Background Information about Erik Seidel
Seidel was born on the 6th of November, 1959 in NYC. Over the years, he has won a total of 8 prestigious World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and one World Poker Tour title (WPT). Popularly called Seiborg or Sly by his fans, Erik has remained on the poker scene for a long time and has maintained his hold and popularity among his colleagues and fans. He is famous for his play style, which many refers to as a ‘cagey’ style of game, which involves him hiding his cards from the full glare of the TV cameras. He has maintained that this part of his gaming has absolutely nothing to do with his gaming strategy. In his own words, he is simply mortified by the size of good cards he has dealt with.
Apart from the numerous victories that Seidel has experienced, which has made him very popular by the way; he is also known for his practical and quiet demeanor. He is your homey kind of guy who loves spending time with his family, consisting of his wide, Ruah, and their two beautiful daughters. This means if he is not attending a poker tournament or spending time at a poker table, you are likely to find him at home playing house with his cute family. No doubt, Seidel is loved by his fans and it was not such a big surprise when one of his fans produced a music video, which he titled “Seiborg” to honor him.
Highlights of Erik Seidel Important Career Dates
Seidel attained his first victory ever at a Poker Tournament during the 4th Annual Diamond Jim Brady in 1988. He went against Johnny Chan and won in the second place at the World Series of Poker Event. Four years later, he returned to the World Series of Poker event and he didn’t just come to watch as a spectator; he came for the crown and he got it. In 1992, he went straight for the first place at the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event and made it to the top. He finished in the first place and won his 1st ever WSOP Bracelet. This launched a series of victories at World Series of Poker Events for Erik Seidel. All his winnings at these events made up what Erik Seidel net worth is today.
The following year, 1993, he participated at the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event at the 1993 World Series of Poker and finished in the first place again. This makes it his second WSOP bracelet at a row. He didn’t just win a Bracelet; he also left with the first prize of $94,000 USD. This winning also contributed to his bankroll and Erik Seidel net worth.
In 1994, he won his third World Series of Poker Bracelet at the $5,000 Limit Hold’em event. Four years later, he returned to pick up his 4th WSOP bracelet when he participated in the $5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw event. He finished in the first place and won the grand prize of $210,000 USD. By this time, Seidel has taken his place among top poker players of all times. Although he had won so much at this time, remained his humble self and maintained a low profile.
The year 2001 brought in another great victory for Erik when he participated in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He finished in the first place and claimed his 5th WSOP bracelet and a first prize of $411,300. The winning at this time also influenced Erik Seidel net worth to a large extent. Barely two years later, he returned to the circuit to claim another trophy. This time around, he participated in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha table and finished in the first place, claiming his 6th World Series of Poker bracelet and the grand prize of $146,100 USD.
In 2005, he won his 7th World Series of Poker bracelet at the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event. He won the first place prize and walked away with the cash prize of $611,795 USD. By this time, Erik Seidel net worth has exceeded the one million milestone point and he didn’t stop at that. He went ahead to win his 8th bracelet at the $5,000 World Championship No Limit during the World Series of Poker of 2007. He finished in the first place and won his 8th prestigious bracelet and a prize of $538,835.
Well, Seidel wasn’t just a champion at World Series of Poker events. He also made it to the forefront of the World Poker Tour. In the year 2008, he participated in the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic. He went against some big leagues in the poker community and he went ahead to claim the first place. This earned him his 1st World Poker Tour Title and the cash prize of a whopping $992,890. This winning also contributed significantly to Erik Seidel net worth. In 2010, Erik was inducted into the prestigious Poker Hall of Fame.
In 2011, Seidel made his biggest winning ever at the A$250K Super High Roller No Limit Hold’em event during the 2011 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, Melbourne. He finished in the first place and made a grand winning of $2,472,555 USD. In 2015, he had another major victory at the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo. He played in the €98,000 + 2,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller and among the field of poker players that participated at the event; Erik came out victorious, claiming the first place. He left the event with a winning of $2,222,222.
Early Days of Erik Seidel
From early childhood, Seidel has displayed a strong love for competition. He began to show a flair for games from a very young age. As a matter of fact, by the time he turned twelve, he had already made an appearance on a television game show titled “To Tell the Truth”. It’s essential to emphasize that this TV show is no longer airing.
When Erik started college in the 1970s, he didn’t just go to school to study; he also took a side attraction, which was his love for games. While in college, he began to play backgammon. This was the introduction of Seidel to the world of competitive gaming. While playing backgammon, he discovered his talents and great potential for the game. After a serious consideration, he decided to drop out of school and focus solely on playing professional games. By his mid-twenties, Erik had become a successful professional backgammon player. The earnings he made at this period in time acted as the early building blocks for Erik Seidel net worth.
He continued to play the game of backgammon and when he was not traveling around the country playing at tournaments, he would be at some New York card rooms. He frequently visited the popular card room, the Mayfair Club, during this period. In the course of his travel to Las Vegas to play backgammon tournaments, Seidel began to develop great interest in the game of poker. Although his interest was strongly piqued over the game of poker, he didn’t give his full attention to the game.
With time, Erik began to lose interest in the excitement and winnings that come with the life of a gamer. The fact that the winnings were not really forthcoming at this point started to make him weary. In order to make ends meet, he decided to move on to a more secured source of income. He took up a conventional 9-5 job that offered him steady paycheck and regular schedule. The new change in career transformed Seidel into a stockbroker in the year 1985. His new career didn’t last for long, thanks to the unfortunate crash in the stock market. Due to the crash, many stockbrokers had to go out of jobs. This tsunami affected Seidel and with the crash in economy and a loss of job, he tried to look for another job.
Unfortunately, the jobs were not forthcoming and Erik began to experience hardship. Without thinking too much of it, Seidel had to return to his first love. He went back to Mayfair club and started playing at tables. However, this time around, he switched from the game of backgammon to poker. The switch was quite natural and he was able to fit in without too much stress. No doubt, this was a great move for him.
Erik Seidel became very good at the cash games at Mayfair and with time, a couple of regulars at the table began to pay close attention to him. Fortunately for him, it was about the time that poker players were preparing to participate in World Series of Poker events. His new friends at Mayfair invited him to participate at the WSOP of 1988 in Las Vegas. Seidel didn’t have the bankroll to finance him for the event but his friends stepped in for him and covered a high percentage of his buy-in for the $10,000 Main Event. This happened to be a good deal for everyone concerned because Erik completed the game as the runner up to the back to back defending champion, Johnny Chan.
The winning at this event opened the door to the growth of Erik Seidel net worth and his career. After the winning at the World Series of Poker, Erik returned to New York. He went back to his job at Wall Street, but this time around, he didn’t stop playing poker at local tournament tables.
Erik Seidel Exploits at World Series of Poker
Since he stepped into the world of poker, there are very few poker players that have attained the level of success in World Series of Poker like Seidel. As a matter of fact, only players like Phil Hellmuth Jr., Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Moss have earned more bracelets that he has. Till date, Seidel has earned a total of eight WSOP bracelets. He has made a total of 35 final tables in the course of his participations at World Series of Poker. In addition to this, he holds the second position in the most World Series of Poker cashes with a total of 94-in-the-money finishes. Between 1992 and 1994, he won three consecutive World Series of Poker bracelets at side events. Below are the highlights of his WSOP winnings:
| Year | Tournament | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 2007 | $5,000 World Championship No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball w/rebuys | $538,835 |
World Poker Tour Highlights
In the course of his career at the World Poker Tour, Erik has finished in money at a total of 20 times. He has also made it to the final tables at World Poker Tour and won first place at one event, which earned him his first and only World Poker Tour Title. In 2017, he almost made it to earning his second WPT Title but he finished in the second place at the World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions.
Erik Seidel Participations at Other Tournaments
Apart from the WSOP and WPT, Seidel has also participated in a good number of tournaments. These tournaments have all contributed to Erik Seidel net worth.
In the January of 2008, he finished in the second place at the A$10K + 500 No Limit Hold’em Main Event during the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. He won $879,028 at the event. In the same year, he placed first at the $9,700 + 300 No Limit Hold’em – World Poker Tour Event during the Foxwoods Poker Classic 2008. His victory earned him $992,890 at the event.
In 2010, he also placed first at the A$10K + 500 Pot Limit Omaha during the 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. He walked away from the event with a winning of $110,755.
The year 2011 brought in a couple of good wins for Seidel. In the January of that year, he placed first at the A$250K Super High Roller No Limit Hold’em event and won his biggest cash ever. He took home a whopping $2,472,555 USD at the end of the event. In the same month, he also finished in the 3rd place at the A$100K + 500 No Limit Hold’em Aussie Millions Poker Championship with a winning of $618,139 USD. February of that month, Seidel finished in the first place during the $25,100 High Roller Event of the 2011 L.A. Poker Classic. His earnings at the event totaled $144,570. He also finished in the first place in the March 2011 edition of the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em NBC National Heads-Up Championship. He won $750,000 at the event.
In the month of April of 2011, he placed second at the $9,600 + 400 No Limit Hold’em Main Event of Hollywood Poker Open with a winning of $155,103. He also placed first during the $100,000 Super High Roller Event at the No Limit Hold’em – 9th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic. He made a winning of $1,092,780 at the event. In August of the same year, he finished second at the $20K No Limit Holde’m Six – Handed League Main Event of 2011-12 Epic Poker League where he won $604,330. In 2011 alone, Erik Seidel net worth from his total tournament earnings was $6.53 million USD.
In 2013, he also made a couple of impressive winnings. In February of the year, he finished third at the A$25K No Limit Hold’em – $25K Challenge 2013 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. He earned $131,962 at the event. August of the same year, he placed second at the €48K + 2K No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the European Poker Tour and earned $745,224 for his efforts. In December of the same year, he finished second at the $100K No Limit Hold’em High Roller, World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic and won the sum of $650,100.
He made a single significant winning in the year 2014 at the A$100K No Limit Hold’em – $100K Challenge of the 2014 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. He earned $963,691 at this event.
His 2015 earnings were quite impressive. In February of the year, he placed first at the $25K No Limit Hold’em High Roller Aria High Roller 4. He won $159,230 for the first place prize. April brought him a huge winning at the €98K + 2K No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller during the European Poker Tour event. He finished in the first place and won a huge $2,222,222 USD. In May, he placed second at the $24K + 1K No Limit Hold’em – Aria High Roller 9 in Las Vegas. His second place earned him $354,000. In October of the same year, he placed 3rd at the $24K + 1K No Limit Hold’em High Roller – Aria High Roller 15. He earned $57,600 at the event. All his earnings in 2015 highly contributed to Erik Seidel net worth.
The year 2016 also brought impressive winnings for Erik. He finished in the third place in the month of February during the $25K No Limit Hold’em High Roller – Aria High Roller with a winning of $296,800. In May of 2016, he placed second at the €10K + 200 No Limit Hold’em Turbo 6 Max #79 Event – European Poker Tour at Monte Carlo. He won the sum of $158,479 at this event. He also placed third at the $300K No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Bowl when he played at 888 Poker in Las Vegas. He won a huge $2,400,000 at this event. In July, he placed second at the Aria High Roller in Las Vegas and earned $264,000. October of the same year, he finished in the second and third place at two different events of Aria High Roller in Las Vegas. His earnings at the events were $293,125, and $127,680 respectively. Erik Seidel net worth has grown significantly by this time in his career.
Seidel had three major winnings in the year 2017. His first was in February when he placed second at the Triton Super High Roller Series. He won $302,380 at the event. His second came in April at the €50K No Limit Hold’em PokerStars Championship. He placed third at the event and won the sum of $461,570. His third winning in 2017 came in September when he placed second at the $50K No Limit Hold’em Event #3 during the 2017 Poker Masters, Las Vegas. He won $576,000 at the end of the event.
He also made a couple of winnings in 2018. His first major cash in the year was in January during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $50,000 High Roller. He placed fourth at the event and made a winning of $260,260. He also placed third at the PartyPoker Millions Grand Final Barcelona $25K in April of 2016. He earned $367,706 at this event. He finished in two different third places in the Month of May. He played at the European Poker Tour and made earnings of $84,229 and $210,650 respectively.
So far in 2019, he has made two significant winnings. He placed 7th at the HK$1M No Limit Hold’em Triton Montenegro Main Event – Event #5 – Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, where he earned $440,842. In July of the same year, he finished in the 6th place with a winning of $264,186 at the $25K Pot Limit Omaha High Roller Eight-Handed – Event #45 – World Series of Poker 2019 in Las Vegas. All the winnings so far have all contributed to Erik Seidel net worth.
Erik at Online Poker and Sponsorship Deals
Although he is very active at poker tournaments, Erik Seidel has not done very much at the online poker platform. He got signed up at FullTilt in January of 2007 and between that time and April of 2009, he has lost about $350,762 at the online platform.
It is important to mention that even though Seidel’s online exploit could be termed an absolute failure at online tables; he was still able to make significant impact at the online platform. He was one of the early adopters of the online poker revolution. He was part of the core team that designed the FullTilt platform. Being one of the core people behind the conception of the site, he appeared in a couple of television adverts that were done for the website. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay very long as part of the management and since he left FullTilt, he never got involved in online poker again. According to report, FullTilt still owes Seidel the sum of $5 million USD.
Erik Seidel Scandals
Sometimes in the year 2016, Seidel, alongside Zachary Clark and John Juanda, were scammed by another poker player, Seyed Reza Ali Fazeli. Fazeli was accused of orchestrating an 18 months long sports ticket scheme, which he purportedly designed to finance the high roller poker buy-ins during the Aria Casino in the year 2016. According to the law suit filed at the Clark County District Court, Ali Fazeli was said to have received a total of $1.3 million USD from Seidel, Clark, and Juanda to purchase the tickets to the 2017 Super Bowl, and resell the same at a significant profit through the online ticketing site, onlinetickets.com. The team was meant to share the profit equally but this never happened.
Private Life of Erik Seidel
Erik is a dedicated family man who spends most of his free time with his family, his wife, Ruah, and there two beautiful daughters, Elian and Jamesin. According to his colleague, Jennifer Harman, a WSOP champion, Seidel was always talking about his family and it is very clear the kind of strong relationship the family has and how important his family is to him. In 1995, the family moved to Las Vegas from New York so that Seidel could take up a full time career in poker. In addition to spending time with family, Seidel also likes playing tennis and watching independent film or a good art show. He is also a self-acclaimed music revolutionary.
Erik Seidel Net Worth
According to thehendonmob.com, Erik Seidel net worth from his earnings in total live tournaments is $35,726,970. So far in his career, his best live cash was $2,472,555. He occupies the 3rd position on the All Time Money List. He ranks second on the United States All Time Money List and first on New York, USA All Time Money List. He occupies 5th on the Popularity Ranking and 3rd on the All Time Money List Current Rank. No doubt, Erik Seidel has made a name for himself in the poker industry and he is sure to make more impact in years to come.