Chino Rheem wins inaugural Epic Poker League for $1,000,000

Chino Rheem wins inaugural Epic Poker League for $1,000,000

Monday, 15 August 2011

Former November Niner David “Chino” Rheem has won the first ever Epic Poker League event; he defeated Erik Seidel heads-up to claim the championship ring as well as $1,000,000 in prize money.

Rheem defeated a six-handed final table including Hasan Habib, Jason Mercier, Huck Seed, Gavin Smith and Seidel. Seed was the first to exit, his shortstack getting him no better than sixth place money and just over $100,000. He was followed by Gavin Smith and then end-of-Day-3 chip leader Hasan Habib, who exited in fourth place.
This left us with Rheem, Seidel and Mercier playing three-handed with fairly equal chips, though Mercier had the greatest support on the sidelines. However, he lost a big coinflip with 5-5 versus Seidel’s A-K and shortly afterwards shoved 9-8 from the small blind into big blind Seidel’s K-J, exiting in third.
A couple of hours of heads-up play followed, during which “The Seiborg” was overpowered by Rheem’s aggressiveness and a run of shabby cards. The final hand exemplified this – the two got all the money in with Seidel holding A-Q and Rheem flipping over the dominating A-K which made a better top pair on the flop and rivered the nut flush to eliminate Seidel in second. The full final table payouts were as follows:
1.Chino Rheem $1,000,000
2.Erik Seidel $604,330
3.Jason Mercier $360,970
4.Hasan Habib $237,560
5.Gavin Smith $154,260
6.Huck Seed $107,980



Tags: Chino Rheem, Epic Poker League