Erik Siedel has claimed his first WPT victory by becoming the 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic Champion earning £489,997.  It is his biggest tournament payday so far in his career.

Siedel has a great pedigree in professional poker in a career which has earned him over £2.5 million which includes 8 WSOP bracelets and 18 worldwide wins.  He is, now, delighted to add a WPT tournament victory to his impressive poker career.

This year’s main event at the Foxwoods Poker Classic had a buy-in of $10000 and attracted a field of 345 competitors, with many top poker pros competing.

The final table action lasted almost 12 hours and 229 hands.  The seats of the players and their chip counts heading into the final table were:

Seat 1 – Erik Siedel (3,280,000)
Seat 2 – Frank Cieri (403,000)
Seat 3 – Robert Richardson (526,000)
Seat 4 – Ted Forrest (2,347,000)
Seat 5 – Andrew Barta (1,522,000)
Seat 6 – Adam Katz (2,301,000)

Ted Forrest was the clear favourite at this stage despite Siedel having the chip lead.  The two amateur players left in the competition, Robert Richardson and Frank Cieri were well behind in chips going into the final table and not expected to last that long.

However, things didn’t all go according to the script.  Ted Forrest was the first to be eliminated and it was at the hands of Richardson.  Forrest’s pocket Jacks weren’t good enough to match Richardson’s pocket Aces and it was this that sent him crashing out of the tournament.  Forrest was looking for his second WPT win but will have to be content with at least reaching the final table and earning £52,413.

Adam Katz and Frank Cieri were the next players to fall soon after Forrest’s elimination.  For finishing in fifth place, Katz received £77,035 his biggest tournament payout so far.  The amateur, Frank Cieri also did well exceeding his expectations to take home £101,640 for fourth place.

The three-handed action was to be a long and gruelling tense affair that lasted over 6 hours!  It was to be the longest three-handed play in WPT tournament history.  Richardson at one stage took over the chip lead from Siedel, but he couldn’t hold on to it and Siedel was back in the driving seat as the three-handed action looked like it wasn’t going to end.  Eventually, Siedel’s ace high proved good enough to knock out Andrew Barta.  £142,653 was to be Barta’s reward for third place.

After a long drawn out three-handed battle, the heads-up between Siedel and Richardson was over with in a flash.  It took just one hand for Siedel to eliminate Richardson and clinch the title in the quickest heads-up battle in WPT history.  Richardson has had a great tournament despite the humiliation of losing the shortest WPT heads-up.  £283,693 is a great consolation for Richardson, which he earns as runner-up. 

Siedel can now add a WPT title to his impressive career so far.  He is in great form this year what with this win and finishing as runner-up in the Aussie Millions.  His Foxwoods Poker Classic win has earned him £489,997 as well as entry into the WPT World Championship at Bellegio in Las Vegas.  In fine form like this Siedel will certainly be one of the favourites in Las Vegas.

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