On The Bubble
Welcome to the bubble watch!
The Epic Poker league is set to launch with their first event on August 5, and while the initial roster was released in the spring, players can still qualify until August 1. This feature will offer fans a chance to see who is close to earning their card and what would-be qualifiers need to do in order to participate in the inaugural season of action.
To earn a card in the Epic Poker league, players must qualify in one of four levels. Most players who are on the bubble are looking for their 2-year card in the following categories:
Category A (must satisfy all three criteria):
• At least $2 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $1 million
• At least 1 major lifetime title
• At least 6 cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of at least $300,000 won
Category B (must satisfy both criteria):
• At least $1.25 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $750,000
• At least 9 cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of $600,000 won
Here's a look at the players on the two-year card earnings bubble:
| Name | Required Lifetime Earnings | Current Lifetime Earnings | How much lifetime do they need? | Required Recent Earnings | Current Earnings - Recent | How much do they need? | Trying to qualify in which 2-year card category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freddy Bonyadi | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | A |
| Curt Kohlberg | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Will Failla | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| John Myung | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | A |
| Mike Sexton | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Nicolas Levi | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Richard Ashby | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Andy Frakenberger | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Ralph (Rep) Porter | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Ben Lamb | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Matt Hawrilenko | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Chris Moorman | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Phil Laak | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Kyle Bowker | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Brian Rast | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Joe Cheong | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Bryan Devonshire | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Sandra Naujoks | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Lars Bonding | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Tom Koral | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| J.P. Kelly | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Paul Wasicka | -- | -- | -- | $300,000 | $296,851 | $3,149 | A |
| Roy Winston | $2 million | $1.972 million | $27,752 | $300,000 | $291,215 | $8,785 | A |
| Ross Boatman | -- | -- | -- | $600,000 | $576,206 | $23,794 | B |
| Ken Lennaard | -- | -- | -- | $600,000 | $563,274 | $36,726 | B |
| Kevin MacPhee | $1.250 million | $1.247 million | $2,803 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Randy Dorfman | $1.250 million | $1.241 million | $8,680 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Owen Crowe | $1.250 million | $1.227 million | $22,985 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Jeff Kimbler | $1.250 million | $1.231 million | $18,589 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Roy Alain Emile Bernard | $1.250 million | $1.222 million | $27,960 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Vadim Trincher | $1.250 million | $1.212 million | $37,689 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Joao Barbosa | $1.250 million | $1.244 million | $5,506 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Alex Bolotin | -- | -- | -- | $600,000 | $560,001 | $39,999 | B |
| Dario Alioto | $1.250 million | $1.237 million | $12,896 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Dan Idema | $1.250 million | $1.206 million | $43,104 | -- | -- | -- | B |
| Todd Brunson | $2 million | $1.925 million | $74,725 | $300,000 | $257,430 | $42,570 | A |
| Jason Somerville | -- | -- | -- | $300,000 | $248,230 | $51,770 | B |
| Bernard Lee | -- | -- | -- | $600,000 | $534,237 | $61,984 | B |
Players that are in green have recently qualified. Yellow denotes that they are within $50,000 of earning their card and players in red are over $50,000 away from securing their spot.
*Epic Poker will officially announce incremental Season 1 qualifying league members on or about 8/1/11.
To earn a card in the Epic Poker league, players must qualify in one of four levels. Most players who are on the bubble are looking for their 2-year card in the following categories:
Category A (must satisfy all three criteria):
• At least $2 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $1 million
• At least 1 major lifetime title
• At least 6 cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of at least $300,000 won
Category B must satisfy both criteria):
• At least $1.25 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $750,000
• At least 9 cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of $600,000 won
Here's a look at the players who need more cashes in order to earn a Season 1 tour card:
| Name | Current Cashes | How many more cashes? | Trying to qualify in which 2-year card category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Cody | -- | -- | Earned 3-year card | Jeff Shulman | -- | -- | B |
| Lyle Berman | -- | -- | A |
| Kirill Gerasmiov | -- | -- | B |
| Jani Sointula | -- | -- | B |
| William Reynolds | -- | -- | B |
| Sammy Farha | 5 | 1 | A |
| Prahlad Friedman | 5 | 1 | A |
| Minh Ly | 5 | 1 | A |
| Ram Vaswani | 5 | 1 | A |
| Marc Goodwin | 8 | 1 | B |
| Kevin Schaffel | 8 | 1 | B |
| Rasmus Nielsen | 8 | 1 | B |
| Dag Martin Mikkelsen | 8 | 1 | B |
| Peter Rho | 8 | 1 | B |
| Stefan Matsson | 8 | 1 | B |
| Kenny Tran | 8 | 1 | B |
| Jonathan Duhamel | 8 | 1 | B |
| John Gale | 4 | 2 | A |
| Crister Johansson | 4 | 2 | A |
| Jan Sorensen | 7 | 2 | B |
| David Oppenheim | 7 | 2 | B |
| John Duthie | 7 | 2 | B |
| Matthew Jarvis | 7 | 2 | B |
| Galen Hall | 7 | 2 | B |
Players that are in green have recently qualified. Yellow denotes that they are within one of earning their card and players in red are at least two cashes away from securing their spot.
*The Epic Poker league will officially announce incremental Season 1 qualifying league members on or about 8/1/11.
To earn a card in the Epic Poker league, players must qualify in one of four levels. These are the players who have recently achieved the qualifying criteria after the release of the initial list in early May (As of July 25, 2011).
No longer on the bubble
| Name | Which card level did they earn? |
|---|---|
| Curt Kohlberg | 2-year card |
| Will Failla | 2-year card |
| Freddy Bonyadi | 2-year card |
| David Peters | 2-year card |
| J.J. Liu | 2-year card |
| Max Lykov | 2-year card |
| Benjamin Spindler | 2-year card |
| Tamas Lendvai | 2-year card |
| Jake Cody | 3-year card |
| Mike Sexton | 2-year card |
| Nicolas Levi | 2-year card |
| Richard Ashby | 2-year card |
| Jeff Shulman | 2-year card |
| John Myung | 2-year card |
| Andy Frankenberger | 2-year card |
| John Hennigan | 2-year card |
| Lyle Berman | 2-year card |
| Kirill Gerasimov | 2-year card |
| Jani Sointula | 2-year card |
| Ben Lamb | 3-year card |
| Phil Laak | 2-year card |
| Rep Porter | 2-year card |
| Chris Moorman | 2-year card |
| Matt Hawrilenko | 2-year card |
| Kyle Bowker | 2-year card |
| Joe Cheong | 2-year card |
| Brian Rast | 2-year card |
| Chris Moore | 2-year card |
| Bryan Devonshire | 2-year card |
| Lars Bonding | 2-year card |
| William Reynolds | 2-year card |
| J.P. Kelly | 2-year card |
| Thomas Koral | 2-year card |
| Sandra Naujoks | 2-year card |
*FS+G will officially announce incremental Season 1 qualifying league members on or about 8/1/11
As the list of players continues to grow, players also have the potential to earn higher cards prior to August 1, 2011. Here's a look at the players who have had enough recent success to earn a longer tour card.
To see the full list of qualifying Season 1 players, click here.
Transactions will be announced as they occur.
League Transactions
| Name | Previous Card | New Card | Recent accomplishment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ted Forrest | 2-year card (A) | 5-year card | Two EPT cashes for $60,560 |
| Scott Seiver | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | Winner, WPT Championship for $1.6 million |
| Justin Bonomo | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | Fifth-place WPT Super High Roller |
| Humberto Brenes | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | Event 3 WSOP final table |
| Greg Raymer | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | WSOP cashes in Events 13 and 16 |
| Allen Bari | 2-year card (B) | 3-year card | WSOP Event 4 win |
| Bertrand Grospellier | 3-year card | 5-year card | WSOP Event 21 win was third major title |
| David Bach | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | WSOP HORSE cash put him over $2.5 million lifetime requirement |
| Fabrice Soulier | 2-year card (B) | 3-year card | WSOP HORSE victory |
| Sam Stein | 2-year card (B) | 3-year card | WSOP pot-limit Omaha victory |
| Jason Mercier | 3-year card (A) | 5-year card | WSOP pot-limit Omaha victory |
| Lee Markholt | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | WSOP cash put him over $2.5 million in career earnings |
| Max Pescatori | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | Six WSOP cashes in 2011 |
| Ben Lamb | 2-year card (A) | 3-year card | WSOP bracelet, main event final table |
Follow Andrew Feldman on Twitter: @AFeldmanESPN