Joined: Jan '11
Location: Romania
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 167
Erik Seidel has looked superhuman lately. He's on one of the craziest heaters of all time and seems to win a tournament every other week. What other streaks can compare?
Erik Seidel Erik Seidel Erik Seidel has dominated the poker circuit this year. It's getting so ridiculous that it almost feels like he's winning more tournaments than he enters.
In 2011, Erik started off with 2 final tables at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure including a 4th place finish in the High Roller Event. Just two weeks later, he had 2 more final tables at the Aussie Millions- 3rd place in the $100,000 High Roller and 1st in the $250,000 Super High Roller tournament.
Shortly afterwards, Erik won both the High Roller Event at the L.A. Poker Classic and the NBC National Heads-Up Championship.
Still not done, he came in 2nd place at the WPT Lawrenceburg and won the World Poker Classic Super High Roller Event.
Seidel's tournament earnings in 2011 add up to over $5.5 million, and he now sits atop the all-time tournament earnings list.
After his latest win in the WPT $100k High Roller, it got us thinking- what are the other sickest runs in poker history?
Here is my list of the top 5, excluding Erik:
5. Dan Harrington's Main Event Final Tables (2003/2004)
Dan Harrington Dan Harrington "Action" Dan Harrington was a poker legend before the poker boom occurred in 2003, but he certainly made sure not to miss the boom.
Dan won 2 bracelets in 1995, one of which was for the Main Event. Somehow, that isn't quite the most amazing feat of his poker career.
In 2003 when Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event, Dan finished in 3rd place out of 839 entrants for $650,000.
The 2003 tournament was such a hit on television that attendance spiked for the following year. In 2004, the Main Event drew 2,576 players.
Despite the massive increase, Dan managed to final table again, finishing in 4th place for $1,500,000. Making the final table in consecutive years in the modern era of bigger fields is a feat that he'll forever be remembered for.
4. Stu Ungar's 1980/1981 WSOP Main Event Wins
Ungar Stu Ungar Stu Ungar was a young New Yorker who traveled to the World Series of Poker in 1980 to take a shot at the field full of well-known players from Texas and Nevada.
Having never before played a Texas Hold'em Tournament, Ungar won the Main Event in 1980. And again in 1981. And again in 1997, although that could hardly be considered part of the same streak.
Ungar's unique brand of aggressive play was well ahead of his time and changed the game forever.
3. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Crushes the Internet
Blom Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Isildur1 caught the attention of the entire poker world in October 2009 when he started playing the biggest games on the internet- and winning.
Within his first 3 months on Full Tilt Poker, the mysterious screen name won approximately $6 million and made some of the best nosebleed players in the world look like amateurs.
Internet forums everywhere attempted to answer the question, "Who is Isildur1?", and it took quite a while before Swedish pro Viktor Blom was leaked as the likely candidate. PokerStars later confirmed this.
Although his upswing was legendary, this isn't a story that ends well for the Swede. Between November 15th and the end of 2009, he lost it all and more, including a $4 million dollar single-day loss to Brian Hastings.
2. Daniel Negreanu's 2004
Negreanu A very happy Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu crushed tournaments in 2004 even harder than Erik Seidel has in 2011. Although I have this run at #2 on this list, it very easily could have been #1.
Daniel started the year with 2 WPT final tables, in which he finished 3rd and 2nd.
Then he went to the World Series of Poker where he cashed 5 times- ALL of them final tables, including 1 bracelet.
Somehow still not satisfied, Daniel won a $10,000 Championship Poker tournament for $310,000 immediately after the WSOP ended.
I still haven't gotten to the craziest part- he won back-to-back WPT Main Events by taking down the Borgata Poker Open and Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. Combined, these were worth over $2.8 million.
In total, Daniel won over $4 million, 1 WSOP bracelet, 2 WPT titles, and he made plenty of final tables. This is likely the sickest year any player has ever had.
1. Johnny Chan's 1987/1988/1989 WSOP Main Events
Johnny Chan Johnny Chan in 1987 There's something special about the WSOP Main Event. But if you're Johnny Chan, going deep in the Main Event has become commonplace.
Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, and Stu Ungar all won the Main Event in back-to-back years, but let's be honest- those were Sit & Go's.
Johnny Chan won the Main Event in 1987 and 1988, the most recent time this has occurred. Both fields consisted of over 150 players.
His 1988 victory over Erik Seidel has been cemented in history through the film 'Rounders'.
Having won the previous 2 years, Chan managed to finish in 2nd place in 1989, losing to Phil Hellmuth heads-up.
Reaching the final 2 places in 3 consecutive Main Events is one of the most amazing accomplishments in the history of poker, and that's why it's #1 on this list.
.and Seidel is on a run we can only dream about but he is a top top player...1 of my favs 
