Epic Poker League Main Event champion wins $1 million

David “Chino” Rheem of Los Angeles became the Epic Poker League’s first Main Event champion Friday night at the Palms.
 
Rheem defeated Poker Hall of Fame member Erik Seidel in the $20,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-handed event to win $1 million. Seidel earned $604,330 for finishing as runner-up.
 
The four-day Main Event capped the first tournament of the upstart Epic Poker League, which is operated by Federated Sports + Gaming.
 
The league has scheduled additional events at the Palms for September, December and January.
 
Rheem and Seidel earned seats in the season-ending $1 million Epic Poker League Championship Freeroll, which is open to the 27 players with the highest earnings in the four regular season Epic Poker League Main Events.
 
Rheem, who finished 7th in the 2008 World Series of Poker’s Main Event, now has world tournament poker lifetime earnings of more than $4.7 million.