Erik Seidel erased a 5-1 heads-up chip defecit to win the single biggest buy-in tournament in poker history Thursday night in Melbourne by besting 19 of the world’s best players in a $250,000 buy-in event at the 2011 Aussie Millions.

“I’m really, really excited to win this. This was very special because it’s such an elite field,” said Seidel. “The entry fee was so big, I didn’t want to lose $250,000. I’m just having such an amazing month, year so far. It’s just incredible.”

Seidel eliminated arguably the hottest player on the planet, Sam Trickett, heads-up to win the title and $2.5 million. For Seidel it’s his second High Roller cash in less than a week and third in a month. On Saturday the Poker Hall of Famer finished third in the $100,000 Challenge and he posted a 4th place finish in the $25,000 High Roller event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

“It didn’t look good and it didn’t feel good,” Seidel said about the 5-1 chip defecit he faced against Trickett once David Benyamine was eliminated in third. “I thought well, I’m obviously not laying down. I’ll sit and play and hope things go well and then they did.”

The match turned on a call Seidel made on a board showing K 7 4 A 6. Trickett bet 250,000 and Seidel tanked before throwing in his Time Chip allowing him another 30 seconds to think about his decision. Seidel eventually called and Trickett showed 9 6. Seidel showed K T for the winning hand.

“That was a pretty critical call. That was a tough bluff he made, it really was,” said Seidel. “I really was very close to giving it up,  so that was pretty big for me. That was a big swing for me in chips.”

The $2.5 million prize boosts Seidel’s lifetime earnings to $13.1 million, good enough for 3rd overall behind Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.

The final table was nothing but a playground for Trickett. He eliminated Nikolay Evdakov (9th), Phil Ivey (8th), Chris Ferguson (6th), Wang Qiang (4th) and David Benyamine (3rd) before running into Seidel and getting derailed.

The tournament attracted 20 of the best players in the world including Phil Ivey,Tom Dwan, Daniel Cates and Eugene Katchalov. The three Chinese businessmen who have been the talk of the 2011 Aussie Millions, Wang Qiang, Richard Yong and Paul Phua also played.

2011 Aussie Millions Super High Roller Event Results

1. Erik Seidel
2. Sam Trickett
3. David Benyamine
4. Wang Qiang
5. Richard Yong
6. Chris Ferguson
7. Andrew Feldman
8. Phil Ivey
9. Nikolay Evdakov
10. Daniel Cates
11. Paul Phua
12. Tony Bloom
13. Annette Obrestad
14. Eugene Katchalov
15. John Juanda
16. Alexander Kostritsyn
17. Roland de Wolfe
18. Tom Dwan
19. James Bord
20. James Obst

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