The End of Epic?

Less than one year into its debut season, the Epic Poker League has hit an almighty rough patch after parent company Federated Sports & Gaming (which is also responsible for the Heartland Poker Tour) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In a message posted on FS&G website this week, former World Series of Poker commissioner and Epic Executive Chairman Jeffrey Pollack announced that FS&G needs ‘a new start’.

The decision to file for Chapter 11 will mean the Epic Poker League will go on an indefinite hiatus,  and League Commissioner Annie Duke sent a letter to EPL players to explain the situation, claiming ‘it is our full intention to complete Season One of the EPL’.

‘Our goal is to keep the Epic Poker League and all of our key initiatives – the Global Poker Index, epicpoker.com, the Epic Poker game on Facebook and the Heartland Poker Tour – moving forward with a continued spirit of innovation,’ added Pollack.

But while no one likes to see a poker tour going through difficulties in what is a tumultuous time for parts of the industry, one player has not been too downhearted. Daniel Negreanu’s been a vocal critic of the tour since it launched late last year, and in a tweet to his 156k followers, Kid Poker said ‘a poker world without Howard/Annie in it is definitely much closer to paradise. Time reveals the shady…’

The EPL has been beset by difficulties in its short existence. When Chino Rheem became the tour’s first champ last August, he was put on probation just a few weeks later after fellow pros lined up to reveal Rheem’s gambling debts and reputation as a ‘scammer’.

And with two EPL events left to go in the tour’s maiden year, it’s looking more like a question of if, not when, they’ll ever see the light of day.