Can Erik "Erik123" Sagstrom Win His First Major Live Tournament?

Published on June 29th, 2009 4:57 am EST

Day 3 of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the World Series of Poker is now a wrap.

19 of the original 95 entrants are still alive in the tournament, and all 19 players have their sights set on the $1.27 million dollar first place bracelet and World Series of Poker bracelet.

Vitaly Lunkin is the chip leader of the tournament after Day 3, as he currently possesses a stack of around 1.53 million.

Freddy Deeb (who won this event a few years ago), David Bach and Ville Wahlbeck all have healthy stacks as well.

Some of the more familiar names who are still alive in the tournament include Gus Hansen (800k), Huck Seed (672k), Tony G (650k), Erik Seidel (464k) and Todd Brunson (145k).

The top 16 spots will pay, meaning that three of the players who are still alive after Day 3 won't end up making the money.

Erik Sagstrom is also still alive in the tournament, as he will enter Day 4 with a very healthy stack of over 1.3 million chips.

Sagstrom has been a force in the online poker world for years. He was one of the first people to make a big name for himself strictly through online poker, as he has been dominating cash games online for years.

Sagstrom made a name for himself under the "Erik123" alias, and is also rumored to play as "DIN_FRU" on Full Tilt Poker.

Erik has reportedly made millions upon millions of dollars playing online poker during his career, but has never really focused too much on live tournament play.

His largest cash came at the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions main event, where he ended up finishing in 10th place for $35,000.

Despite all of his success online, Sagstrom has less than $170k in career "live" tournament cashes.

Sagstrom will be one of the more interesting stories as the $50k H.O.R.S.E. event races towards its conclusion. Will one of the most successful players in the history of online poker finally strike gold in a "live" tournament? And in the $50k HORSE event, no less?


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Filed Under: The World Series of Poker