Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959 in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional
pokerPoker is a sport from the family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bets and how many rounds of betting are allowed...
player from
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
,
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
with eight
World Series of Poker braceletThe World Series of Poker bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as "bracelets". ...
s and a
World Poker TourThe World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments featuring most of the world's professional players. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that controls the World Poker Tour. In...
title.
Originally a tournament
backgammonBackgammon is a board game for two players in which the playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice. A player wins by removing all of his pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
player for eight years, he eventually started playing the
stock marketA stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately....
, and then moved on to poker. He was one of the group of now famous players from the
Mayfair ClubThe Mayfair Club was a cardroom in New York. Originally starting as a bridge and backgammon club, it eventually became "the most touted card club in New York" until its abrupt closing by authorities in 2000." Unlike the other gamehalls in NY, The Mayfair Club kept a low profile in a basement...
, including
Howard LedererHoward Henry Lederer , is a professional poker player and brother of poker professional Annie Duke, and author, poet Katy Lederer....
and
Dan HarringtonDan Harrington is a professional poker player. Harrington chose his own nickname "Action Dan" even though he is known for being a tight conservative player...
.
In his first major tournament, Seidel was runner-up in the
1988 World Series of Poker-Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry....
main event to
Johnny ChanJohnny Chan , born in Guangzhou , China in 1957, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a professional poker player.-Early life:...
.
Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959 in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional
pokerPoker is a sport from the family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bets and how many rounds of betting are allowed...
player from
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
,
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
with eight
World Series of Poker braceletThe World Series of Poker bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as "bracelets". ...
s and a
World Poker TourThe World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments featuring most of the world's professional players. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that controls the World Poker Tour. In...
title.
Originally a tournament
backgammonBackgammon is a board game for two players in which the playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice. A player wins by removing all of his pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
player for eight years, he eventually started playing the
stock marketA stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately....
, and then moved on to poker. He was one of the group of now famous players from the
Mayfair ClubThe Mayfair Club was a cardroom in New York. Originally starting as a bridge and backgammon club, it eventually became "the most touted card club in New York" until its abrupt closing by authorities in 2000." Unlike the other gamehalls in NY, The Mayfair Club kept a low profile in a basement...
, including
Howard LedererHoward Henry Lederer , is a professional poker player and brother of poker professional Annie Duke, and author, poet Katy Lederer....
and
Dan HarringtonDan Harrington is a professional poker player. Harrington chose his own nickname "Action Dan" even though he is known for being a tight conservative player...
.
In his first major tournament, Seidel was runner-up in the
1988 World Series of Poker-Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry....
main event to
Johnny ChanJohnny Chan , born in Guangzhou , China in 1957, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a professional poker player.-Early life:...
. This final hand was featured in the movie
Rounders. Seidel made the WSOP main event final table again in 1999, finishing in 4th place in the event won by
Noel FurlongJ. J. Furlong is a recreational poker player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event. He originally became a millionaire from his carpet manufacturing business...
.
He won his first WSOP bracelet in 1992 and won his eighth and most recent bracelet in 2007. Seidel has won bracelets in five different games, including Hold'em, Omaha, and Deuce to Seven Draw. Only four players in the history of the WSOP, world champions
Phil HellmuthPhillip Jerome Hellmuth, Jr. is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...
,
Doyle BrunsonDoyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several highly influential books on poker.Brunson is...
,
Johnny ChanJohnny Chan , born in Guangzhou , China in 1957, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a professional poker player.-Early life:...
, and
Johnny MossJohnny Moss
was a long-time gambler and professional poker player.-Learning the game:Moss was born in Marshall, Texas in 1907 and grew up in Dallas, Texas where he learned how to gamble as a young boy. A group of cheaters taught him how to cheat in games, but Moss put this knowledge to...
, have won more bracelets than Seidel.
During the
sixth seasonBelow are the results of season six of the World Poker Tour .Towards the end of season 6 the World Poker Tour announced that they would award a Tiffany designed titanium and diamond championship bracelet for all previous 96 players....
of the
World Poker TourThe World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments featuring most of the world's professional players. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that controls the World Poker Tour. In...
, Seidel won the 2008 WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic, earning $992,890.
As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,700,000. His total WSOP earnings, as of 2009, are $4,227,527 and his 57 WSOP cashes put him in 4th for all time, tied with
Berry JohnstonBerry Enfield Johnston is an American professional poker player. He is best known as the 1986 World Champion, but he has also won four other bracelets at the World Series of Poker in addition to cashes and wins in many other tournaments throughout his career.Johnston won the 1986 World Series of...
.
World Series of Poker Bracelets
Seidel has won eight WSOP bracelets.
| Year |
Tournament |
Prize (US$) |
| 1992 -Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 201 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament. Until 2007, this was the only year that there were fewer participants in the main event than the prior year.-Final table:...
|
$2,500 LimitIn the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
Hold'em |
$168,000 |
| 1993 -Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 220 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament.-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry....
|
$2,500 Omaha 8 or better |
$94,000 |
| 1994 -Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 268 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament. Since this was the 25th Anniversary of the event, the winner received $1,000,000, plus his/her weight in silver, in celebration of the WSOP's silver anniversary.-Final table:-Other...
|
$5,000 Limit Hold'em |
$210,000 |
| 1998 -Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.-Trivia:...
|
$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw A poker player is drawing if he has a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. The hand itself is called a draw or drawing hand. For example, in seven-card stud, if four of a player's first five cards are all spades, but the hand is otherwise weak, he is drawing to a flush...
|
$132,700 |
| 2001 -Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 613 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a non-online casino at the time.-Final table:-Other High Finishes:...
|
$3,000 No Limit Hold'em |
$411,300 |
| 2003 -Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 839 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time...
|
$1,500 Pot LimitIn the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
Omaha |
$146,100 |
| 2005 The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15 marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports and/or television history at the time was awarded to the...
|
$2,000 No Limit Hold'em |
$611,795 |
| 2007 The 2007 World Series of Poker began on June 1, 2007. The $10,000 no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event began on July 6 and was completed on the morning of July 18...
|
$5,000 World Championship No-Limit
Deuce to Seven Draw LowballSome forms of poker, often called lowball, sometimes called low poker, reward poor poker hands . There are four common variations on this idea, differing in whether aces are treated as high cards or low cards, and whether or not straights and flushes are used. The methods are:* Ace-to-five low:...
w/rebuys |
$538,835 |
Other Activities
Seidel is part of the design team for
Full Tilt PokerFull Tilt Poker is an online poker card room launched in June 2004 with the involvement of a team of poker professionals, among them Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson. The real money site can be reached via fulltiltpoker.com and the play money...
.
In January 2007, Seidel finished in second place in the
Aussie MillionsThe Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia...
$100k event and took home $550,000(AUD), beaten by
Erick LindgrenErick A. Lindgren is an American professional poker player.He won his first major tournament at the Bellagio in 2002 and followed that up with his first World Poker Tour win ten months later...
in Heads-Up play when he moved all-in with KJ of hearts on a two-heart flop and Lindgren called with a pair of aces and his 7 kicker became an eventual straight.
In January 2008, Seidel finished in second place in the Aussie Millions $10k main event and won $1,000,000(AUD).
External links