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Seidel, one of tournament poker’s most consistent players as well as among its wealthiest, was narrowly beaten for the top place by another poker veteran Daniel Negreanu.
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Erik Seidel / Getty
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Erik Seidel is far from being the stereotype of the average poker player. Quiet and retiring, Erik has consistently proven over the years that his unspectacular but undeviating style of poker brings results. Results that have seen him pick up millions of dollars in tournament prize money during his 25 year career.
Seidel recently had his name entered into the annals of poker history when he became runner-up in the highly regarded Global Poker Index’s “Player of the Decade” Award.
To determine the world’s top tournament poker players, the Global Poker Index developed a complicated scoring system was used, taking into account total prize money accumulated by each player, whilst at the same time calculating the current value of each prize at today’s massive poker prize levels.
Using this method each tournament poker player could accumulate a maximum of 12 points for every major live poker tournament event that they took part in every year. Their prize money accumulated would go towards to determining their overall score, making each player eligible to earn points from a maximum of 120 events each year, making for a maximum point total of 14400 points.
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At the end of a tense week, the overall winner of the Global Poker Index’s “Player of the Decade” was Canadian Daniel Negreanu who picked up a total of 7377 points while Erik Seidel didn’t finish too far behind on 6953. According to poker statisticians, Negreanu had a specially good 2013, which boosted his points total considerably, while Seidel’s points total have been earned in a much steadier fashion over the years.
Interestingly, two other Jewish players Michael Mizrachi with 6553 points and Barry Greenstein, with 6457 points finished in third and fourth places respectively.
Even more interesting is that Seidel total career prize money is one million dollars more than that of Daniel Negreanu on just over $17 million.
The reason why is that Seidel has been a consistent performer on the live tournament circuit for 25 years now, really finishing in first place in any tournament, but almost always been amongst the prize money. Since picking up his first doors of prize money in 1988, Erik Seidel has won no less than 27 tournaments outright, and even more remarkably finishing in the top ten in 142 live poker tournaments.
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Erik Seidel / Getty
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In the highly prestigious World Poker Tour (WPT) Seidel has only won one tournament, although he has appeared at the final table five times. He has also won eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, with only five players in the history of the WSOP have won more bracelets than Seidel. A likeable and respected player on the circuit, Erik was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010
Erik Seidel began his professional career as a backgammon player, taking his winnings to play the stock market before gradually switching to become a professional poker player
Unlike many of his competitors on the professional poker circuit, Seidel rarely takes part in the huge cash poker games that go on behind closed doors, preferring to consistently beat down the opposition on the tournament circuit.
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