Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel has been immortalised in poker folklore. Unfortunately for him, it’s not for his seven World Series of Poker bracelets, it’s not for being one of the Top 10 earners of all time in the WSOP and it’s not for reaching four final tables in 2005 alone. In his first major tournament, the WSOP in 1988, Seidel came in second. Although this sounds like a good achievement, Seidel’s final hand, the one that lost to Johnny Chan, is repeatedly shown in the poker film Rounders.

Despite being teased about this well documented defeat, Seidel has become good friends with one of the film’s co-writers, David Koppelman, and has introduced the filmmaker to Full Tilt Poker.

Before poker, Seidel spent eight years as a professional backgammon player and worked as a trader in Wall Street but the market crash in 1987 made him redundant. He returned immediately to poker and with the backing of some of his friends he competed in his first WSOP, the infamous 1988 tournament.

Despite coming so close to a bracelet, Seidel waited years before he turned pro. In the meantime he went back to trade options before becoming an options market maker. After moving from New York to Las Vegas with his wife the lure became too great to resist and he started a career in poker.

He has become on of the world’s most consistent players and has gone on to win seven WSOP titles, including three consecutive titles from 1992-94, with an Omaha Hi/Low title sandwiched between No Limit Hold’em wins. His seventh bracelet was won in 2005 and came with $600,000 worth of winnings. This is his biggest payout to date, he came closest to matching it when he was a runner up to Erick Lindgren in the 2007 Aussie Millions Championship claiming over $400,000, taking his career earnings past $5,700,000.

Moving to Vegas proved to be a lucky move for Seidel with most of his big wins coming in the Nevada city. As well as his WSOP success – where he is one of the top ten all time earners – he is also in the top ten at the Bellagio and, at the start of 2007, he was the only player to be on both lists.

Nowadays, Seidel is found almost exclusively playing in tournaments or online at Full Tilt Poker. He is a reserved man at the table but he was vocal in his opposition to hole cards being visible to television viewers, preferring to keep his poker secrets to himself. Unlike so many modern day players, he has no plans to cash in on the popularity explosion of poker by releasing a book, DVD or to begin commentating.