Epic Poker League Pro/Am #2 Day 2: Mueller Wins; Hellmuth, Le, Hoivold All Earn Seats
The Epic Poker League $1,500 Pro/Am #2 concluded on Sunday evening with nine seats awarded to the $20,000 Main Event. Seats were awarded to Phil Hellmuth, Greg Mueller, Nam Le, Andreas Hoivold, Sean Getzwiller, Brandon Meyers, Russell Rosenbum, Jeremy Ausmus and Michael DiVita.
Out of the group, Hellmuth, Le and Mueller already hold EPL membership cards, so winning their seats means they won't have to cough up $20,000 of their own money to play. Hellmuth holds a five-year card, Le a three-year card and Mueller and two-year B card.
Meyers and Getzwiller were able to win their second seat to an EPL Main Event from a Pro/Am. Both scored seats to the first six-max event where Meyers eventually went on to finish ninth for over $70,000. Ausmus, Rosenblum, Hoivold and DiVita will all be playing in their first EPL event on Tuesday.
The original plan for the returning field of 20 was for play to stop when nine players remained. This was because every place earned the same amount: a $20,000 seat. The event only attracted 97 players, and the $180,000 guarantee was not met, leaving no extra cash to play for. There were some Global Poker Index points up for grabs, though, and some of the players wanted to play out for the points. After Jamie Kaplan bubbled in tenth place, the players said they would be playing very fast and crazy and agreed to reduce the levels to five minutes. From there, Mueller took over.
After Hoivold took out DiVita and Ausmus on the same hand, Mueller finished him off and amassed a massive chip stack. Mueller then busted Getzwiller in sixth place and Hellmuth in third to get heads up with Le. From there, play didn't last much longer.
Mueller limped the button and Le shoved all-in from the small blind. Mueller snap-called with J♠J♣, successfully trapping Le and his K♣9♥. The board proved no help for Le as it ran out 7♦4♠3♠5♥9♠ and he was eliminated in second place, leaving Mueller with all the chips, the most GPI points, and the title.
The $20,000 EPL Main Event #2 will begin Tuesday in Las Vegas at Palms Resort Casino. The event kicks off 1200 PDT (2000 BST) and PokerNews will be there to provide you with all of the live coverage. These nine players will all be there along with plenty of other notables, so you won't want to miss any of the action.
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