Erik Seidel was born in New York City. He left college in the '70s to become a professional backgammon player. He was at a backgammon tournament in Las Vegas when he started playing poker regularly. Seidel wanted a more stable income than the tournament circuit provided, so in 1985, he took a job on Wall Street as an options trader.

He returned to poker in New York after the Stock Market crash in 1987. The following year, some friends helped him buy in to his first major tournament, the World Series of Poker. Needless to say, he didn't do too badly that year. He finished second to Johnny Chan in the Main Event. A decade later, the movie, Rounders, recreated that final hand for millions of new poker fans. That World Series of Poker showing didn't lead Seidel to turn pro. In fact, he returned to the world of finance in New York and continued to play poker on the side. It wasn't until 1995 that he moved to Las Vegas and became a professional poker player.

Seidel has played in quite a few World Poker Tour events. In season three, he made the final table at the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship at the Bellagio. He finished fourth and took home $165,000. During his career, he's won seven World Series of Poker bracelets. Remarkably, three of those titles were in consecutive years. In January 2007, Seidel took second place at the Aussie Millions $100,000 buy-in event. He won $550,000 in that tournament, and his live tournament winnings total more than $9 million. Most recently, he added a WPT title to his long list of accomplishments when he won the 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic. Seidel regularly plays in the biggest cash games in Las Vegas. When he is not at the poker tables, he consults for entertainment productions that involve poker. He enjoys listening to music and playing tennis.