Erik Seidel Net Worth – How Rich ‘Sly’ Really Is?

Nicknamed Sly, Erik Seidel is one of the most successful poker players of all time. A professional player since the late 80s, Erik Seidel, has seen his fair share of great wins over the years, with many of them coming in the recent past.

With such a long career and hundreds of in-the-money finishes during this time, Erik Seidel has managed to become one of the winningest poker players ever, both in terms of titles and financial success.

Focusing on the latter, the net worth of Erik Seidel is estimated at over $40 million. What’s more, this is arguably a lowball estimate of what Erik Seidel is worth, as his total live poker earnings alone trump $40 million.

To get the most precise estimate of how much Erik Seidel is worth, we’ll look at his long and illustrious career, discuss his biggest prize wins, and touch on any additional activities that have helped Erik Seidel boost his net worth.

So, if you’ve ever asked the question “how much is Erik Seidel worth,” we’ve prepared everything you should know!

Erik Seidel Net Worth – His Career Through the Decades

Despite his presence in the industry, which now seems like it spans forever, Seidel actually delved into poker a bit later than most professional poker players do. He didn’t start playing the game professionally until his late 20s.

how rich is erik seidel

Player images courtesy of PokerGO

Born in New York City, Erik Seidel was seemingly on the typical path that marked most men in his generation.

He went to college and later became a trader on the stock market. Prior to that, he was fascinated with board games and even played backgammon professionally for a few years.

In his youth, Seidel passionately played this popular table game.

In fact, as he was touring the country playing backgammon, he traveled to Vegas for a tournament.

There, he discovered poker and was fascinated by the card game instantly. He moved from backgammon to poker and quickly quit his day job to pursue a career as a professional poker player.

First Major Poker Tournaments

Erik Seidel didn’t wait long to record noted results at the biggest poker stage. In fact, at the 1988 WSOP Main Event competition, his first major tournament, he was a runner-up, losing to another poker legend, Johnny Chan.

At the time, Johnny Chan was already an accomplished player with a few WSOP bracelets.

This loss is now famously known thanks to the cult poker movie Rounders. The final hand between Seidel and Chan is featured in the movie and immortalized as one of the most heartbreaking outcomes, which, unfortunately, came at the very start of Seidel’s professional career.

That said, although personally very impactful, this loss didn’t discourage Seidel from pursuing his poker career. What’s more, it had an entirely opposite effect.

This narrow loss only motivated Seidel to commit to the game even more and try to improve in the future.

erik seidel poker winnings

Moreover, it helped boost Seidel’s bankroll and support further poker ventures, as he collected $280,000 for this result.

The same year, Seidel won his first major competition when he took first place at the 4th Annual Diamond Jim Brady tournament, taking home over $140,000.

In the next few years, Seidel finished in the money at several major poker tournaments but narrowly missed out on the top positions. However, the best was yet to come.

Winning a Bracelet and Continued Success

In 1992, Seidel won his first WSOP bracelet when he won the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event. He repeated this success by winning his second and third WSOP bracelets in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

In the several years following his third World Series of Poker bracelet, Erik Seidel struggled to record notable wins.

From 1994 to 1998, he went on a string of fairly poor results, and his bankroll nearly dried up.

But, the period between 1998 and 2001 marked Seidel’s further rise in the ranks of the poker world, as he won an additional two WSOP bracelets during that time.

He continued building on his success by winning a WSOP bracelet every couple of years up until the mid-2000s. By 2007, he had eight WSOP bracelets.

Latest Wins and Hall of Fame Induction

Erik Seidel slowed down a bit over the past decade compared to the height of his career which was during the first decade of the 21st century. However, he is far from over when it comes to winning at a high level.

Almost thirty years after winning his first WSOP bracelet, Seidel added a ninth bracelet to his collection. This happened in 2021 at a WSOP Online event, in which he also won a prize of nearly $1 million.

Seidel is also one of a handful of players who have managed to win over $5 million in a single year at least several times, having done so in 2011, 2015, and 2016.

For all of his successes on the biggest poker stage, Erik Seidel was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010.

To this date, only Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan have won more WSOP bracelets than Erik Seidel.

His nine bracelets are spread across five different games, making Erik Seidel one of the most versatile poker players of his generation.

Other Poker Ventures

Besides winning nine WSOP bracelets in three different decades, Seidel also recorded notable results in other major poker competitions.

He has won one World Poker Tour title and one European Poker Tour title. What’s more, his win in the latter competition also ranks as one of his best career prizes. This leads us to the next part of this page.

Erik Seidel Net Worth: Five Biggest Career Prizes

Ranking firmly in the middle of the list of the top ten of the all-time poker money list, Erik Seidel has collected some impressive prizes over the years.

A handful of these results stand out as his most lucrative career achievements. With that in mind, here are Erik Seidel’s five biggest career prizes:

5. $1,092,000 – Five Star World Poker Classic, Las Vegas

In 2011, Seidel recorded his then second-highest career win. This happened when he came in first place at the $100,000 Super High Roller Event at the Ninth Annual Five Star World Poker Classic.

To achieve this, he had to beat a number of famous poker pros along the way, notably finishing in front of superstars like Daniel Negreanu and Justin Bonomo.

4. $1,275,000 – partypoker MILLIONS World, Nassau

One of his most recent wins topping $1 million, this massive prize actually came as a result of a fourth place position in a star-studded Super High Roller Bowl partypoker event in 2019.

Although he played fantastically, Seidel was outshined by event winner Daniel Dvoress who played the tournament of his life, taking home over $4 million.

3. $2,222,222 – European Poker Tour, Monte Carlo

Seidel’s only triumph at a European Poker Tour event also marks one of his biggest career wins at over $2 million.

With 58 entries from all corners of the world, the 2015 EPT Super High Roller event was one of the most memorable in recent memory.

Moreover, it produced arguably Seidel’s best-known win when he left Dmitry Urbanovich in disbelief after a stunning hero call.

2. $2,400,000 – Super High Roller Bowl – Las Vegas

The Super High Roller Bowl in Las Vegas is known for offering a huge prize pool and attracting the biggest names in the game.

what is erik seidel net worth

In 2016, Seidel had the opportunity to discover this first-hand when he won a payday of $2.4 million for a third place position behind German up-and-comers Fedor Holz and Rainer Kempe.

1. $2,472,000 – Aussie Millions Poker Championship, Melbourne

Several months before winning $1 million at the Five Star World Poker Classic, Seidel opened up 2011 with an early-year win at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship.

This garnered him a profit of nearly $2.5 million, a prize that still remains his best financial result at any poker competition.

Erik Seidel Poker Style – Quietly to Huge Wins

When talking about professional poker players, the first association for most fans is that these pros are often boastful, flamboyant, and seemingly overconfident. But, Erik Seidel is far from this general stereotype.

His opponents know him as a modest and quiet professional who doesn’t seem to display much emotion when winning or losing.

At first impression, you would never pin Erik Seidel as a stone-cold poker assassin who knows how to exploit his opponents’ weaknesses without a fault.

Looking at his demeanor, grace, and impassivity, he seems more like a casual dad enjoying a weekend poker game than a nine-time WSOP bracelet winner.

For many poker fans, Seidel’s poker style is unassuming. He rarely makes flashy plays and doesn’t make a big deal even after multi-million wins.

Still, he has been the central figure of many iconic moments, both in winning and losing. More importantly, he has always handled himself with class and elegance, fitting a respected role model.

For this and all of his successes at the felt table, he is deservedly considered one of the most influential poker players of all time.