Epic Poker Agrees Publicity Deal with USA Today

Epic Poker have agreed a deal with USA Today Sports Media Group that should see the game become more prominent in the “mainstream news cycle”, according to the new pro poker league’s executive chairman Jeffrey Pollack.

As Epic Poker’s third live event at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas approaches, Pollack was pleased to announce that their Global Poker Index (GPI) – a system that tracks and ranks the performances of the leading 300 live event pros in the world – will be published each and every week in the online and print versions of USA Today.

Pollack, who is also the executive chairman of Federated Sports & Gaming (FS+G) – the parent company of Epic Poker – said: “Our work with the USA Today Sports Media Group will help drive poker deeper into the mainstream news cycle and further position the game right alongside other professional sports content.”

USA Today’s print edition will supply readers with the most recent GPI updates, presenting the information as USA Today Global Poker Index, while the newspaper’s online edition will also carry details of the week’s rankings.

USA Today Sports Media Group president Tom Beusse believes this “partnership will enable us to provide” the growing poker fan base “with the content they want (as) more Americans” play and watch the game “than ever before”.

He added: “The USA Today Global Poker Index will give our readers access to new and relevant content that is easy to track and understand.”

However, Beusse also reckons having such statistics and news easily available “will also help open up the game of poker to the casual fan”.

That’s also good news for Epic Poker as their third event of the season, a $20,000 buy-in Texas Hold’em tournament, runs from December 14 to 18 in Vegas.

The regular Epic Poker competitors will be joined by the top nine finishers of the $1,500 buy-in pro/am nine-handed event that takes place at the Palms Casino Resort from December 10-13.

David ‘Chino’ Rheem, of Los Angeles, took down the opening event – a $20,000 buy-in Texas Hold’em six-handed tournament – for $1 million back in August, while Canadian Mike McDonald secured $782,410 for winning the second league stage, this time an eight-handed event, in September.

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