Erik Seidel: World Series Of Poker ‘Bracelets Handed Out Like Halloween Candy’Poker Hall Of Famer Talks Packed WSOP Schedule |
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Erik Seidel has 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, which puts him in a three-way tie with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for third place, behind only Phil Ivey with 11 and Phil Hellmuth with 17.
The Poker Hall of Famer just celebrated his 65th birthday but is still as sharp as ever, and given how active he remains on the high roller scene, adding at least a couple more bracelets seems likely.
Last December, the New York native banked $1.7 million in the $50,000 super high roller at the inaugural WSOP Paradise series, and this year he has added several other wins and final table appearances.
This week, Seidel was among those who jumped in the $25,000 super high roller event at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour stop at Resorts World Las Vegas. He spoke with Card Player about the number of opportunities players have these days to win bracelets, and his own push for gold.
What started in the ‘70s with just a handful of tournaments has grown considerably since the poker boom. The WSOP now offers online bracelet events several times during the year in Canada and regulated states Nevada, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and U.S. players must travel or be located internationally to play on GGPoker, which recently purchased the series. Of the nearly 250 bracelets up for grabs in 2024, about half were awarded online, while live events played out in Las Vegas, the Czech Republic, and the Bahamas.
“I think it’s always fun to win one,” Seidel said. “I do think that it’s gotten a little out of hand, that they’re kind of handing them out like Halloween candy. I think that they’ve kind of diminished the value of it. But I do enjoy playing the WSOP. It’s always fun to play, but I’m definitely not one of those people that is like flying to Mexico to play [online].”
The Poker Hall of Famer now has $48 million in live tournament winnings, good for 11th place on the all-time money list. Nearly $10 million of that has come at the WSOP, cashing 160 times in bracelet events.
One of Seidel’s bracelets did come online, when he took down the $10,000 buy-in GGPoker Super Million$ high roller in 2021 for $977,842, and he does play the bigger buy-in online events during the summer, with a couple deep runs this year.
But Seidel pointed out that he and other bracelet leaders like Phil Hellmuth aren’t really chasing all the online opportunities.
“Hellmuth, he’s only really playing the live events, and he’s not really going to Europe, and he’s not flying in here to play the online thing,” he said. “I’m not trying to chase him down, for sure.”
Seidel remains a popular figure with poker fans. While he has a quieter persona than players like Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu, he obliged several railbirds who requested photos with him at the NAPT series while on breaks in the action.
“That’s almost always pleasant,” he said. “It’s people just being nice. Sometimes at the series it can become a little overwhelming. But in general, especially if it’s out in the street, it can be very nice.”
While he didn’t cash in the super high roller, there is also a $10,000 high roller on the schedule as well as the $5,300 main event. Seidel is pleased to see PokerStars bringing bigger live events back to Las Vegas.
“I think this is a great, great thing for poker,” he said. “I’m really happy to see them doing it.”
Leaderboard: WSOP Bracelets
| Rank | Player | Bracelets |
| 1 | Phil Hellmuth | 17 |
| 2 | Phil Ivey | 11 |
| T-3 | Erik Seidel | 10 |
| T-3 | Johnny Chan | 10 |
| T-3 | Doyle Brunson | 10 |
| 6 | Johnny Moss | 9 |
| T-7 | Men Nguyen | 7 |
| T-7 | Billy Baxter | 7 |
| T-7 | Scott Seiver | 7 |
| T-7 | Daniel Negreanu | 7 |
| T-7 | John Hennigan | 7 |
| T-12 | Josh Arieh | 6 |
| T-12 | Jeremy Ausmus | 6 |
| T-12 | TJ Cloutier | 6 |
| T-12 | Shaun Deeb | 6 |
| T-12 | Chris Ferguson | 6 |
| T-12 | Layne Flack | 6 |
| T-12 | Ted Forrest | 6 |
| T-12 | Brian Hastings | 6 |
| T-12 | Jay Heimowitz | 6 |
| T-12 | Jeff Lisandro | 6 |
| T-12 | Jason Mercier | 6 |
| T-12 | Michael Mizrachi | 6 |
| T-12 | Brian Rast | 6 |
| T-25 | Kristen Foxen | 5 |
| T-25 | Eli Elezra | 5 |
| T-25 | Allen Cunningham | 5 |
| T-25 | John Juanda | 5 |
| T-25 | Robert Mizrachi | 5 |
| T-25 | Scotty Nguyen | 5 |
| T-25 | Stu Ungar | 5 |
| T-25 | Nick Schulman | 5 |
| T-25 | Daniel Alaei | 5 |
| T-25 | Calvin Anderson | 5 |
| T-25 | Bones Berland | 5 |
| T-25 | David Chiu | 5 |
| T-25 | Yuri Dzivielevski | 5 |
| T-25 | Adam Friedman | 5 |
| T-25 | Benny Glaser | 5 |
| T-25 | Berry Johnston | 5 |
| T-25 | Brian Yoon | 5 |
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