What is the next big poker accolade?

Barry Carter pays tribute to the first double-EPT champion Vicky Coren, and asks what the next big unclaimed poker accolade is?

For the last couple of years just about every EPT champion I have interviewed has told me they desperately wanted to become the first double-EPT champion. ElkY did, Jason Mercier did, Jake Cody did, Liv Boeree too – the list goes on.

This is, in part, no doubt, because it was an unclaimed accolade and everyone wanted to be the first. It is also a significant achievement because the EPT is the toughest poker tour in the world, so much more so than the WPT or WSOP.

The fields are huge, but they only have about eight events a year, so mathematically it is very unlikely anyone will win two. Also the EPT has a high concentration of online qualifiers, and although it goes against some conventional wisdom, for me that makes it a tougher tournament rather than a softer one.  

I don’t think anyone expected Vicky Coren to be the player to finally break the record. She doesn’t perhaps have as decorated a poker CV as many of her peers and her own modesty was enough to eliminate her from the ‘who will do it’ conversation.

The best possible ambassador? 

However, I can’t think of anyone better to finally become the first double-EPT champion than Coren. You only need to look at how much mainstream media attention she has already achieved, and how the entire poker world has gone nuts for this result, to see why.

The fact that she is a woman is always going to be significant. Most of the big poker accolades like all-time money winner, Player of the Year rankings, Triple Crowns and bracelet leaders are all lead by men. The double-EPT winner is as significant as any of those achievements, and it is brilliant for the game that a female player did it first.

This is also a big deal for Britain. Vicky is a genuine celebrity over here, not for her poker (which many non-poker people don’t even realise she does), but as a broadcaster and journalist.

She is a regular on comedy panel shows and hosts her own game show – Only Connect (One of the toughest game shows in the world, by the way). She is married to David Mitchell, one of the finest comedy actors we have. To say that this victory is going to garner a lot of attention to a mainstream audience in the UK is an understatement.

The best reason this victory is meaningful is that she is such a good ambassador. She is funny and approachable, and always has a lot of time to speak to players and the media. She is very talkative and friendly at the tables, making the game much more fun for recreational players. Plus, she works incredibly hard for PokerStars (As all their pros do) to promote the game.

What next for the poker record books?

Now that the elusive EPT-double has finally been claimed, the next question is, what is the next big unclaimed poker accolade?

For years it was the Triple Crown (An EPT, WPT and WSOP title) which many people thought was impossible, but now Gavin Griffin, Roland De Wolfe, Jake Cody, ElkY and David Kitai have all managed it. There isn’t really a fourth major poker tour, so a Quadruple Crown doesn't really exist (Though you could possibly make a case for an EPT, WPT, WSOP and WSOP International title).  

Amazingly there has already been a High Roller Triple Crown - philgruissem has won the $50,000 WSOP APAC bracelet, two $100,000 WPT Alpha8 events and a £20,000 EPT High Roller. I was really surprised that more was not made of this at the time. 

There could also be a Super High Roller Quadruple Crown that could also include the two six-figure events at the Aussie Millions. The player pools in Super High Roller events being so small makes this reasonably likely even though the WSOP only has one six/seven-figure event each year.

There is one super cool Triple Crown possibility, but right now only one man could do it and it all rests on one tournament, and that is the Championship Event Triple Crown. Carlos Mortensen has won both the WSOP Main Event and the WPT Championship Event – if he managed to also win the EPT Grand Final he would have the greatest Triple Crown of all time.

Online we have had the first ever ‘Triple COOP’ champion (WCOOP/TCOOP/SCOOP) this year, and now both players who managed it (Shawn Buchanan and James Obst) are just a Sunday Million victory away from the PokerStars Grand Slam. Given the significant number of Sunday Millions every year, it is a surprise this has not happened yet.

Main Event record breaking

The record for WPT titles is three (Both Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen boasting those) and lots of players can claim to be multiple WSOP bracelet winners, so there is nothing particularly special about multiple titles in those. I think we would have to wait years to even consider a three-time EPT champion, for the reasons I have already stated why it's the toughest series in poker.

The one thing I doubt we will ever see again is a post-boom two-time Main Event champion. The fields are just way too big to ever expect someone to manage it twice (Though I keep mentioning him, Carlos Mortensen nearly did it last year).

I think a more plausible, and in a way more interesting, accolade would be a two-time November Niner. The November Nine is almost like a title in itself and it would be really interesting to have someone make the final table knowing exactly what to expect from the four-month break. 

I didn’t want to isolate a gender specific front runner for the greatest unclaimed accolade, but I am inclined to think that the one we should all cross our fingers for is a female November Niner. Only one woman (Barbara Enright in 1995) has made the final table of the Main Event, but in 2012 we came agonisingly close to two.

Galle Baumann and Elisabeth Hille came 10th and 11th respectively. We talk a lot about how strong female performances would be ‘good for the game’, just as I have done today with Coren, but the huge amount of hype that would come in the four-month delay would surely generate a ton of interest, were a woman to make the final.

Of course a woman winning the Main Event would be even better, but you have to get one there first, so one thing at a time. 

What do you think the next big poker accolade should be? Let me know in the comments box.

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. He has been working in the poker industry for nine years and in 2013 won the APAT Award for Best Poker Media Provider. You can learn more about his work here.  Follow Barry Carter on Twitter l Follow Barry Carter on Google+