Chino Rheem won the inaugural $20,000 buy-in Epic Poker League main event defeating Erik Seidel heads-up to claim the Epic Championship ring and $1 million first prize at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. He defeated a tough final table that also included Jason Mercier, Gavin Smith, Huck Seed, and Hasan Habib.

On the final hand of play, Seidel took a stand with AQ and Rheem had him in bad shape with AK. The A843T board was no help to Seidel. Security escorted Rheem to the cage after he received the Championship Ring from League Commissioner Annie Duke.

Rheem was rather subdued after the victory which might be explained by the fact that Rheem is rumored to have numerous outstanding debts with a number of pros, several of which were waiting for the tournament to end so they could collect after considerable delay. Rheem has had a colorful career in poker with over $4 million in tournament winnings which included a WPT title and final tabling the 2008 WSOP Main Event. He has also had personal issues, including a criminal record in Florida in which he served time.

Erik Seidel, by finishing in second, continued to add to his tremendous 2011 results increasing this year's to more than $6.2 million.

Final table results:

1st: Chino Rheem - $1,000,000
2nd: Erik Seidel - $604,330
3rd: Jason Mercier - $360,970
4th: Hasan Habib - $237,560
5th: Gavin Smith - $154,260
6th: Huck Seed - $107,980