Erik Seidel

December 10, 2010 by James in Poker Players

Erik Seidel

It is impossible to find any man quieter than Erik Seidel sitting at the tables. You can almost always see him well dressed and sitting quietly. If you talk to him you will find that he is no more than a quiet polite man. If you were to play against him, then you would believe that he was nothing more than a mediocre player at first. Unfortunately for you, you would quickly find that you were wrong about what you probably consider an antisocial man. Before you knew what was going on, all of your chips would be his.

Erik Seidel is a New York man that started his gambling career with backgammon. At this time he was attending Brooklyn College, however, though he later dropped out. After leaving college he took up backgammon professionally. Soon after that, he also began to play poker. He continued these two games until 1985. This is when the decision was made that it was time for a new job. He continued to play poker in his spare time for the years that he was a stock broker. After a few years, the stock market crashed and he lost his job but continued to play poker. Seidel took his first try at the World Series of Poker during 1988 after he worked on his game for a while.

Erik Seidel’s first nine games did’t go as planned. He had absolutely no cashes during that time. Seidel eventually found himself against the World Champion, Johnny Chan, during the Main Event, and though he lost, it became obvious that great things would be seen from him later on.

Eric Seidel spent a few years playing high stakes poker while he was a stock broker. Seidel refrained from playing poker as a professional even as he won the bracelets in 1992 and 1993. After winning the $210,000 and his third bracelet in 1994 when he won the $5,000 Limit Holdem event, Seidel to decide to turn professional. He soon moved to Vegas with his wife.

Moving was the best decision Seidel could possibly make. He now ranks 5th all time for WSOP bracelets. On the whole, Seidel won eight different world series of Poker Bracelets to earn that ranking. He of course won them in different areas, including two wins in bracelets in No Limit Holdem, two wins in Limit Holdem, two wins in 2-7 Lowball, one win in Pot Limit Omaha, and a win in Omaha 8. In his career, he has managed to win over nine million dollars in tournaments. He also won his very first WPT title in April of 2008. He won the Foxwoods Poker Classic earning $967,390. He also now embraces the titles for the former Diamond Jim Brady, Four Queens classic, and Fiesta Al Lago events.

Erik Seidel enjoys music and is a huge music buff. He can usually be seen with a set of head phones that allows him listen to his favorite music as he plays. He also works for Full Tilt Poker. He is one of the people in charge of site design.

Seidel is just 48 and chances are he will be around for a long time to come. It will be interesting to see where he finishes on the all time list for WSOP bracelets.