The Main Event of the World Series of Poker Paradise in the Bahamas is underway right now, but the excitement from Saturday is what folks are still buzzing about around the Atlantis. In Event #7, the $50,000 Super High Roller tournament, Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel was able to capture the victory in an extremely difficult final table. In winning more than $1.7 million, Seidel also etched his name into an exclusive club – players who have won more than ten WSOP bracelets in their career.
Best in the World Compete in the Caribbean
Seidel was among the seventeen men remaining in the biggest tournament to this point of the 2023 WSOP Paradise. Seth Gottlieb led the Day Two festivities with his 5.25 million in chips, but Seidel was in pursuit only a million chips back (4.265 million). The rest of the pack was tightly bunched behind them, but that pack also featured such players as Jonathan Jaffe, Chris Brewer, Adrian Mateos, and Orpen Kisacikoglu (among others).
Only thirty minutes into the Day Two play, Daniel Dvoress hit the rail at the hands of Gottlieb after he miraculously flopped a full house with his K-Q against Dvoress’ A-Q. Gottlieb was unable to maintain his success, however, which set the stage for Seidel to motor up the leaderboard after eliminating Ivan Luca in twelfth place. Seidel also broke the ten million chip mark and popped over eleven million in bringing the table to the unofficial final nine with Mike Watson’s elimination.
Adrian Mateos was able to bring Seidel back to Earth a bit, winning a race against the nine-time WSOP bracelet winner when Mateos’ A-K caught a King on the flop against Seidel’s pocket Queens. That was enough to give Gottlieb a chance to eke back into the lead after he doubled up through Mateos and Seidel. Seidel decided to sit back for a bit, but Mateos stayed on the attack, which resulted in his departure in eighth place at the hands of Gottlieb.
Seidel reestablished himself by eliminating Jaffe from the tournament in a rapid fashion. After Seidel opened the betting, Jaffe took his shot in pushing out his stack for battle. Seidel made the call and, after the cards were up, Jaffe was at the minimum live with his hand:
Seidel (button): A♠ 5♠
Jaffe (small blind): K-Q
The flop eliminated any element of drama in coming down 10♠ 6♠ J♠, giving Seidel the nut flush and Jaffe drawing dead. After the turn and river (a Queen and an Ace to give Jaffe a cruel straight), Seidel was back over the ten million chip mark and the battle between him and Gottlieb raged onward.
There Can Be Only One…
Seidel and Gottlieb seemed to be destined to meet each other in the end. The Poker Hall of Famer improved his stack in eliminating Alex Foxen from the tournament in sixth place and, outside of Kisacikoglu’s takedown of Jason Koon in fourth and Koichi Chiba in fifth, was responsible for every elimination towards winning the championship. Gottlieb did try to keep pace but, after Seidel took out Kisacikoglu in third place (Seidel’s K-10 playing against Kisacikoglu’s K-9 on a 3-J-7-2-A board), Seidel entered heads-up play with a 26 million to 15 million edge.
It only took three hands for the decision to be rendered. Seidel made a key call on a 7-10-3-2-7 board, with his 10-8 earning two pair over Gottlieb’s bluffing 8-6, and his lead widened to nearly 4:1. Although Gottlieb would double on the next hand, the final hand saw Seidel river a straight to eclipse Gottlieb’s flopped two pair and further his legend in poker history.
1. Erik Seidel, $1,704,400
2. Seth Gottlieb, $1,052,800
3. Orpen Kisacikoglu, $778,300
4. Jason Koon, $582,100
5. Koichi Chiba, $440,500
6. Alex Foxen, $337,300
7. Jonathan Jaffe, $261,400
8. Adrian Mateos, $205,000
With the victory, Seidel rewrites some of the things he has already done in the poker world. Seidel moves into fifth place on the U. S. all-time money list and seventh overall in poker’s illustrious history. Perhaps more important to Seidel was the fact that he joins an exclusive club of only four other men – Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, and the legendary Doyle Brunson – who have won ten (or more, in Hellmuth’s case) World Series of Poker bracelets. Whether it is in Las Vegas, online (in 2021, Seidel won a High Roller for almost a million dollars on GGPoker), or in Paradise, Erik Seidel has furthered his impact on the world of poker.
