Consistency is one of the best indicators of greatness, something champions and Hall of Famers in any sport possess. While the mortals stare and wonder on the rail how these poker stars are able to consistently perform, others simply go out and do it.
Erik Seidel is one of these “others” and he went out and did it again, this time in the first event at the U.S. Poker Open, a $5,100 no-limit hold’em contest that attracted 116 entries.
The wins adds another $145,000 to a pile of tournament cashes worth $46.2 million he’s collected since the late 1980s, good for 10th on the all-time money list.
Over and over, Seidel, 64, has shown the poker world that he deserves all the accolades he’s earned in the last four decades. And he continues to do it by going deep in the big buy-in events.
Seidel’s done particularly well in big buy-in events that are part of PokerGO’s vast and constant schedule of series that take place in its studios at the Aria for broadcast to its subscribers.
In 2024, Seidel cashed in seven PokerGO Tour events for $332,710. He added another quarter-milly to his stack by taking down the $10,500 Wynn Millions Poker high-roller event in March.
The man is one of the world’s greatest living tournament poker players.
Maybe the most famous runner-up in World Series of Poker history — a moment against Johnny Chan from 1998 that millions and millions of people have seen thanks to it being used in Rounders — he has gone on to win 10 bracelets for nearly $10 million.
He was able to break a live tournament 26-year bracelet drought by winning the $50,000 Super High Roller event last year for $1.7 million. He won bracelet #9 online internationally in a $10,000 event in 2021.
Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2018, Seidel is a true poker legend and proves it by his continual success that shows no signs of slowing down.
He simply shows up and quietly stacks the chips of fellow and future Hall of Famers. Got to respect that.
| Place | Name | Country | PGT Points | Prize |
| 1st | Erik Seidel | United States | 145 | $145,000 |
| 2nd | Eric Afriat | Canada | 90 | $89,900 |
| 3rd | Dylan Linde | United States | 64 | $63,800 |
| 4th | John Khoury | United States | 49 | $49,300 |
| 5th | William Lamar-Boone | United States | 38 | $37,700 |
| 6th | Justin Zaki | United States | 29 | $29,000 |
The U.S. Poker Open runs the next two weeks, with the $3,300 $2 million guaranteed championship’s Day 1 beginning April 24. Besides the headliner, the rest of the events all cost $10,100 or more to fire one bullet.
After this series over, PGT heads to Texas for the PGT Texas Power Open at Houston’s Champions Club, co-owned by Phil Hellmuth. Find the complete schedule here.
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