Erik Seidel

Born in Nov 6, 1959 in New York, Erik Seidel began as a backgammon player before turning his attention to professional poker. Based in Las Vegas, this professional poker player has to his credit eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and a World Poker Tour (WPT) championship. He was one of the top poker players who were inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010. Erik Seidel belongs to a group of internationally acclaimed Mayfair Club players, some of who are Stu Ungar, Howard Lederer, Paul Magriel, Mickey Appleman, and Steve Zolotow, among others.

Seidel’s Poker Achievements

Seidel’s first significant poker tournament was the WSOP 1988, in which he emerged as the runner up in the Main Event. He appeared at the final tables of the WSOP the following year too and finished fourth. Seidel got his first bracelet in 1992 and his latest bracelet in 2007 and has been immensely successful with poker variants such as Omaha, Texas Hold’em, and Deuce to Seven Draw.

During the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) sixth season, Seidel won $992,890 in the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic. In 2007, Seidel finished second in the $100k Aussie Millions event, adding a cool AU$550k in the process. In 2008, he finished second in the $10k Aussie Millions event and took home AU$1,000,000. In 2010, Seidel finished second in the National Heads Up Poker Championship, collecting $250,000 after losing to Annie Duke.

In 2011, he finished in the fourth position at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event, after which he finished third in the AU$100k Aussie Millions and collected $618,139. He again won $2,472,555 in the Aussie Millions Super High Roller Tournament. This year, Seidel has won $144,570 playing the LA Poker Classic High Roller Event, $750k playing the National Heads Up Poker Championship against Chris Moneymaker, $155,103 playing the WPT championship, and $1,092,780 in the WPT’s $100k Super High Roller Event.

By 2011, Erik Seidel has won more than $15,900,000 playing live tournaments alone. He has to his credit 60 cashes in the WSOP, which makes him the player who has the fourth largest number of cashes.

Interesting Facts

The video clipping of Seidel’s WSOP 1988 heads up tournament against Johnny Chan was used in Rounders, a famous poker movie, and even 20 years after the event, the poker gaming community cannot forget about it.

Seidel is a married man with kids; and when he isn’t busy fighting it out at the poker tables, he listens to music, plays tennis, and watches movies. Players who visit his official website will find a tab devoted to music, where they can find Seidel’s favorite albums.

In spite of his other interest, Seidel’s one and only true love is poker. If he gets the opportunity to play his first WSOP match today, he is sure to beat Johnny Chan because of his unmatched poker expertise.

There's no doubt, however, that Erik Seidel's true passion is poker. Coupled with his now-undeniable skill, you have to wonder how differently that 1988 championship game might play out today.