Erik Seidel: It Was Pretty Awful To Be In Such A Great Spot And To Be So Unprepared For It    There are a lot of movie stars who boast playing poker during their free time nowadays. But the situation with Erik Seidel is quite opposite: he is a professional poker player who became famous after he played in a movie. But let’s start from the beginning. Between Casino And The Stock Market   Erik was born in New York City and debuted as a backgammon player. He became a very competitive player but decided to move to the stock market. However later he returned to gambling and realized that he liked poker better than backgammon.   “I knew a couple of high-limit poker players in Vegas, and in 1985 while I was there for a backgammon tournament, I thought that maybe I should give poker a try. I began by playing $1-$2 limit and somehow won, which was incredible because I was ridiculously bad,” recalls Erik. A Winner Famous For Losing   Now Erik is a very successful player. He lives not far from Las Vegas and plays poker for living. He has 6 WSOP bracelets and is the only player on both the WSOP and the Bellagio top 10 all time money lists. Still he is mostly known for his loss in 1988 when final WSOP table. Not only those who are interested in poker know about this game due to the fact that the footage was used in the movie “Rounders”.   Erik speaks about that event with humor: “It was surreal to find myself heads up with him at the final table. I was pretty bad in those days, especially shorthanded. I really didn’t know what I was doing, because I was accustomed to playing in a full 11-handed game, and that’s an entirely different thing from playing shorthanded,” he says. “It was pretty awful to be in such a great spot and to be so unprepared for it,” concludes Seidel. Modest And Reserved   Erik has a habit of speaking modestly about his achievements. “Actually, with the cards I held, it would have been embarrassing not to win,” he said after winning the $5000 Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker. This is his typical behavior. He never parades his winnings. That’s why he is one of the most respected poker players. He is intelligent and broad-minded and it is very interesting to talk to him.   He is also very composed and it is almost impossible to see him on tilt. “One of the great challenges of poker is to think well through all situations,” he says. “When you can do that, there’s an extra thrill involved — here you are, things have gone badly, and yet you’re still sitting there as tough as you were when you came in. And that can be very discouraging to other players… Let them tilt because you’re not!”   I advise you to hang write the last phrase on a big piece of paper and let it hang above your computer at least in those hours when you play online.