On paper, it was a great idea. On a par with the Champions League for football in the mind’s eye of some of the smartest minds ever to grace the poker felt, the Epic Poker League was born in 2011.

Even if you’re the most casual of poker fans with the merest hint of recall for the past, the year of 2011 probably raised a red flag of some kind to you. That’s because in 2011, poker’s ‘Black Friday’ hit the industry like a wrecking ball. The collapse of Full Tilt Poker had many knock-on effects, but the cancellation of the Epic Poker League, while not immediately related came at a time where it was difficult to see any ambitious poker operation surviving.

Certainly anything not directly related to PokerStars had real trouble riding the year out. The Epic Poker League began with it’s first-ever four-day event between August 9th – 12th, with a buy-in of $20,000 and 137 entries. With a prize-pool of $3.1 million and just 18 players making a profit, the first event featured six tremendous players once the action got down to the six-handed final table. There was a former WSOP Main Event winner in Huck Seed, popular PokerStars Team Pro Jason Mercier, the irrepressible late Gavin Smith. None of them made the top two, in fact, with Erik Seidel edged out by David ‘Chino’ Rheem, who walked away with a cool million.

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