Mark Seif (born October 4, 1967) is an American

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

attorney, and TV show host.

Personal life

Seif was born in Cairo, Egypt before moving with his family at the age of two, to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. Seif attended LaSalle High School in Pasadena, California, and graduated in 1985. He then received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in 1991 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1997 from

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Seif worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office from 1994 to 1996 as a California Supreme Court certified law student practitioner, and assisted in the prosecution of the O. J. Simpson case. Subsequently, in 1997, Seif joined the national labor and employment law firm of Fisher & Phillips in their

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

office. There he represented management exclusively in several high-profile sex harassment lawsuits. Seif left the firm in 1999 to become General Counsel of Preferred Capital Corporation, a business financial services firm in Tahoe City, California. In May 2001, Seif quit practicing law to pursue a full-time career as a professional poker player and TV personality. In 2016, Seif founded PRIME Soccer Club, a competitive sports organization in Southern Nevada, where he serves as executive director. Seif currently resides in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...

and has two daughters, Sarah and Ashley.

Poker career

In May 2001, Seif quit practicing law to play poker full-time. In August 2002, he was one of six finalists at the inaugural World Poker Tour World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Championship in Los Angeles, California at the Bicycle Club Casino. Seif finished in fourth place in that tournament that was broadcast several months later across the United States and later internationally. In May 2003, Seif had his first cash in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the $3,000 no limit Texas hold'em event, where he finished in 9th place with a final table that included poker professionals Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and

Erik Seidel Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. In 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall o ...

among others. Seif is best known for being the only player to win two WSOP bracelets in back-to-back events in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

in the $1,500 limit hold'em shootout and the $1,500 no limit hold'em events. He bested a field of 2,013 players to win his second bracelet at a final table that included poker professionals Minh Nguyen, Greg Raymer, Dave Ulliott, and Bill Gazes among others. Later in 2005, Seif won the United States Poker Championship in

seven-card stud Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River, is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was one of the most widely played poker variants in home games across the Unite ...

at the Taj Majal in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

. He also made the final table at the

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom. It is the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total online poker market, and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows, macOS, Androi ...

World Championship of Online Poker that same year. In 2007, Seif purchased a US Poker Bowl franchise named the Detroit Absolute Nuts, who went on to win the first ever US Poker Bowl Conference Championship. Seif was a color commentator for the Professional Poker Tour television series which aired on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

starting in July 2006 and ended in late 2009. He has been a spokesperson for Absolute Poker since 2004. It is estimated Seif earned in excess of $2 million per year as the public face of Absolutepoker.com, one of the biggest and highest revenue online poker sites in the world until April 15, 2011, when the US Government seized the domain names of the three leading online poker sites including Absolutepoker.com, Fulltiltpoker.com and Pokerstars.com forcing the poker sites to permanently shut down US operations. Several years later, Pokerstars.com re-entered the US market in the state of New Jersey, but with limited success. As of 2023, Seif's total live tournament winnings exceed $3.1 million. His 26 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,086,415 of those winnings.

WSOP bracelets

Mark Seif Quotes

*"There are three ways to play pocket jacks, and they're all wrong." *"To play great poker, sometimes you've got to go broke."

References

External links

Card Player profileHendon Mob profileWPT profileWSOP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seif, Mark 1967 births American poker players California lawyers Living people Poker commentators World Series of Poker bracelet winners Egyptian emigrants to the United States