In 1988, when he was 28 and in his first major tournament, Erik Seidel found himself in heads up play against the defending champion, Johnny Chan, in the final of the World Series of Poker main event. He was wearing a garish red sun visor and dressed in black, which accentuated his long limbs and gave him an air of awkwardness against Chan’s calm demeanour. When the flop of Q♠8♦10♥ was laid on the table, Seidel bet aggressively, raising $50,000. Seidel was holding Q♣7♥ but looked nervous as his long fingers fiddled with his chips, awaiting Chan’s decision. Chan thought for a long time before eventually calling and the turn was a 2♠, which both players checked. 6♦ came on the river and Seidel, with the top pair of queens, went ‘All in.’ Chan immediately followed suit and turned over J♣9♣. With both players standing, it was apparent that Seidel towered over Chan in height but it was Chan who had come up with the giant hand. He had had the nut straight since the flop and had slow-played Seidel perfectly to take his second title in a row. Despite taking second place, it was a hand that Seidel would want to forget. However, ten years later, this moment would be immortalised in the film ‘Rounders’ and though it boosted Seidel’s profile, he was the young man ‘owned’ by Chan, ‘the kid’ who ‘doesn’t know what hit him.’
Born and raised in New York City, Erik loved playing games as a child and even made a TV appearance on the game show ‘To Tell the Truth,’ at the age of 12. But backgammon was his game and in the 1970s he dropped out of Brooklyn College to start a different kind of education at the Mayfair Club where he earned a living in cash games and tournaments. As it became more popular, he tried poker too but as a sideline to backgammon.
Eight years later, having seen his fortunes yo-yo, Seidel decided to seek the stability that a steady job would afford him and became a stockbroker on Wall Street though he kept visiting the Mayfair club in his spare time. With the Stock Market crash of 1987, Erik, along with many others, had to re-evaluate what was meant by a ‘steady’ job and the parallels between the financial world and the gambling one would not have been lost on Seidel. Better to lose all your money doing something you enjoy than something you don’t and so Seidel went back to gaming at the Mayfair Club full time. His return coincided in a poker renaissance for the club with Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington frequenting the tables at the time and Erik found himself unable to resist the allure of this fast-growing game. By playing the best, his game improved rapidly and the following year he persuaded his friends to bankroll him for an attempt at the WSOP in Vegas. Ten attempts in fact but he went out in the first nine before reaching the money finishes and his friends must have been ruing their decision. But that was before the Main Event and his second place finish though despite this, the final hand is one Seidel has attempted to erase from his memory. However, it continues live on, courtesy of the silver screen.
After this, Erik went back to Wall Street and though he continued to play poker, it was three years before he returned to play in a WSOP tournament. Again he had to be content with a second place finish, this time in a Limit Hold’em tournament. However in the following year, 1992, he cracked it and won his first bracelet at the WSOP in another Limit Hold’em tournament. 1993 and 1994 saw him repeat the achievement with wins in Limit Omaha Hi/Lo and Hold’em tournaments respectively and he remains among a select few to have taken home WSOP bracelets in three successive years. In 1995, he quit the East coast and gambling with his clients’ money to move with his wife to Nevada and professionally gamble with his own. Despite several final table finishes, it was in 1998, the year ‘Rounders’ was released, that he won another WSOP tournament. For cinemagoers, he was the stooge slow-played to perfection by Johnny Chan but for the poker community in the know, his solid, un-showy performances won him a lot of respect and by the halfway through the first decade of the new century he had surpassed Chan in winnings. In 2007, he secured his eighth WSOP bracelet and in April 2008 took home his biggest prize to date, almost $1million dollars by beating Robert Richardson in the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic.
Although playing in tournaments is Erik’s primary poker concern, he has embraced the internet revolution and is part of the Full Tilt Poker team. Along with Howard Lederer, he was involved at the site’s conception as part of the initial design team. On his personal home page, he lists his current musical recommendations but he is not always so revealing. During tournaments, he can be quite cagey about revealing his hole cards even to the point of hiding them from the television cameras. However rather than being a tactical move, Seidel claims he does this because he is embarrassed about the all the good cards he gets dealt. Despite all his success, it is still the 1988 WSOP final defeat that remains Erik’s most famous moment in the eyes of the wider public. But since then, Seidel has been quietly raking in the chips and ploughing through tournament fields to rank as one of the top earning poker players of all time. The starry-eyed newcomer, who appears in the ‘Rounders’ movie, has matured into an experienced, accomplished and respected poker veteran.
Eric Seidel WSOP Tournaments & Top Ten Finishes
Event*
Date
Position
Winnings
Foxwoods Poker Classic / WPT Event Season 6
WPT Championship
Apr 8th 2008
1st
$967,390
2008 Crown Aussie Millions Championship
Event 12 - Poker Pages Ranking Main Event
Jan 14th 2008
2nd
$759,340
Spanish Championship / WPT Event Season IV
WPT Championship
Oct 16th 2007
8th
$65,924
38th Annual WSOP Event 54
No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball Championship
Jul 4th 2007
1st
$538,835
38th Annual WSOP
Event 51 - WSOP S.H.O.E
Jul 1st 2007
66th
$1,528
38th Annual WSOP
Event 30 - WSOP Short Handed
Jun 18th 2007
40th
$6,429
38th Annual WSOP
Event 21 - WSOP Shootout
Jun 12th 2007
34th
$6,757
38th Annual WSOP
Event 12 - WSOP Short Handed
Jun 7th 2007
40th
$5,844
2007 Crown Aussie Millions Championship
Event 8 - $100,000 Event
Jan 12th 2007
2nd
$417,637
Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic
WPT Event Season 5 Event 10
Dec 10th 2006
7th
$29,795
37th Annual WSOP
Event 32 - WSOP Pot Limit Hold'em
Jul 22nd 2006
34th
$7,106
37th Annual WSOP
Event 22 - WSOP
Jul 14th 2006
128th
$2,874
37th Annual WSOP
Event 2 - WSOP
Jun 27th 2006
49th
$9,094
Caesars Las Vegas Poker Tournament
Event 12 - WSOP Circuit Main Event
May 11th 2006
12th
$27,504
Ultimate Poker Challenge
Jul 25th 2005
8th
$18,300
36th Annual WSOP
Event 43 - WSOP
Jul 11th 2005
6th
$59,545
36th Annual WSOP
Event 35 - WSOP Pot Limit Omaha
Jul 2nd 2005
8th
$46,530
36th Annual WSOP
Event 20 - WSOP Pot Limit Hold'em
Jun 20th 2005
16th
$11,235
36th Annual WSOP
Event 12 - WSOP Pot Limit Omaha
Jun 13th 2005
9th
$23,130
36th Annual WSOP
Event 9 - WSOP
Jun 10th 2005
1st
$611,795
Mirage Poker Showdown
WPT Event Season 4
May 20th 2005
8th
$11,146
LA Poker Classic
WPT Event Season 3 WPT Main Event
Feb 22nd 2005
9th
$77,498
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic II
WPT Event Season 3 Pot Limit Hold'em
Dec 9th 2004
4th
$24,444
2004 Doyle Brunson Poker Championship
Festa al Lago III WPT Season 3 WPT Main Event
Oct 22nd 2004
4th
$165,000
2004 Doyle Brunson Poker Championship
Festa al Lago III WPT Event Season 3
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