FS+G Unveils Epic Poker League

For months, players and fans alike have been unsure of what to call the Federated Sports and Gaming professional poker league. They now have an answer – even if it’s one that isn’t incredibly popular.

FS+G announced Monday that their invitational league will be named the Epic Poker League. The EPL will begin its first season on August 5^th at the Palms in Las Vegas, which will host all five first season events.

“This is no ordinary tournament league,” FS+G COO Jeffrey Grosman said. “Our fields will be some of the toughest in poker history and we expect the competition to be nothing less than epic. In selecting a name that could live up to the players’ incredible skill and talent, epic was a natural fit.”

The public response to the name was probably less enthusiastic than FS+G would have liked.

“Appears the focus group they hired to name the league was tasked with finding the most overused cliche term in the entire poker vernacular,” said Mike Johnson on the twoplustwo.com forums.

“The name's destined for obsolescence just like Groovy Poker, Like Totally Gnarly Poker, and Hella Bad Poker,” tweeted the makers of the web series The Micros.

Regardless of the name, fans will come to enjoy the EPL if the quality of the fields (and the play) is high. Players are required to meet predetermined requirements in order to receive tour cards which give two, three, or five year exemptions into league events. The requirements mix lifetime accomplishments with recent success; for instance, earning a five-year tour card requires a player to have earned at least $4 million in lifetime cashes (with no one cash counting for more than $2 million towards that total), to have won at least 3 major titles, and to have cashed at least nine times in major events since 2008 for a total of at least $600,000. At the lower end, players can qualify for a two-year card with as little as $1.25 million in winnings.

Players can also earn their way into single events by playing in the Pro/Am tournament which precedes each league event. These tournaments will allow the top nine finishers to play in the Main Event.