Epic Failure Of The Epic Poker League

The Epic Poker League has run into some serious trouble, after the company that owns and manages it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 29th February.
Following the announcement, EPL Commissioner Annie Duke was quick to clarify the situation by stating that; “this is a reorganization, not a liquidation,” while Executive Chairman Jeffrey Pollack posted the following explanation via the Federated Sports + Gaming website:
“..our goal is to keep the Epic Poker League and all of our key initiatives – including 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. We will most likely accomplish this by entering into an agreement with another firm that shares our passion and vision – a process we had been working toward prior to the filing.”
The ambitious Epic Poker League was launched in 2011 by ‘Federated Sports + Gaming’ with the intention of becoming the PGA equivalent of the poker world.
However, controversy for the EPL was never far behind after David “Chino” Rheem won Tournament Series One for $1 million, while a slew of pros kicked-up a fuss about him owning them money. Rheem’s list of alleged victims at the time included Will “molswi47” Molson, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Ben Lamb, and Joseph Cheong.
Next, the EPL courted more controversy after disqualifying registered sex offender Michael DiVita from taking a seat at Tournament Series Two, even after qualifying for the $20,000 event via a satellite.
Now, the all-ready postponed  Tournament Series Four is likely to be further delayed, while the chances of the EPL completing its much-touted Season One ending $1 Million Freeroll is in jeopardy, especially with no buy-ins required.
As of yet, no financial reasons have been given for the EPL’s current predicament, but a prediction made my Daniel Negreanu back in August 2011 on his fullcontactpoker blog may hold a possible explanation. In his article, Negreanu wrote the following:
“I don’t think it’s possible to bring in enough revenue to survive… Millions of dollars being given away to players, money spent on a TV time buy, money spent on staff, etc. with no way of recouping those funds through licensing or sponsorship. Networks aren’t going to pay you for poker programming because the necessary ratings just aren’t there.”


Poker News
09 Jan 2013
Just a few short years ago Erick Lindgren was on top of the poker world with $8,508,354 in live tournament winnings, including a WSOP bracelet and 2 WPT titles. However, in a dramatic example of the highs and lows of professional gambling the 36 year old recently confessed to having a serious gambling problem and
02 Aug 2012
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrach took to his twitter account recently to warn the poker community from accepting any bets from fellow poker player Giorgio Medici (right photo), who apparently failed to pay up on a $100k WSOP prop bet. The two men were in Las Vegas competing at the World Series Of Poker, with Giorgio
03 Apr 2012
Six years after opening for business, Poker Nordica has announced it is soon to shut its doors for good. Despite the imminent closure of the poker room, a visit to the site will reveal no public notice with the information instead having been communicated by e-mail to its customers. The site first launched back in
07 Mar 2012
US poker pro Erick “Edog” Lindgren is one of the games biggest talents and is currently listed 21st on poker’s ‘All Time Money List’ with $8,457,543 in winnings. However, Erick Lindgren’s fortunes took a dive recently, after Full Tilt’s shut down deprived him of an alleged $3 million annual salary, with the 35 year-old believed