Steicke, Seidel Lead Epic Poker League Final Table

The Epic Poker League’s second Main Event has winded down to a final table of eight players, with David Steicke coming into the last day of play with the largest chip stack. But the biggest story is likely the player who finds himself in 2^nd place: none other than the world’s hottest tournament player, Erik Seidel.

Seidel, who finished 2^nd in the first EPL Main Event, is in great position to achieve yet another high finish, all but assuring him a spot in the season-ending championship event. He comes into the final day with just over 1 million in chips, just a few thousand behind Steicke.

Of course, plenty of other notables are also at the final table, and with no player having under 350,000 chips, it’s truly anyone’s game. Isaac Baron finds himself in a clear third place with 876,000 chips, while Fabrice Soulier has a solid stack of over 500,000. The bottom four players are tightly packed at under 400,000 chips, including Dutch Boyd, Nam Le, Mike McDonald and Sean Getzwiller. Notable is the inclusion of Getzwiller, as he does not have an EPL tour card; instead, he earned his way in by reaching the final table of the EPL Pro-Am.

The third day of the tournament began with just 23 players fighting for 12 paying spots in the money. A couple of notables quickly hit the rail, including Chino Rheem, who won the first EPL event, and Jamie Kaplan, who qualified through the Pro-Am. Kaplan nearly completed an incredible story; he finished 10^th in the Pro-Am, but was awarded a seat in the Main Event after one of the top nine players was forced to withdraw from the tournament. Kaplan then ran that seat into an early chip lead, but was unable to sustain his momentum for long enough to cash in the tournament.

The top 12 players were all guaranteed at least $46,020. Now, the final eight players will come back on Friday to determine a winner. First place for the second EPL event is worth $782,410.