Battling from the short stack at the final table, Mike McDonald emerged as the champion of the second Epic Poker League tournament Friday night at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
At the start of the final table of the Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em event, Australia’s David Steicke held a slim, 28,000 chip lead over 2011 poker juggernaut Erik Seidel. They were the only two men who eclipsed the one million chip mark at the start of the final table, although Isaac Baron was on the cusp of that mark with his 876K in chips. The other men who made up the final table – Day Two leader Fabrice Soulier, Dutch Boyd, Nam Le, McDonald and Pro/Am qualifier Sean Getzwiller – were far back of the top three.
Within the first hour of play at the final table, three of the competitors would be eliminated from the event. Dutch Boyd chose an inopportune moment to make a move on Seidel when, on a 4-3-3 flop, he shipped his remaining chips to the center of the table. Seidel, as is his wont, calmly made the call and tabled pocket Aces to vastly lead Boyd’s pocket Jacks. An Ace on the turn ended the hand and eliminated Dutch Boyd in eighth place.
Getzwiller, who picked up a World Series of Poker bracelet earlier this summer, would fall at the hands of McDonald. Preflop, Getzwiller decided to make a stand with his Big Slick, but McDonald was holding a pair of Cowboys that would not be beaten. Still, Sean’s run to the final table of this EPL event had a nice ROI, as he won his way into the $20,000 Main Event through the Pro/Am earlier this week.
From the start of the action on Friday afternoon, Isaac Baron could only spin his wheels. He bled chips throughout his stay at the final table until he put his last 170K in against Soulier. Baron would face an uphill climb with his Q-10 against the French poker legend’s A-10 and, once the board ran dry for him, Isaac Baron was eliminated in sixth place.
After these three eliminations, the action slowed to a more sedate pace. Nam Le, playing in his first EPL tournament, made the most of his stay by playing solid poker throughout the event. The blinds would begin to eat away at the poker veteran, however, and he cast his lot with A-K against Soulier’s pocket Jacks. All drama was eliminated from the hand when a Jack showed up on the flop; once the turn card came blank, Nam Le was out of the tournament.
After finishing second at the inaugural EPL Main Event and starting the final table in second place for this tournament, Erik Seidel was in prime position to claim a championship. The cards would work against the 2011 Poker Hall of Fame inductee, however, as he went up against Soulier with pocket fives for his tournament life. Unfortunately for Seidel, the Frenchman showed pocket nines to dominate the hand. The situation was unchanged by the board, resulting in the elimination of Erik Seidel in fourth place. There is a bit of a silver lining for Erik, however; his finish in this event will more than likely move him to the top of the Global Poker Index rankings ahead of Jason Mercier when they are released next week.
Down to three players, Soulier was poised to take home the EPL title until he ran into an under the radar McDonald. Fabrice would double up the Canadian on several occasions before Mike administered the coup de grace. In a blind versus blind battle, Soulier pushed all in with an A-10, only for McDonald to wake up with an A-Q. Fabrice Soulier was unable to find one of the three remaining tens in the deck and would walk away from this EPL final table in third place.
Even after his dance with Soulier, McDonald still was facing an uphill battle against Steicke. That would change, however, when the duo clashed with Mike holding pocket sixes against David’s A-Q off suit. McDonald’s pocket pair held up and completely changed the course of the heads up fight, giving him a lead that he would not relinquish. Although Steicke was able to survive a couple more hands following the huge clash, he eventually would fall when his K-2 failed to hit against McDonald’s A-4.
1. Mike McDonald $782,410
2. David Steicke $506,260
3. Fabrice Soulier $299,160
4. Erik Seidel $184,100
5. Nam Le $126,570
6. Isaac Baron $92,050
7. Sean Getzville $69,040
8. Dutch Boyd $57,530
With the completion of the second leg of their Season One schedule, the Epic Poker League will be taking a little time off from the tournament circuit. The next series of tournaments, which encompass a Pro/Am event (where the final table earns a seat into the Main Event), a Charity tournament benefitting the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the Main Event (which will be a Heads Up No Limit Hold’em tournament), will begin on December 9 and conclude on December 18.
