Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel (born in New York City) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Originally a tournament backgammon player for eight years, he eventually started playing the stock market, and then moved on to poker. He was one of the group of now famous players from the Mayfair Club, including Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington.

In his first major tournament, he came in second in the 1988 World Series of Poker main event to Johnny Chan. This final hand was featured in the movie Rounders.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $7,000,000.

Seidel is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker.

In January 2007, Seidel finished in second place in the Aussie Millions $100k event and took home $550,000(AUD), beaten by Erick Lindgren in Heads-Up play when he moved all-in with KJ of hearts on a two-heart flop and Lindgren called with a pair of aces and his 7 kicker became an eventual straight.