Professional poker player Erik Seidel says he chose to semi-retire this year — but not because his career was slowing down. Seidel played his first major tournament in 1988, finishing as runner-up in the World Series of Poker main event. He became a full-time professional poker player in 1995, and over the course of his career has racked up winnings of more than $48 million playing in live poker tournaments, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database , an online compendium of poker stats. In