They’re gettin’ deep in the NCAA tourney, and not one of us has filled out a proper bracket? With basketball tourists in town, Boyz II Men are playing 1/3 and 2/5 at the Mirage … and Kenna James is sitting behind some big stacks in a 25/50 game at Red Rock? Good time to discuss the practicalities and pitfalls of selling your action in cash games. And if you’re looking for backers on Craigslist and end up in a poker-coaching pyramid scheme … well, we’re not ones to judge, but just be sure to watch your wallet and wear a condom. All that and Awesome Andrew’s Awesome Vegas Living on the View, a new sky-high lounge at the Palms that replaces the Playboy Club of old with checkers and Connect Four … at a time when casinos are kinda-sorta cracking down on drugs and hookers at their nightclubs and pools.

Vegas Grinders 1.7
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Cantor Gaming will be reopening the Silverton Casino poker room next month, less than a year after the room closed for lack of action.

Bobby Griffith, poker room manager for Cantor Gaming at the Palms, will take on double duty overseeing Silverton’s room and ultimately a new role as Director of Poker Operations for Cantor.

Griffith says he’s already hired a crew for the newest Cantor poker room, and is working on a special event for the re-opening. Cosmetic improvements include plans for ripping up old carpet and bringing in new chairs — with cards in the air sometime around Thanksgiving weekend.

Earlier this year, Cantor built a new sports book/poker room at Palms, the first of their rooms to merge the idea of gambling on sports and cards. At the end of 2011, Cantor unveiled a snazzy sports book at the Venetian, though Cantor does not operate the newly refurbished Sands Poker Room.

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My phone lit up with that ever familiar ringtone of an incoming text message, this time from HemmaCuda: “So what’s it gonna take to get you to start coaching at Stackem?”

When I first moved to Las Vegas, I knew almost nobody in the city. I had one contact here: a girl from high school named Rochelle whom I have no recollection of ever saying one word to in those four years at Grosse Pointe North. She would become one of my best friends here in town and through her I would meet others, but for a long while I was rolling solo. This didn’t worry me moving from Los Angeles to the desert. It was a move to a smaller city but I knew I would never be bored. It was Vegas after all — parties culture galore, a revolving door for visitors, and I would always be able to jump in a card game at any hour of the day or night where the hours would fly as they do when you’re in the poker time warp.

For almost a good solid year I just did my thing by myself. Occasionally (appreciatively) Rochelle and I would go for beers at various dive bars around town but I was basically playing poker and being a loner.

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So you’ve played hold’em, Omaha, 7-card stud, razz, badugi, badaci, baduci, razz-dugi, 2-7 triple draw, Chinese poker, Taiwanese poker, Indian poker and every hi-lo variant there is.

What’s next?

In a new game being spread at the Palms, using three 7s in his hand,  Bruce Paul turned quads and paused the action after scooping a big pot.

“That’s called a sniper,” he informed all of us newbies at the table about holding three-of-a-kind.

Paul, the 58-year-old Californian who created the game, hopes his 2-11 poker is the next big thing to captivate the card playing world. It’s called 2-11 (“two-eleven”) because of the 2-card flop, the 1-card turn and 1-card river.

Players get 4 hole cards and can use 2 or 3 from their hand and 2 or 3 from the board to make the best 5-card hand. Betting was 2/4 fixed limit, but could easily be played NL or PL.

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The first Epic Poker League tournament of their first season ended with Chino Rheem overcoming the rungood of Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel and The Micros to win the first Main Event, earning a cool $1,000,000 defeating the Seiborg heads-up. The final table last over 200 hands, recap the blow-by-blow action starting here or just read @AlCantHang’s recap.

According to Ben Lamb, he was paid in full for money he was owed by Chino. Others, not so much. The forums were no different “congratulating” Rheem on his win.

Final table results:

1st: Chino Rheem – $1,000,000
2nd: Erik Seidel – $604,430
3rd: Jason Mercier – 360,970
4th: Hasan Habib – $237,560
5th: Gavin Smith – $154,260
6th: Huck Seed – $107,980

The final table of the first Epic Poker League Main Event resumes with Hasan Habib leading an impressive final six with $1,000,000 going to the winner when play resumes Friday afternoon. He’ll be joined by WSOP bracelet winners Erik Seidel, Huck Seed, Jason Mercier and Gavin Smith. Chino Rheem is the only player without a bracelet, but he’ll have several interested players sweating him as he starts the final table second in chips.

Play started with the remaining 18 players in the money, guaranteed over $43,000 and an early advantage in the EPL standings for the February 2012 $1,000,000 Epic Poker League Championship freeroll. Day 3 was a short day for Justin Bonomo and Hoyt Corkins, the first two to collect their EPL winnings. Pro/Am qualifiers Brandon Meyers (9th) and Dan Fleyshman (15th) will have another chance to qualify for the Main Event in the September Pro/Am. Day 2 chip leader Sam Trickett had a disappointing Day 3, finishing 11th.

The elimination of Eugene Katchalov in 8th place meant the remaining players gathered at one table to play down to the televised final table, airing on CBS and Velocity later this year. The final hand involved Adam “Roothlus” Levy going all-in with pocket queens against Chino Rheem’s pocket kings. The A-A-Q flop moved the DeepStacks-sponsored pro into the lead, but an ace on the river meant it was a ruthless end for Levy. Rheem knocked out another DeepStacks pro, Matt Graham, on the money bubble to end Day 2.

All players at the final table earns a six-figure payday, a boon to those players Chino owes money. Here’s how the final table will be seated when play resumes around 2pm with blinds at 8,000/16,000 with an ante of 2,000.

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 1,655,000
Seat 2: Erik Seidel – 1,109,000
Seat 3: Chino Rheem – 1,432,000
Seat 4: Gavin Smith – 766,000
Seat 5: Jason Mercier – 1,495,000
Seat 6: Huck Seed – 396,000

What they’re playing for:

1st: $1,000,000
2nd: $604,330
3rd: $360,970
4th: $237,560
5th: $154,260
6th: $107,980

Hand-for-hand updates of the final table, videos and photos and more available at www.epicpoker.com

Day 2 of the $20,000 Epic Poker League Main Event concluded with Sam Trickett leading the remaining 18 players, all guaranteed $43,190. Trickett is the only player with a seven-figure chip stack as the field will now be playing for a $1,000,000 first prize as the players agreed to move money from 2nd place to the winner.

Day 2 started with 63 players as Eugene Katchalov, Ben Lamb and Brian Rast held the top three spots. Only Katchalov survived the day with chips as the early action was dominated with several eliminations as Vanessa Selbst, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Phil Laak were among the familiar faces hitting the felt.

Some players complained about the fast structure; leading Commissioner Annie Duke and Tournament Director Matt Savage agreeing to review the structure, among other aspects of the EPL, before their second tournament in September.

The remaining 29 players reached the dinner break with an average stack of about 80 big blinds, with the objective of finishing the day after bursting the money bubble. Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Cantu, Nam Le, Tom Marchese and Frank Kassela all fell short of earning their first EPL cash when 19 players remained, one from the money. A prolonged bubble period gave Trickett the opportunity to add to his stack, becoming the first EPL player to hold over 1,000,000 in chips.

Two hours into hand-for-hand play, Matt Graham added his name to the long list of EPL firsts as his pocket jacks were cracked by Chino Rheem when he turned a flush to become the EPL’s first bubble boy.

The remaining 18 players return Thursday at 12pm to play down to the final table of six. The field consists of 20 WSOP bracelets, 3 WPT titles and almost $80,000,000 in tournament winnings. Two players who qualified through the Pro/Am over the weekend, Brandon Meyers and Dan Fleyshman, become EPL-eligible for the rest of the season if either player wins the tournament on Friday. Here’s how the Day 3 field will be seated with play resuming with blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante (the average stack having ~76 big blinds):

Table 1:

Seat 1: Adam Levy – 587,000
Seat 2: Dan Fleyshman – 82,500
Seat 3: Hafiz Khan – 144,000
Seat 4: Hoyt Corkins – 252,500
Seat 5: Brandon Meyers – 109,500
Seat 6: Isaac Baron – 637,500

Table 2:

Seat 1: Noah Schwartz – 259,500
Seat 2: Matt Glantz – 453,000
Seat 3: Ted Lawson – 210,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed – 93,500
Seat 5: Chino Rheem – 408,000
Seat 6: Gavin Smith – 357,500

Table 3:

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 646,000
Seat 2: Eugene Katchalov – 418,000
Seat 3: Sam Trickett – 1,032,000
Seat 4: Jason Mercier – 535,500
Seat 5: Justin Bonomo – 42,000
Seat 6: Erik Seidel – 609,000

Live updates and more available at www.epicpoker.com

The highly anticipated debut of the Epic Poker League held their first $20,000 Main Event Tuesday afternoon at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. The first day of the “rake-free” tournament ($400 of each buy-in went to the dealers) with $400,000 added ended with three of the hottest players in poker, Eugene Katchalov, Ben Lamb and Brian Rast the top three in chips.

The first EPL event featured plenty of notable names absent as Daniel Negreanu, most of Team Full Tilt, and Doyle Brunson deciding not to participate. Card-holding members need to enter at least one Main Event, Pro/Am and charity event each season to maintain their card.

In a radio interview last week, Phil Hellmuth wasn’t sure if he’d play in the first event. After making his “announcement” on Twitter Monday, he made his traditional late appearance, but was eliminated shortly after the dinner break.

The EPL will hold tournaments in a variety of no-limit hold’em formats, with the inaugural event played six-handed. Registration closed at the start of level 5, nearly 8 hours after play started. The tournament clock showed 137 players entered to create a $3,085,200 prize pool. The winner at the conclusion of play Friday will earn as the top 18 places make the money. The top 27 EPL money earners return February for the $1,000,000 League Championship freeroll.

Jason Mercier and Sean Getzwiller (a Pro/Am qualifier) are the other bracelet winners from this year’s WSOP among the 63 players returning Wednesday afternoon at 12pm PST to play another six levels.

Top ten chip counts:

Eugene Katchalov – 356,300
Ben Lamb – 287,200
Brian Rast – 260,500
Antonio Esfandiari – 248,100
Noah Schwartz – 220,200
McLean Karr – 191,800
Hoyt Corkins – 187,400
Isaac Baron – 167,700
Dan O’Brien – 163,300
Erik Seidel – 161,200

The full list of chip counts along with live updates, table draws, videos and more can be found at www.epicpoker.com

Pre-M.E. Festivities

Before the Main Event, the EPL kicked off over the weekend with The $1,500 Pro/Am tournament, offering nine Main Event seats, drew a combined field of 190 entrants as the final table was filmed for the Heartland Poker Tour. Steve O’Dwyer was the winner, earning $23,810 plus his EPL Main Event Seat. The only EPL-eligible player to snag a seat on the cheap was Andy Bloch, eventually finishing 3rd. Michael Craig recaps the final table.

While the Pro/Am final table was in action, 81 players put up $240 (plus a ton of $100 rebuys and add-ons) to raise over $50,000 for Operation USA, with the money earmarked for the victims of tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri. Plenty of goodies were given to all players with Zappos contributing $2,500 to the winner. Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger won the title, donating the winnings to the charity.