Poker Stories: Seth Davies

Seth Davies is a 31-year-old high-stakes pro who originally found poker when he was just in high school. The Bend, Oregon-native was a standout baseball player, and was recruited to play at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Nagging injuries and surgery kept him off the field, but it also allowed him to focus more on his development as a poker player.

Davies spent a handful of years grinding out a living online, and even moved to Mexico to continue playing after Black Friday. In 2016, however, he started to focus more on live tournament after putting together a series of big cashes. Davies won the WPT Spring Classic, and finished second in the Hard Rock Poker Open main event later that summer. He also took third at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $877,285, second at the EPT Barcelona high roller for $800,044, and he also made the final table of the Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas for a $1,020,000 score. He now has $8.8 million in career live tournament earnings.

Highlights from this interview include the death of poker's middle class, freeroll origin stories, two grand slams in the same inning, a career cut short by injury, college in Vegas, treading water in Mexico, a nudge into the high rollers by Jason Koon, the Oregon money list, the 'work' of poker, a massive EV loss to Erik Seidel, reluctant sports bets, spending half his bankroll on a car, the unbeatable Ike Haxton, achieving maximum focus, and fainting on a roller coaster.