Poker Legend Erik Seidel Considers Cutting Back on Tournaments After US Tax Changes

One of the world’s top poker players, Erik Seidel, has announced that he plans to adjust his approach to poker by focusing more on lower-stakes tournaments, following a significant shift in US gambling tax laws. The Hall of Fame member is known for regularly entering $10,000 buy-in tournaments and other famous high roller events, but thinks he will need to adjust his tactics to avoid facing huge tax increases.

At the moment, these tax adjustments are only really affecting high roller players and will have little impact on Americans who gamble more casually at regular brick-and-mortar locations or online. In fact, many of the no account casino options on the internet that allow players to wager and withdraw funds using cryptocurrency offer numerous benefits that lead to tax having less of an impact, including low transaction fees and a multitude of bonuses and rewards.

For high-rollers like Seidel, however, these new tax rules mean that continuing to engage in elite tournaments at the rate that they are might prove too costly to be an effective way of making income. The new tax law itself is part of the current president’s new economic plans that are due to come into effect in 2026, and it will see gamblers only able to write off 90% of their yearly losses as opposed to the 100% they were previously. This is an almost negligible amount for most casual gamblers, but for poker professionals, it completely changes the game and the math behind it.

Seidel gave an example of how this new rule could affect him and his colleagues. The poker player who, during his career, has won over $48 million through live tournaments revealed that professional players might be expected to pay gambling taxes even in years where they either broke even or lost money. In other words, if a professional poker player wins a large amount of money but spends it all to enter tournaments, they could still be taxed despite never turning a profit. 

Erik Seidel does hope that the rule will be revoked by lawmakers, but he suggested that it would not be a good idea to operate as if this is to be the case. So, as a way to prevent the ruling from having such a significant effect on his career, he is planning to significantly cut his buy-in exposure and instead focus on smaller tournaments with much smaller buy-in fees. That being said, he still intends to appear at major events such as the WSOP Main Event and other tournaments where his presence is expected; he’ll just keep a bit more of a low profile for other, less media-heavy tournaments.

Seidel is certainly not the only player who would be affected if this tax change came into place, and the player expressed direct concern over some of the young professionals who have spent years improving their skills and are planning to grind tournaments might suddenly find themselves completely shut out of the game. He also thinks that the ruling might lead some players to do illegal things with their taxes to avoid paying the full amount, which is certain to have ripple effects on issues across the entire poker community.