Who is Erik Seidel

Erik was born and raised in New York where he started out as a backgammon player. He spent eight years on the backgammon tournament circuit before moving on to the stock market. For years, Erik traded on Wall Street and played poker on the side. Now he lives in Las Vegas and it's the other way around.

Life Earnings $9,344,841
His runner-up finish to Johnny Chan immortalized on celluloid in the film Rounders, Erik Seidel has sustained a successful poker career for over two decades. The winner of eight WSOP bracelets, Seidel also earned a WPT title last year when he took down the Foxwoods Poker Classic for nearly $1 million. Seidel also has two runner-up finishes at the Aussie Millions, finishing second to Alexander Kostritsyn in last year's Main Event and second to Erick Lindgren in the 2007 $100,000 buy-in high roller tournament. Cool and measured at the table, Seidel is a calm presence and an extremely well-rounded player for someone who focuses on tournaments rather than cash game action, having won bracelets in pot-limit Omaha, limit hold'em, no-limit hold'em, Omaha 8 or better and no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw.