Erik Seidel

Biography

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 York’s 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 wasn’t 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 crashes and Seidel lost his job. Luckily, he still had 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 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. 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 to give him a total of eight bracelets. But the WSOP isn’t the only place Seidel shines.

He had a deep, second-place run at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in 2002 along with wins at Festa Al Lago II and III, where he secured wins in both events. In 2008, Seidel placed second at the Aussie Millions Championship, but came right back a few months later to take down the Foxwoods Poker Classic WPT Event for almost $1 million.

Erik Seidel is recognized as one of the best tournament players around. He’s a quiet individual, but as you can see his accolades speak very loudly of him. Seidel is also a Full Tilt Poker sponsored player.