Poker 1 on 1

Erik Seidel: Mr. Versatility

One of pro poker circuit's best No-limit Hold'em players is Erik Seidel. He is quite skilled particularly in high stakes poker and many admired him not just for his poker skills but for his people skills as well. Seidel has such a pleasant character that even his fans and opponents find it surprising for a great player like him. Seidel believes that patience and flexibility are his important traits and strengths.

Erik Seidel's first World Series of Poker participation was in 1988. He got to final table and finished second. He made it to the final table again in the 1999 World Series of Poker Championship and this time he took the fourth place. Seidel got his first bracelet in the 1992 Limit Hold'em event of the World Series of Poker. His succeeding participation earned him five more bracelets from the World Series of Poker in several events: the 1993 Omaha Hi/Lo, the 1993 Pot-limit Omaha, the 1994 Limit Hold'em, the 1998 Deuce-to-7 Lowball and the 2001 No Limit Hold'em event. Seidel's seventh World Series of Poker Bracelet was from the 2005 $ 2,000 No-limit Hold'em tournament. On the same year he made it to the final table four times.

Seidel's poker successes were mostly either in Bellagio or other parts of Las Vegas. He is the only one player on the Top ten All-time money lists on these two locations. Seidel is a member of the Mayfair Club is a famous group consists of great names such as Dan Harrington and Howard Lederer. Nowadays, Seidel enjoys playing at high-stakes poker events in Vegas and in large buy-in tournaments. He's also a participant at the online poker site Fulltiltpoker.com. Erik Seidel hails from New York City and used to play backgammon for eight years. Being in New York, he took the job of trading stocks in Wall Street and played poker part-time. Currently he lives in Las Vegas and plays poker full-time. He's also a fan of tennis and he loves listening to music when he's off the tables. He also had an acting stint when he was twelve and appeared in To Tell the Truth.

Erik Seidel's most memorable play was a the 1988 World Series of Poker where he lost to Johnny Chan. He had nothing but a pair of queens and Chan had a straight. Chan's victory is a major come-back for him in terms of his losses. The fascinating thing about the match was that it was included as a scene in the movie Rounders which starred Edward Norton and Matt Damon, and Johnny Chan as himself.