Event Overview
DATES:
December 14-18, 2011
BUY-IN:
$20,000
ADDED MONEY:
$400,000
PRIZE POOL:
$2,360,000
FIRST PLACE:
$801,680
STRUCTURE:
Mix-Max
EpicPoker.com, of course, was there to capture it all, from the wild times of the Supersatellites, to the history and emotion on display when Doyle Brunson accepted his Lifetime Card, to the most controversial hand of the year (the Bubble Hand), to the spectacle of watching the best players in the world with deep stacks at short-handed tables, slugging it out for 2011 poker's last hope for glory.
Complete Broadcast Schedule can be found here.
by Michael Craig
Day 1 of Epic Poker’s Mix-Max Main Event on December 14, 2011 featured a remarkable meeting of poker’s best players. All ten of the Global Poker Index Top Ten completed. This incredible group of players was responsible for winning over $26 million in 2011, winning 8 tournaments including 4 WSOP bracelets, and making 7 more final tables in $10,000-or-larger-buy-in WSOP events.
Here is a look at who they are and how they fared in the Mix-Max event:
Number 1 – Bertrand Grospellier
$2.2 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Won his first WSOP bracelet, the Seven Card Stud Championship.
Finished third in the WSOP No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship.
Won two events in one week at EPT Grand Final in Madrid worth over $1 million.
Result: Busted late on Day 1 to Todd Terry. Tweeted, “Disappointed … but could have played a little better in a few spots.”
Number 2 – Erik Seidel
Over $6.5 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
In events with $5,000 or greater buy-ins, he made ten final tables, with four wins and no finish below fourth.
Final-tabled Epic’s first two Main Events, finishing second and fourth, earning $788,000.
Result: Erik Seidel was chip leader at the end of Day 1. As improbable as it seemed for a player to finish second-fourth-first in Epic’s three events, it was nonetheless a surprise when Erik went out on Day 2.
Number 3 – Jason Mercier
$2.5 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Won his second WSOP bracelet, $5,000 PLO 6-Handed.
Won two more high-roller events, $10,000 Bounty Shootout at Mohegan Sun in April, and the $100,000 buy-in at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December.
Finished third in Epic Poker’s first Main Event.
Result: Lost half his chips, struggled back. Still in action at the end of Day 1, just below the chip average. By the end of Day 2, following some more close hands, he had made it to the chip average. He made it through Day 3 to the money in middle chip position, one of only two players in the GPI Top Ten to make the money.
Number 4 – Eugene Katchalov
$2.5 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Won his first WSOP bracelet, in $1,500 Steven-Card Stud.
Won PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller in January.
Finished third at the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
Finished eighth at Epic Poker’s first Main Event.
Result: Still in action at the end of Day 1, above the chip average. He was the last player to bust on Day 2.
Number 5 – Sam Trickett
$4.6 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Won and finished runner-up at the Aussie Millions A$100,000 and A$250,000 Super High Roller events, earning nearly $2.9 million in one week.
Won the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event at Cannes.
Finished eleventh in Epic Poker’s first Main Event.
Result: Busted on Day 1. According to his Twitter account, “ran 2 huge bluffs trying to make them fold the hands I thought they had … but they didn’t.”
Number 6 – Sam Stein
$2.5 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Won his first WSOP bracelet, in $3,000 PLO.
Finished third in the WSOP PLO Championship.
Won the €10,000 8-Max NLHE event at EPT San Remo.
Finished fourth at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.
Result: Finished Day 1 among the top ten in chips. He was just above the chip average after Day 2. He went out in 20th place on Day 3, losing with Q-Q to Amnon Filippi’s A-K.
Number 7 – Shawn Buchanan
Almost $1.1 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Won PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $5,000 8-Mix Championship.
Finished runner-up in the WSOP HORSE Championship.
At WSOP Europe in Cannes, in eight consecutive days of play, finished runner-up in the €10,000 Mixed NLHE and sixth in the Main Event.
Result: Still in action at the end of Day 1, just below the chip average. Shawn busted midway through Day 2.
Number 8 – Chris Moorman
$2.3 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Two WSOP final tables, finishing third in $2,500 NLHE 6-Handed and runner-up in $10,000 NLHE 6-Handed Championship, earning over $1 million in five WSOP cashes.
Finished runner-up in the WSOP Europe Main Event in Cannes.
Result: Busted on Day 1.
Number 9 – Sorel Mizzi
$1.9 million in 2011 tournament earnings.
Final Table, Aussie Millions Main Event.
Won Rendez-vou a Paris €15,000 High Roller.
Result: Ended Day 1 above the chip average. By the end of Day 2, he had even fewer chips than at the end of Day 1, one of the shortest stacks in the field. Day 3 was also a struggle, at one time surviving an all-in with K-Q against A-K to avoid elimination and double up. When he made a lucky runner-runner straight, he joked, “And that is how you get to the top ten of the GPI.” That pot allowed him to finish in the money, still with one of the shortest stacks.
Number 10 – Matt Marafioti
Over $500,000 in 2011 tournament earnings.
Quarterfinalist, WSOP $2,500 Heads-Up Championship.
Seventh place, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller.
Runner up, $5,000 NLHE, Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Result: Busted late on Day 1.
For our Epic Poker League members, we track four important statistics that give insight into each player’s playing style. These stats are VPIP, PRFA Index, POFA Index and SDWN. Explained in detail below, these four simple stats provide a picture of how loose or tight and how aggressive or passive a player is. It is the understanding of where a player falls on the spectrum of loose/tight and aggressive/passive that is the most crucial to proper evaluation of a player or opponent at the poker table. Player Hands Mike McDonald 35.20% 1.4 2.6 52.20% 491 David Steicke 41.60% 0.9 2.5 60.40% 486 Fabrice Soulier 28.50% 1.2 1.9 41.70% 466 Erik Seidel 33.50% 1.1 2 42.10% 367 Nam Le 19.00% 2.1 2.3 38.50% 263 Isaac Baron 27.40% 2 3.1 50.00% 241 Dutch Boyd 21.70% 1.1 1.7 33.30% 212 Sean Getzwiller 17.50% 1.3 5.5 66.70% 206 Adam Levy 19.80% 1.3 7.5 50.00% 197 Amit Makhija 19.40% 1.8 1 87.50% 175 Tim West 14.60% 5 1.2 40.00% 164 Matt Glantz 17.20% 2.1 2 55.60% 163 Allen Bari 24.80% 3 2.3 43.80% 145 Mike Watson 25.20% 2 1.2 18.20% 143 Jonathan Little 20.30% 1.3 6 60.00% 138 Matt Marafioti 16.70% 2.7 0 33.30% 66 Christian Harder 25.00% 0.9 1.3 50.00% 52 Marco Johnson 19.20% 1.5 0 0.00% 52 Chris Moore 26.90% 2.5 0 33.30% 52 Chino Rheem 37.50% 2 0 25.00% 32 Dan O'Brien 17.60% 0 0 0.00% 17 Jaime Kaplan 38.50% 4 3 0.00% 13 David "Bakes Baker 33.30% 1 0 0.00% 6
VPIP: Voluntarily Put In Pot
Simply: how often does a player voluntarily enter a pot? VPIP records the percentage of hands where a player chooses to voluntarily put money into the pot before the flop. Put another way, VPIP is the percentage of hands a player chooses to play rather than fold pre-flop.
VPIP answers the question about whether a player is loose or tight. The higher the VPIP, the looser the player. The lower the VPIP, the tighter the player.
In general, in a 9-handed game of poker, you will see a VPIP range of about 15% to 25% among the top poker players in the world. As the number of players at the table goes down, a player’s VPIP will generally go up. In a 6-Max game, for example, you will usually see a VPIP range between 20% and 30% among the game’s top players. When play gets very short-handed, with 4 players or fewer, VPIP can reach well above 40%. In heads-up play you will often see VPIP’s over 90%.
PRFA INDEX: PReFlop Aggression Index
Simply: How aggressively does a player choose to enter a pot? When a player is first into a pot before the flop, they can enter by just calling the big blind amount or by raising. The PRFA Index measures a player’s pre-flop aggressiveness by looking at the balance between entering the pot raising and entering the pot calling.
The PRFA Index is calculated by taking the number of times a player chooses to enter a pot with a raising action pre-flop divided by the number of times the player enters a pot with a calling action pre-flop, creating a ratio of pre-flop raises to pre-flop calls.
Because pre-flop raises are in the numerator and pre-flop calls are in the denominator, a PRFA of over 1 will indicate a player who raises more often than they call when they enter the pot. A PRFA index of 2 indicates a player who enters the pot with a raise twice as often as they enter the pot with a call, obviously, a highly aggressive player. A PRFA of less than 1 indicates a player who tends to call or limp into pots more often than they raise to enter.
Among top players, the PRFA Index will generally range between 1 and 2 but you will occasionally see a PRFA of above 3, especially in shorter handed situations.
POFA INDEX: POst Flop Aggression Index
Simply, how aggressive is the player after the flop? How often does the player attempt to win the pot post-flop with either a bet or a raise? Aggressive post-flop actions are actions where a player gives their opponent the opportunity to fold, thereby giving themselves the opportunity to win the pot right then without a showdown. For the purposes of the POFA Index, bets and raises post-flop are considered aggressive actions as those actions can win the pot right there, giving their opponent(s) the opportunity to fold. Calls and folds are considered passive actions. If a player folds post-flop they obviously cannot win the pot. If a player just calls a bet they are not giving their opponent an opportunity to fold. Checks are considered neutral and are not counted in the index.
The POFA Index is calculated by taking the number of actions post-flop that are bets and raises divided by the number of post-flop actions that are calls and folds, creating a ratio of post-flop bets and raises to post-flop calls and folds.
Because the aggressive actions are in the numerator and the passive actions are in the denominator, the higher the POFA, the more aggressive the player is post-flop, the more a player attempts to win hands without a showdown. A POFA Index of over 1 indicates a player who bets and raises more often than they call or fold post-flop. A POFA index of 2 indicates a player who bets or raises twice as often as they call or fold, obviously, a highly aggressive post-flop player whose hands do not go to showdown that often. A POFA of less than 1 indicates a player who tends to call or fold post-flop often than they bet or raise which you will rarely see among professional players.
Among top players, the POFA Index will generally range between 1.5 and 2.5 but you will occasionally see a P0FA well above 3, especially in shorter handed or bubble situations.
SDWN: ShowDown WiN percentage
Simply: SDWN tells you how adept a player is at getting their money in the pot with the best hand. The higher the percentage of time that a player wins the pot when the hand goes to showdown, when the pot is won because the cards have gone face-up, the better the player is at getting their money in the pot with the best hand.
SDWN is calculated by taking the percentage of pots a player wins.
Among the best players in the world, SDWN should range around 50%. At 50% that means the player is winning the hand 50% of the time a pot goes to showdown, meaning they are unlikely to get their money in worse than a race situation.
