He seems to crush these consistently.

Other younger high roller regs who are friends discuss hands and surely have watched the replay streams and discussed hands played with Erik and ways to exploit his play.

What is he doing differently that others have not been able to adjust to / exploit.

Or does he just run good over a decade or so

Or is his ROI basically the same as other net winners in high rollers and hes not that great.

He used to be a trader so I suppose he knows how to make risk calculations well. He is the most unrated poker player given his success. When he goes broke then I will know poker is a waste of money.

PokerNews: What do you do that allows you to continue to compete with some of the best players in the world? Do you actively study the game?

Seidel: You know, I haven't done as much work as I really need to. I feel like I really fell behind in that regard. One of the handicaps that I have, maybe there's some advantage as well, is that I don't really have a whole lot of structure to my game.

Do you think you adapt better than most players?

I'm guessing that has to be true because I don't know how I'm going to play. I don't even think I know how to play really, I just go and try to figure it out while I'm there [laughs]. I think, particularly in no limit, if you know how to play, you're probably doing it wrong because I just think there's a big creative element to it. So much has to do with what the exact situation is rather than trying to impose your own play on somebody else.

He has compromising photo's of the Poker Gods hidden away, so he gets all the run-good.

Seiborg underrated?! (or even "unrated"?)

Never!

But this does provide another opportunity to listen to one of SrslySirius's best creations.

Keep in mind we're talking about a man who registered for the Memory Olympics, and when they asked him where he heard about the Memory Olympics he said he didn't remember.

coolers, bluffs, raises, best handing...

He knows how to bluff and he knows how to fold

That FTP money definitely musta helped

in what way was seidel related to FTP?

He was one of the owners.

I have some friends who played a lot with him, I asked same question (how good is he?) when he went on that spree a few yrs back, they said he's just a really good player.

I am wildly speculating, but during the post black friday FTP meltdown I am sure Juanda said ES was owed something like $4m by FTP - when someone asked how he had so much money (ahhh 2+2) some pretty reliable people came out and said he had big wall street money pre-poker. Just gossiping really but don't think FTP money was the making of him like a lot of the original FTP gang.

Looks like a super smart guy, never laid eyes on him off a TV screen but people always seem to say he's a thoroughly nice bloke too.

Seiborg.

He created Yu-Gi-Oh, thus being in the possession of the real heart of the cards. EZ game after that.

IIRC Seidel was one of the very few players (or maybe the only player) who would refuse to show his hole cards on TV tables.

The man knows what he's doing. Despite all the noise around GTO play, 9-handed MTTs remain highly about exploitation and misdirection and he's probably one of the best at that.

this is so Boss on every level.

Is it safe to say that most of the high roller regs prefer to NOT play pots with Erik, in much the same way many were fearful of Selbst when she initially burst onto the scene.

Fear of Selbst because of her hyper aggression all the time every time.

Fear of Erik because there is no adjustment to gain edge on the Seiborg.

Or maybe,

These cats are all just clicking buttons in the same way and at basically same skill level and cards will for the most part determine winner.

Also, is there a database that shows high roller ROI over time ? GPI just shows cashes.

If you and others knew why he has been able to do what hes done then you and they would be as successful as him.........thats the riddle. Also he's been gettin it done alot longer than a decade or so, not a matter of just run good when its a decade let alone long as hes been doing it. Musta forgot that scene from rounders with the "88" world series huh?

I don't know anyone who was afraid of Selbst. Amused by crazy pots maybe. She was good at picking the right fights, not necessarily defending against aggression. There's a difference. Some things work very well in poker when people don't have time to adjust. She calmed down after a downswing, and that's why things may have gone quiet since 13-14. I think people adjusted to her well as more people learned how she played.

Seidel is a nit lying in wait of people who telegraph too much. He just does the opposite of what they want. He is quiet, but still demonstrative himself, so while he can read people extremely well, he himself is subject to being read. He is more afraid of everyone else seeing through him, than people are of him seeing through them, so that's a huge edge. People discount his ability because of the tightness.

Selbst is a better player than Seidel in my opinion, but Seidel probably has more patience and less emotion in the longer nitfests.

Luck.

Some people just randomly have a crazy knack for the things which makes one good at poker, without really studying. Automatically understanding frequencies and balancing spots well etc etc

Blom is another person who comes to mind. Crazy ROI in high buyin tournaments (as far as I know), yet has done no study to get there. However stupid it sounds on the surface I think Seidel and Blom can be put in the same bucket in that regard

Also, one can simply be a statistical run-good outlier with a normally low winrate in tourneys

His impeccable reads

Wow, Op. Maybe go fire up Hendon before making a "Who's this Seidel guy, and how's he crushing these tournaments?" thread. You might as well go to Sports and post a "There's a possibility the Patriots will get to the SB this year" thread.

The guy's been a beast for many years. He's in the freaking HoF.

So much has to do with what the exact situation is rather than trying to impose your own play on somebody else.

Probably because of this statement.

So much this. People also tend to forget that he is also a gentleman at the tables, win or lose. Has always been a class act.

It's extremely impressive that whilst many of the old school pros are long gone from the poker world or at the very least not playing much these days that Juanda and Seidel are still getting great results against the younger guys.