spots to spend their money.

For the EPL to be success, their gaming site has to be successful. The money EPL uses will basically come from the players on the site, which is fine...since shows like Poker After Dark, The Big Game, Million Dollar Challenge, and EPT tournaments are mostly done for marketing purposes. The EPL is in essence trying to do the marketing before they even have a product...which needs approval of US regulation before they can make money off it.

For most poker players out there, they have little to no chance to ever play in these event (well unless you satellite in their pro/am). For most players, it really doesn't matter if the EPL is successful or not. It's unlikely the EPL will be the catalyst to another Moneymaker boom, but the last thing your average poker players need is another FTP/UB situation.

jontm

I see that they sold $2.5 million in shares (Federated Sports and Gaming). They also acquired the Heartland Poker Tour, which would generate revenue in the form of reg fee sharing and has a pretty packed schedule. While it isn't enough to sustain, it should close the gap some?

I have to agree with what you have said in your last post, the kind off discussion I was hoping for.

Maybe they will go public with more later, kind off like he WPT and CPT.

CPT is going on five years now, investment dollars have sustained it thus far, they have produced a few TV production, added money in the forms of sponsorships and it is not near as hype as this?

I wonder if Palms was wiling to take a hit on rake knowing that the crowd they attracted is sure to also dump revenue at the other casino "properties", like table games. The casinos are already willing to comp a lot of what you have mentioned in he hopes that this type of customer will stay, would you agree?

That's all I have for now, look forward to reply

westside8

May I just remind you, that the director of FS+G J.B. Pritzker - in 2009 he has a net worth of 1.6 billion. IF the goal/business model is to use this as a launching pad for if/when online poker gets regulated in the US...a loss of a couple of million probably isn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.

getem76

Not to say everything is just going to drop off TV, but PS and FT I think have tv time "blocks" bought up probably until something like Janurary (Im guessing I dont actually know!) After that I dont believe there is enough of a chance they will be re-bought based on the US regulation or lack there of...especially FT

Now as for WPT which seems to be on a different network every 20 minutes, EPL finds a network and stays on in while running thier show at a time someone ACTUALLY WATCHES it might actually find some sucess if they market it properly, with the right promos/website/advertising...they have money to weather the early losses EASY

More of a time will tell for them, I dont think its just going to go away like PPT did, now of course chino isnt a good start for them, Im to understand people were waiting for him at the cage?? That would suck!!

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jontm

Pro AM numbers for installment 2 are...eaakkk.

44 for Day 1a, 34 for Day 1b, Kevmath said something about overlay if they didn't get 89 on 1b.

Sure we will hear more, looks like a lot of players have headed to Europe or are on route for events there. main Event will be interesting....

GTA Poker

Is this the thing that chino (scumbag) rheem won?

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T8urmoney

yup

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