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It was announced this morning that the Epic Poker League, in the midst of their inaugural season of action, has secured international broadcast rights for their programming with the preeminent poker broadcaster in Europe, The Poker Channel.

The partnership between the EPL and The Poker Channel will allow the league’s 70 hours of recorded for television tournaments to be broadcast to approximately 30 million satellite and cable homes throughout the European continent. The EPL will make its debut in Europe on The Poker Channel beginning on January 15 (check local listings for exact times) over such networks as Sky in the United Kingdom, Martens in Germany and Canal Digital in Finland. In the United States, the EPL has already secured broadcast rights on the cable channel Velocity and on the regular airwaves on CBS.

Both sides are thrilled to bring the EPL events to a new audience overseas. “Expanding our television coverage into Europe is a step forward for building a global fan base for Epic Poker,” stated Katherine Kowal, the Vice President of League Operations and Programming for the ownership behind the EPL, Federated Sports & Gaming. “Poker Channel Europe, with quality distribution and broad reach, will help us introduce our content to a very important market and audience.”

“With the incredible success of Epic Poker League’s first three events and high quality production, they are a great partner for the Poker Channel,” echoed Chris White, the Director of Business Development for The Poker Channel’s owners, Gaming Media Group. “We’re proud to bring this unique format featuring the world’s best players to millions of Poker Channel viewers.”

Two of the three EPL tournaments have already been fully broadcast in the United States. The inaugural event, a $20,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament, brought out 137 of the biggest players in the game. In the end, poker professional David “Chino” Rheem was able to vanquish veteran Erik Seidel to take down a $1 million first place prize. That final table also included such notable names as Jason Mercier, Hasan Habib, Gavin Smith and Huck Seed.

The second tournament, a $20,000 Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament, was highly competitive despite only drawing a field of 97 players. Seidel became the first player to make two final tables on the burgeoning professional circuit, eventually finishing fourth, while “young gun” Mike McDonald emerged as the champion over David Steicke and Fabrice Soulier.

The third tournament, a $20,000 “Mix-Max” No Limit Hold’em event, has yet to hit the airwaves. In the best two of three heads up final (and the longest final table in the EPL’s young history), Chris Klodnicki eventually defeated Andrew Lichtenberger for the crown. Joe Tehan, Michael Mizrachi and Scott Clements also made the final table action.

The third EPL event is set for broadcast in the United States beginning in February. Velocity will have three hours of the early action on three consecutive Friday evenings in February (the 10th, 17th and the 24th), while CBS will broadcast an hour of the tournament on February 26.

The fourth tournament on the EPL schedule, which was supposed to have been played in February, has been postponed until later in the spring due to the plethora of tournaments internationally early in 2012, and the League Championship event, featuring the top 27 points earners from the first four tournaments, will occur after the rescheduled fourth event.

The Poker Channel’s addition of the EPL continues to make them the “worldwide leader” when it comes to televised poker events. Already broadcasting such programming as “High Stakes Poker,” the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour, the Epic Poker League seems like a natural extension of their already popular poker offerings.

Day Two play at the European Poker Tour stop at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in London is in full swing, with the final numbers for the tournament exceeding expectations and bringing new faces to the top of the leaderboard.

After 280 players stepped up on Friday with their £5000 buy in, a stunning 411 came to the tables on Saturday for action. This brought the numbers for the tournament to an impressive 691 runners, far below last year’s record field of 848 but strong for the current state of the tournament poker world. A prize pool of £3.35 million will be divvied up between 102 players who cash in this tournament, with the eventual champion walking off with a nice £750,000 payday.

World Poker Tour champion John Gale was the early leader on Saturday, but he was unable to maintain it throughout the day. Although he would make it through the evening action, he finished the day with 118,700 in chips, slightly more than what he had after the second break. While Gale was in the Top Ten for Saturday’s play, several other players were able to pass him for the Day 1B chip honors.

The most notable pros from Day 1B were Sorel Mizzi and Justin Bonomo. The two young pros were able to garner chip stacks of 129,100 and 126,100, respectively, which was good for fifth and sixth place among Saturday’s players. They were outpaced, however, by Benny Spindler, who took the Day 1B chip lead with a 160,800 stack, and Raj Vohra, who finished play Saturday night with 156,600.

Among the top professionals who were eliminated on Day 1B were Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Selbst, while former EPT London champion Vicky Coren, David Williams and Jason Mercier came back on Sunday for play.

While Spindler and Vohra’s performance was exceptional, it wasn’t enough to knock off the Day 1A chip leader, Lukasz Golczyk. Golczyk started the day on Sunday with 211,600 in chips for the overall lead in the tournament. Once the 162 survivors from Day 1A and the 255 from Day 1B came to the felt today, Spindler and Vohra were in second and third place, respectively, while Umberto Vitagliano and Steven Warburton rounded out the Top Five.

Early play on Day 2 hasn’t been kind to some of the chip leaders from the dual Day Ones. Spindler has been able to increase his stack by almost double, currently sitting at 303K in chips. Golczyk, for his part, has only put another 17,000 in chips into his stack and is currently sitting at 228K, good for eighth place at this time. Some of the professional names on the leaderboard at the start of Sunday’s play have also been eliminated from the tournament.

2009 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Ville Wahlbeck was an early elimination, as his pocket Jacks were bested by Anton Ionel’s A-Q when a Queen came on the turn and, adding insult to injury, an Ace came on the river. Bonomo was another victim of the early action, busting from the tournament when his pocket fours were outrun by Mercier’s A-J. Joining Wahlbeck and Bonomo on the rail are other top pros such as Noah Boeken, Chris Moorman and Soren Kongsgaard.

With the final level of the day getting ready to start, Matthijs Remie has moved into the chip lead with 390,000 in front of him. Jonathan Layani (325K), Spindler (303K), Sam Grafton (280K) and Basile Yaiche (268K) round out the Top Five behind Remie. Mizzi (180K), Jake Cody (165K), Humberto Brenes (132K) and the legendary Doyle Brunson (playing in his first EPT tournament) are threats that are lurking down the leaderboard.

Currently there are 210 players remaining in the tournament, but expect that number to drop below the 200 mark before play ends this afternoon. The money bubble will most likely burst tomorrow, with the championship of this latest EPT stop determined on Thursday.

Battling through the largest ever tournament field in Spanish history, Germany’s Martin Schleich overcame a difficult final table to take home the title at the European Poker Tour stop at the Casino de Barcelona last night.

The eight players who came to the final table on Thursday spanned the globe, but were heavily weighted with the hometown Spanish players. There were four Spaniards, a Frenchman and a German in the mix, but the attention of much of the crowd was on two top pros that made the final table. The Ukraine’s Eugene Katchalov, looking to complete the mythical poker “Triple Crown,” was in tough shape at the start on the short stack, while Israel’s Saar Wilf was looking to take down his first major title.

After a noon start, the players wasted little time getting into the action. Katchalov improved on his standing by doubling up twice in the early going, but the action wouldn’t be as kind to the final woman left in the event. France’s Isabel Baltazar got her stack to the center with a pair of ladies, but ran into Katchalov’s pocket Aces. After an uneventful board, she was eliminated in eighth place.

One of the Spaniards at the table, Juan Manuel Perez, was eliminated by chip leader Tomeu Gomilla in seventh before Katchalov would strike again. This time Katchalov, holding pocket threes, was able to outrun a short stacked Wilf’s A-2, moving the Ukrainian up the ladder again and sending Wilf out of the event in sixth place.

Katchalov would continue to run well through the final table, eventually moving into the chip lead. After Schleich defeated Gomilla in a classic race situation, pocket Queens against A-K, to eliminate Gomilla in fifth, Katchalov would once again dismiss one of his tablemates. After Raul Mestre pushed his stack to the center, Katchalov made the call and was in difficult straits. Behind Mestre’s A-5 of diamonds with his Q-10 off suit, Katchalov would eventually wind up with a Queen high straight to eliminate Mestre in fourth place.

The remaining three players – Katchalov, Schleich and Spain’s Dragan Kostic – would then enter into an extended battle for the crown. Over four hours of play, none of the men could take a firm hold of the final table. When the end came for one of the players, it was in a truly dramatic fashion.

Katchalov, whose earlier rush seemed to leave him, found a hand to get the remainder of his chips to the center with, pocket sevens. He was called down by Schleich, however, who had him trumped with pocket nines. The first card in the window was a surprising seven, sending Katchalov’s followers into a frenzy, but once the cards were fanned, a nine was in the mix as well. The set over set situation didn’t change by the river, eliminating Katchalov short of his Triple Crown aspirations in third place.

When heads up play began, Schleich held an almost 2:1 lead over Kostic, who was attempting to become the first Spaniard to win the EPT Barcelona. Kostic was able to pull close to Schleich during the heads up action but would fall short. Kostic reraised all in on the final hand with A-7, only to find that Schleich had him trumped with an A-9. After a Q-5-2-K-9 board was revealed, the European Poker Tour had a new champion in Martin Schleich.

1. Martin Schleich (Germany) €850,000
2. Dragan Kostic (Spain) €532,000
3. Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) €315,000
4. Raul Mestre (Spain) €244,000
5. Tomeu Gomila (Spain) €185,000
6. Saar Wilf (Israel) €145,000
7. Juan Manuel Perez (Spain) €105,000
8. Isabel Baltazar (France) €73,000

The 811 player field for the tournament was impressive on several accounts and EPT officials have to be encouraged about the rest of the season for 2011. The Barcelona tournament was the second stop for the Season Eight schedule of the EPT and it improved on what were dismal numbers from the first stop of the season in Tallinn, Estonia. That tournament only drew a 282 player field, vastly down from the 420 runners who took to the felt in 2010. This year’s EPT Barcelona also set a record for the largest ever tournament in Spain, eclipsing last year’s 758 player field for the event.

The reasons for the increase could be twofold. Barcelona tournaments normally draw better than other European events due to the picturesque locale. Secondly, the EPT tournament this year featured a €5000 buy in versus the €10,000 buy in of 2010.

The next stop for the EPT is in one of its old stomping grounds, the Hilton London Metropole for the EPT London. That tournament begins on September 30, with the final table to be played out in the £5000 tournament scheduled for October 6.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is being investigated by Major League Baseball for his participation in a high-stakes poker game that included A-list celebrities such as Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Rodriguez, currently on the disabled list following knee surgery, could face a suspension if his participation in the games is confirmed, according to an anonymous MLB executive.

Star magazine reported on Wednesday that Rodriguez “played in an underground, illegal poker game where cocaine was openly used,” according to poker pro Dan Bilzerian. Another source told Star that Rodriguez was in attendance when a fight nearly broke at one of the games and added that Rodriguez “tried to distance himself from the game” once the violence broke out.

“He didn’t want to deal with it at all,” the source told Star. “He was like, ‘OK, whatever. It’s your game.’ I would estimate A-Rod lost, like, a few thousand dollars that night. After everything that happened, he paid-up and left.”

World Series of Poker bracelet winner Kenny Tran and high-stakes regular Rick Salomon also participated in the game, according to Bilzerian.

Regarding Rodriguez, Major League Baseball released a statement on Wednesday: “We take this matter very seriously and have been investigating it since the initial investigation. As part of the investigation, the commissioner’s office will interview Mr. Rodriguez.”

In 2005, Rodriguez was warned about gambling in underground poker clubs by the Yankees and by baseball commissioner Bud Selig. The league has attempted to distance itself from any sort of gambling, and while poker doesn’t fall in the same category as sports betting, the fact Rodriguez ignored the commissioner’s demands could be enough to warrant a suspension.

Richard Rubenstein, Rodriguez’s spokesman, told the New York Daily News in July that his client “has not participated in these poker games.” However, according to a report by RadarOnline, a source claims Rodriguez played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at the Beverly Hills mansion of a Hollywood record label owner.

The games Rodriguez allegedly played in could be the same for which Spiderman star Tobey Maguire is being sued. Maguire is set to appear in court on January 30, 2012, following a lawsuit filed by a trustee for investors seeking the return of winnings that Maguire won while playing in multiple high-stakes cash games.

Maguire is being sued for more than $300,000 for winnings he earned from the invitation-only Texas Hold ‘em games, organized by businessman Bradley Ruderman, who’s currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for running a Ponzi scheme to pay off debts.

Maguire is among 22 people, including former High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan and private equity billionaire Alec Gores, sued by Ehrenberg. Rodriguez was not mentioned in the suit despite allegedly playing in at least one of the games organized by Ruderman, Star reports.

ESPN New York reports that the league has yet to positively determine that Rodriguez took part in the games, but the anonymous MLB executive says that Selig has at least two investigators working on the case.

“I could see us trying to pursue this a lot further,” the executive told ESPN. “The truth is still out there somewhere.”

The $10,000 Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to launch this week, but despite the thousands of players expected to compete, the electric atmosphere, and all the pomp and circumstance that comes with the biggest poker tournament in the world, there will be a noticeable void at the Rio this year.  Doyle Brunson will not be in attendance.

“The Godfather of Poker,” arguably the most famous poker player of all-time and one of eighteen living members of the Poker Hall of Fame, announced early Monday morning that he will be sitting out the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship this year, tweeting, “No main event for me.”  In the same post, he took a jab at the United States Department of Justice for its actions against online poker, adding, “maybe the DOJ will stake me.”

Despite that staking comment, the reason for Brunson’s decision is not likely to be a lack of bankroll, assuming a tweet later in the day is true.  Responding to a flood of comments, Brunson said, “Tx for all the tweets about my skipping the main event. It’s not about money, I’ve lost a lot of passion for the game since Black Friday.”

In addition to the Black Friday frustration, Brunson may be a bit upset about his recent WSOP performance, as he has not had a successful WSOP, failing to cash in any event for the second year in a row.  His final tournament this year was the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, in which he busted out during Day 2.  Showing obvious frustration, he tweeted, “Busted… Total nightmare… Goodbye WSOP.”

Shortly thereafter, Brunson made his official Twitter announcement regarding his decision to not play in the Main Event.

Sheer fatigue could also be a factor.  A single, prolonged day playing in a tournament at the World Series of Poker is exhausting for even the most spry poker players, but for a soon-to-be 78-year old, the idea of possibly playing for eight days if all goes well can be downright intimidating.

That said, it’s not like Brunson hasn’t had any success in big tournaments in the last several years.  He placed 24th in May’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, 18th in last December’s WPT event that bear’s his name (2010 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic), 17th in the 2009 WSOP-Europe Main Event, and made the final table in the 2009 WSOP Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event.

And, of course, as most poker fans know, Doyle Brunson has won ten WSOP gold bracelets, tied with Johnny Chan for second all-time, just one behind Phil Hellmuth.  His last bracelet was won in 2005, when he took down the $5,000 Short Handed No-Limit Hold’em event.  He started his bracelet run by winning five from 1976 through 1978, including back-to-back Main Event championships in 1976 and 1977.

Over the weekend, Brunson even stated that he might be done with major live tournaments altogether.  Two days before his WSOP announcement, he posted on Twitter, “…you might be watching my last tournament. If I don’t play well (up to my standards), I may retire from tournament poker.”

There is no indication, however, that “Texas Dolly” will stop playing cash games.  In fact, he responded to a Twitter follower by saying that he was not quitting live poker.

All told, Brunson has won over $6 million in his live tournament career, placing him 39th on the all-time money list once invitationals and buy-ins of more than $50,000 are excluded.