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Erik Seidel - Poker Player Biography |
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Name : Erik Seidel
Nickname : NA
Full Tilt Id : Erik Seidel
Birth Date : November 6, 1959
Birth Place : New York United States
Current Residence : Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Total WSOP Bracelets: 8
Total WPT Wins : 1
Best Game : No Limit Holdem
First Big Win : 2nd in the $ 10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship at the 19th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1988, Las Vegas for $ 280,000
First WSOP Bracelet : $ 2,500 Limit Hold'em at the 23rd World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1992, Las Vegas for $ 168,000
Biggest WSOP Cash : Won the $ 2,00 No Limit Hold'em at the 36th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2005, Las Vegas for $ 611,795
Biggest Cash : 1st in the $ 9,700 No Limit Hold'em - WPT Event at Foxwoods Poker Classic 2008, Mashantucket for an amount of $ 992,890
All time money list : 9th
Hobbies : Listening to Music, Tennis
Erik Seidel, was born in New York in 1959 and had his first brush with fame as a participant on the “To Tell The Truth” game show on television at the age of 12.
But he has been immortalized in the movie “Rounders”, which shows his final hand at the 1998 World Series of Poker against Johnny Chan, that Johnny won to take down the bracelet.
Erik Seidel had been drawn to the board game of Backgammon during his days at the Brooklyn college and he soon decided to become professional at that.
He used to be a regular at the famous Mayfair Club in New York and traveled around the USA playing Backgammon tournaments. Over the time, Mayfair Club started to become a hub for poker players also as the game was getting popular.
Erik Seidel also started to take a shot at the poker games during this time. In 1985, he became a stockbroker in search of an assured source of income to supplement his poker winnings at the Mayfair club.
Unfortunately, or now you can say fortunately for Erik Seidel, stock markets crashed in 1987 and he was back at Mayfair club playing poker after loosing his stock broking job. During this time many current top poker professional like Howard Lederer , Jay Heimowitz and Dan Harrington were a regular at the Mayfair Club.
Erik Seidel improved his game considerably during this time and decided to play the 19th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1988. He joined in 10 events at the WSOP but could not finish in the money in the first 9 events. And in what is a moment of history now, he found himself heads up at the final table against Johnny Chan in the 10th event that he took part in, which was also the main event at the WSOP.
Johnny Chan slow played his nut straight on flop to Erik Seidel’s flopped top pair. Erik Seidel went all in to Johnny Chan’s delight on the river. Looking back, Erik Seidel tries to remove that from his memory and considers that situation would have been different if the same hand was played now when he has a lot of experience.
That was the start of one of the legendry poker careers and that 2nd place finish landed Erik Seidel a cool $ 280,000.
He followed it up by winning the $ 1,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament - 4th Annual Diamond Jim Brady at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles in August 1988 to add a further $144,000 to his bankroll.
His run with 2nd position continued at the WSOP when he placed 2nd at the 1991 edition at the $5000 Limit Hold'em event. But it all changed in May 1992 when he won his first WSOP bracelet at the $2500 Limit Holdem event. Erik Seidel followed it up with his magic run at the WSOP by winning the bracelet in 1993 for the $ 2,500 Omaha 8 or Better and in 1994 again for $ 5,000 Limit Hold'em at the 25th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1994, Las Vegas.
Erik Seidel still holds this unique record of being the only player to have won a WSOP bracelet in three consecutive years.
Ever since then, it has been no stopping for Erik Seidel and his has been a regular at the final tables of many tournaments around the world.
His run the WSOP has continued and now he holds an impressive number of eight WSOP Bracelet, the last of which came when he won the $ 5,000 World Championship No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball rebuy event at the 38th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2007.
He is tied at the 4th place with Johnny Moss behind Phil Hellmuth Jr., Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson in the all time WSOP bracelet winners list.
Year 2008 has been a magical year for Erik Seidel. First he came 2nd the A$ 10,000 No Limit Hold'em - Main Event at the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship in January 2008 to pocket a cool A$1,000,000. This was followed by his first World Poker Tour (WPT) title when he won the $ 9,700 No Limit Hold'em - WPT Event at the Foxwoods Poker Classic 2008 adding a further $992,890 to his ever growing bankroll.
There is surely more to come from Erik Seidel in the future and we can expect him to win many more WSOP bracelets and WPT titles.
Erik Seidel lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his family and likes to play tennis and listen to music in his free time.
His tournament winnings are more than $9 Million, which places him at number 9 in the all time money list.
Erik Seidel is a Team FullTilt member and he plays online exclusively at Full Tilt Poker.
Look out for “Erik Seidel” – that’s his id, at Full Tilt Poker. | |
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