Doyle Brunson’s introduction speech for Erik Seidel at the Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony was captured by our cameras just before the start of the November Nine at the World Series of Poker Main Event final table.
Erik Seidel seemed a natural pick for this year’s class for the Poker Hall of Fame. His most impressive career accomplishment are his eight World Series of Poker bracelets, in poker disciplines of Limit Hold’em, Omaha 8 or Better, Deuce to Seven Draw, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball with Rebuys.
Seidel was honored to have Doyle Brunson introduce him in front of the large crowd at the Penn & Teller theater at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Brunson’s speech reflected aptly on Seidel’s many achievements in the game and contributions to the industry as a whole.
“I’m honored to introduce Erik because I’ve known him since he first began his career. I’ve watched him evolve into the gentleman that he is today and how he’s done a great job being the great player that he is.”
Brunson continued, “Most people think of Erik as a tournament player. What they really don’t know is that Erik started out as a backgammon player … then went to Wall Street and then decided to be a professional poker player… It was then that Erik played cash games for a long time and I was in most of the games with him and saw what a great player he was. I was kind of sad to see him become what I call a ‘tournament player’ because I feel like one of the prerequisites to getting into the Hall of Fame is to be a great cash game player, and people don’t really know what a great cash game player he is.”
Seidel, on top of his 8 WSOP bracelets also has a win at a World Poker Tour event and is a sponsored pro at Full Tilt Poker.
