Erik Seidel

34 global poker index

1 world poker tour index

$45,692,219 total poker live earnings

Erik Seidel poker player profile. Get latest information, winnings and gallery.

Profile

Biography

Erik Seidel is one of the winningest and best known players in poker history. He is the remaining member of poker’s old generation, but is still able to compete in the modern field collecting poker’s major titles and trophies.

Intro

Erik Seidel is one of the most recognized faces in poker. With more than $40 million in career winnings, nine World Series of Poker bracelets and one World Poker Tour title, numerous money finishes in all of the world’s major poker tournaments and a place in the Poker Hall of Fame, Seidel is nothing but one of poker’s living legends.

Read More: Before the Game: Erik Seidel the Trader (Part One)

Background

Born in New York City in 1959, Erik Seidel always had a gifted mind for games of all kinds. He took up backgammon while in college and soon dropped out to pursue a professional career playing the game. New Yorks famous Mayfair Club was like a second home to Seidel. There he was able to hone his skills against some of the best players around.

Seidel traveled around playing backgammon tournaments for about eight years before making some forays into the stock market. With more and more people indulging in poker at the Mayfair Club, Seidel decided to give it a shot. Poker wasnt his only source of income though, as Seidel took up a regular job as a stockbroker with much more of a secure income. The security of a regular paycheck went out the window though in 1987 when the stock market crashed and Seidel lost his job. Luckily, he still had poker.

World Series of Poker

The Mayfair Club was growing with players and Seidel soon became one of the best of them, along with the likes of Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington. It was around this time that Seidel took a shot in Vegas at the 1988 World Series of Poker where he ended up placing second in the Main Event to the world renowned Johnny Chan. A few years later in 1991, Seidel would return to place second in another WSOP event. It would only take one more year for his wrist to be wrapped in WSOP gold.

In 1992, Seidel captured his first bracelet followed by a second bracelet in 1993. Another year later saw Erik walk away from the WSOP with another bracelet. The 1998 was another good year at the Series for Seidel. He was able to cash four times and win his fourth bracelet. One more year later, Erik made a run at the WSOP Main Event again, this time placing fourth for almost $280,000.

Taking the next logical step, Seidel moved out to Vegas with his wife and from there the winnings just seemed to pile up. The years 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 all saw Seidel walk away from WSOP with more gold wrapped around his wrist and then after 14 years without a WSOP win, he triumphed in Event #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller of the 2021 WSOP Online on GGPoker for $977,842 to take his gold bracelet tally to nine, on par with three-time WSOP Main Event champion Johnny Moss

Read More: Before the Game: Erik Seidel the Trader (Part Two)

| Year | Event | Prize |

|—|—|—| | 1992 | $2,500 Limit Hold’em | $168,000 | | 1993 | $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better | $94,000 | | 1994 | $5,000 Limit Hold’em | $210,000 | | 1998 | $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw | $132,750 | | 2001 | $3,000 No-Limit Texas Hold’em | $411,300 | | 2003 | $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha | $146,100 | | 2005 | $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em | $611,795 | | 2007 | $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw | $538,835 | | 2021 | GGPoker WSOP Online Event #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller | $977,842 |