Photo courtesy of Bluff Magazine	Born :	New York City, NY
	Residence :	U.S.A, Las Vegas NV
	Nick Name:
	Career Highlights:	Unknown to most people who saw the movie Rounders, Erik Seidel is one of the most successful tournament players of all time. He has over 5 million dollars in tournament winnings and is the owner of seven World Series of Poker bracelets

Erik Seidel Facts:

• Only four other players, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Johnny Moss, have more WSOP bracelets than Erik Seidel.
• Erik's 2nd place finish in the WSOP main even was his first ever entry into a major poker tournament.
• Erik used to be a professional tournament backgammon player.
• Erik learned to play poker at the Mayfair club in New York with fellow pros Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington.
• He appeared on "To Tell the Truth" at age 12.

WSOP Tournament Wins
Year	Buyin	Game	Winnings
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	Deuce to Seven Draw	$132,700
2001	$3,000	No Limit Hold'em	$411,300
2003	$1,500	Pot Limit Omaha	$146,100
2005	$2,000	No Limit Hold'em	$611,795

Bio

With 41 cashes, seven bracelets, and over three million dollars in the World Series of Poker winnings, Erik Seidel is one of the most successful tournament players of all time. Unfortunately, the movie Rounders has immortalized Seidel as the player who lost to Johnny Chan in the 1988 WSOP championship event. The movie makes Johnny Chan look like a poker God and Seidel a common donkey. The movie fails to mention however that the 1988 main event was Erik’s first major tournament, or that he had the bad luck of catching two pair when Johnny had a straight. Finishing second in the WSOP main event is a great way to start a poker career, but it wasn’t until years later that Erik would actually become a full time poker player.

When he left college in the late 70’s, Seidel’s first career was that of a tournament backgammon player. He spent eight years on the backgammon circuit playing against the likes of Chip Reese, Stu Unger, and Puggy Pearson. Seidel moved to New York City to trade stocks on Wall Street, but ended up spending a great deal of time at the Mayfair club which was a home for world-class backgammon players. Many of these players started to dabble in poker, and soon Erik was playing in games with future pros Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington, Jay Heimowitz, and Mikey Appleman. When the stock market crashed in ‘87, Seidel was out of work and turned to poker for income. In 1988, with encouragement from his New York friends, he took his first trip out to Vegas. After nine straight sit-n-go satellite losses, he paid the $10,000 buy in for the main event, and the rest is movie and poker history.

After the main event, Seidel returned to New York to work on Wall Street to work on the AMEX. Over the next six years he continued to play poker in his spare time and won bracelets in three straight years (‘92, ‘93, and ‘94). In 1995 Erick left the stock market and moved himself and his wife out to Vegas in order to pursue a full time career as a poker player. Since that time Erick has won four more WSOP events including the 2005 $2,000 No Limit Hold’em, which was aired on ESPN.

While Seidel spends most of his time on the tournament circuit he still finds time to trade stock, play tennis, watch movies, and play online at FullTiltPoker.com. As one of the original investors in Full Tilt Poker, Seidel is often used in their print and television advertising. The exposure he has received from Full Tilt Poker and his recent televised tournament success has led many casual fans to change their opinion of Seidel. Many fans now regard Seidel the same way that his fellow pros view him, as one of the best tournament poker players in the world.