The inaugural $20,000 Epic Poker League Main Event is down to three six-handed tables as the loaded field of 137 has been trimmed down to 18. Each remaining member of the star-studded field is guaranteed a minimum payday of $43,190 with the winner receiving a cool $1 million in the first of four “epic” Main Events this year.
Day 2 began with 63 players and Eugene Katchalov on top as players took their seats at the Palms in Las Vegas. Katchalov, ranked No. 4 in the Global Poker Index, lost his lead midway through the day to Hasan Habib, but coasted his way to Day 3 and is still very much in contention for his third career seven-figure score.
Sam Trickett continued his brilliant 2011 with a memorable Day 2, increasing his stack from 50,700 to 1,032,000 to claim the chip lead at the end of the day. The talented Brit abused the money bubble after sending John Racener, James Mackey and Frank Kassela to the rail and now holds a sizeable lead over the field going into the penultimate day of play.
Also lurking near the top of the leaderboard is Erik Seidel, who got to know Trickett quite well during the Aussie Millions in January. Seidel finished third in the $100,000 High Roller event in Australia, an event won by Trickett, and then defeated Trickett heads-up in the $250,000 Super High Roller just days later. Seidel will take 609,000 chips into Day 3 and is joined by Habib, Isaac Baron and Adam “Roothlus” Levy in the Top 5 of the leaderboard.
Jason Mercier, Matt Glantz, Katchalov, Chino Rheem and Gavin Smith round out the top 10.
Justin Bonomo barely squeaked into the money Wednesday after his pocket aces were cracked by the queens of Chino Rheem on the bubble. That hand left Bonomo crippled, but it was Matt Graham who landed outside of the money. The two-hour bubble ended with the short-stacked Graham limping from the small blind and then calling an all-in from Rheem in the big blind. Graham’s pocket jacks were way ahead of Rheem’s Kc-Jc, but the Ac-6h-4c-9c-4d board gave Rheem the nut flush to send Graham out the door.
Others eliminated on Day 2 were Vanessa Selbst, Sorel Mizzi, Phil Laak, Dwyte Pilgrim, Brandon Cantu, Daniel Alaei, Mike Sexton, John Racener, Vitaly Lunkin and Antonio Esfandiari.
After speaking with league Commissioner Annie Duke, the final 18 players voted to take $17,340 off the second-place prize to make first place an even $1,000,000. Eight of the remaining players have million-dollar scores in their career.
Play resumes at Noon PT Thursday and will conclude when the historic final table of six is in place. Here’s a look at the leaderboard heading 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
7. Matt Glantz — 453,000
8. Eugene Katchalov — 418,000
9. Chino Rheem — 408,000
10. Gavin Smith — 357,500
11. Hoyt Corkins — 252,500
12. Noah Schwartz — 235,000
13. Ted Lawson — 210,000
14. Hafiz Khan — 144,000
15. Brandon Meyers — 109,500
16. Huck Seed — 93,500
17. Dan Fleyshman — 82,500
18. Justin Bonomo — 42,000
