Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, who has won nine

World Series of Poker bracelet The World Series of Poker (WSOP) 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 1 ...

s and a

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...

title. In 2010, he was inducted into the

Poker Hall of Fame The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker in the United States. Founded in Las Vegas, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest ...

Early life

Seidel was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He played professional

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

in his youth. He eventually became a trader on the American stock exchange

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

, and then moved on to poker. Seidel was one of the group of now famous players from the former

Mayfair Club The Mayfair Club was a cardroom in New York City. 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. Eolis, Wendeen"Documentary Film Shi ...

in New York City, including

Stu Ungar Stuart Errol Ungar (September 8, 1953 – November 22, 1998) was an American professional poker, blackjack, and gin rummy player, widely regarded to have been the greatest gin player of all time and one of the best Texas hold 'em players. He ...

Jay Heimowitz Jay B. Heimowitz (born December 26, 1937) is an American poker player from Bethel, New York. Heimowitz was one of the original players to help establish the Mayfair Club as a premier poker house. Heimowitz started playing poker for baseball car ...

Mickey Appleman Mark "Mickey" Appleman (born July 15, 1945) is an American professional poker player, sports bettor, and sports handicapper now living in Fort Lee, New Jersey. His poker accomplishments include winning four WSOP bracelets, all in different vari ...

Howard Lederer Howard Henry Lederer (born October 30, 1964) is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and holds two World Poker Tour titles. Lederer has also contributed to several books on poker strategy and has ...

, Jason Lester, Steve Zolotow,

Paul Magriel Paul David Magriel Jr. (pronounced Ma-grill) (July 1, 1946 – March 5, 2018) was an American professional backgammon player, poker player, and author based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Magriel became New York State Junior Chess Champion (January 1967 ...

, and

Dan Harrington Dan Harrington (born December 6, 1945) is a professional poker player, best known for winning the Main Event at the 1995 World Series of Poker. He has earned one World Poker Tour title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tourn ...

Poker career

World Series of Poker

In his first major poker tournament, Seidel was runner-up in the

1988 World Series of Poker The 1988 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe between 5 May 1988, and 21 May 1988. Preliminary events Main Event There were 167 entrants to the main event on 16 May 1988. Each paid $10,00 ...

Main Event to

Johnny Chan Johnny Chan (;He has another Chinese name "Chen Qiangni" () which is also commonly used by Chinese-language media. It is a transliteration of "Johnny Chan" (as "Chen" for "Chan", "Qiangni" for "Johnny") rather than his Chinese birth name. born ...

. This final hand was featured in the 1998 movie ''

Rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running aroun ...

''. Seidel made the WSOP Main Event final table again in 1999, finishing in fourth place in the event won by

Noel Furlong John James Furlong (25 December 1937 – 27 June 2021) was an Irish businessman and poker player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event. Early life Furlong was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He originally became a milliona ...

. Seidel won his first WSOP bracelet in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and won his ninth and most recent bracelet in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. 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 have won more bracelets than Seidel:

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record sixteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Event ...

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

, and

Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numerou ...

World Poker Tour

During the sixth season of the

(WPT), Seidel won the 2008 WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic, earning $992,890. In April 2011, Seidel came just short of winning his second WPT title at the Hollywood Open. He finished as the runner-up and won $155,103.

European Poker Tour

In May 2015, Seidel won the 2015

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller for €2,015,000.

Other poker ventures

In January 2007, Seidel finished in second place in the

Aussie Millions The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a ...

$100,000 event and took home $550,000(AUD), beaten by

Erick Lindgren Erick A. Lindgren (born August 11, 1976, in Burney, California) is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles, two World Series of Poker bracelets, and more than $10,500,000 in tournament earnings during ...

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 $10,000 main event and won $1,000,000(AUD). In March 2010, Seidel finished in second place in the

National Heads-Up Poker Championship The National Heads-Up Poker Championship was an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network.

and collected $250,000 after a 2–1 loss to

Annie Duke Anne LaBarr Duke (née Lederer; born September 13, 1965) is an American former professional poker player and author in cognitive-behavioral decision science and decision education. She holds a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet from 2004 ...

in the final. In January 2011, Seidel finished in fourth place in the

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event for $295,960, then went on later that month to take 3rd in a A$100,000 buy-in Aussie Millions tournament for $618,139. Just five days later, Seidel pocketed $2,472,555 when he won the Super High Roller Event at the Aussie Millions. In February 2011, Seidel won the High Roller Event at the LA Poker Classic for $144,570. In March 2011, Seidel won the

National Heads-Up Poker Championship The National Heads-Up Poker Championship was an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network.

, defeating 2003 World Champion

Chris Moneymaker Christopher Bryan Moneymaker (born November 21, 1975) is an American poker player who won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP). His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a worl ...

in the final. The $750,000 he collected for the win moved him into first place on the all-time tournament money list. In May 2011, Seidel won the $100K Super High Roller event at the WPT World Championship for $1,092,780. He defeated fellow Team Full Tilt member

heads up for the title. In August 2011, Seidel finished runner-up to

David Rheem David Y. "Chino" Rheem (born April 15, 1980) is a poker player from Los Angeles, California. In November 2008, Rheem finished in seventh place at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing for $1,772,650. He went out of this event on t ...

in the $20,000 buy-in 6-Max No Limit Hold'em tournament at the inaugural

Epic Poker League The Epic Poker League was a series of poker tournaments which took place in 2011, organised by Federated Sports + Gaming. Former World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack served as Executive Chairman, professional poker player Annie Duke ...

for $604,330, which brought his earnings for 2011 to over $6.2 million. Seidel mentored journalist

Maria Konnikova Maria Konnikova (βορν 1984) is a Russian- American writer with a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. Konnikova has worked as a television producer, written for several magazines and online publications, and written three ''New Yo ...

, starting in 2016, teaching her poker and the mindset that it requires. Seidel taught Konnikova Texas Hold'em and eventually she participated in tournaments and won $350,000. In 2020, Konnikova published a book about her experience: '' The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, And Win''.

Career earnings

As of January 2019, his total live tournament winnings exceed $34,600,000 of which $5,388,532 have been won at the WSOP. His 101 WSOP cashes rank him second all-time. Erik has won over $5,000,000 in poker earnings in years 2011, 2015, and 2016. As of January 2017, while many players have made over $5 million in a year no other player has done this more than once. In January 2016, Seidel was ranked #28 on the

Global Poker Index The Global Poker Index (GPI) is a leaderboard index that ranks over 450,000 live tournament poker players in the world. The GPI poker rankings are updated on a weekly basis. Players’ performances are assessed by their finishing positions in pok ...

. (He was #1 for a total of 15 weeks in 2011). As of April 2022, Seidel's total live tournament winnings exceed $39,200,000 making him #4 on the all-time money list.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Seidel has won nine WSOP bracelets in his storied poker career. His nine bracelets are tied for fifth all-time. An "O" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won during the World Series of Poker Online

Personal life

Seidel is married and has two daughters, Elian and Jamesin.

References

External links

PokerListings biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seidel, Erik 1959 births American backgammon players 20th-century American Jews American poker players Living people Sportspeople from New York City People from the Las Vegas Valley World Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners National Heads-Up Poker Championship winners Poker Hall of Fame inductees 21st-century American Jews