Huck Seed: Biography, Career and Poker Results

October 13, 2026

Table of Contents

Huck Seed is an American professional poker player, born on January 15, 1969, who won the 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event for $1,000,000. ^[1] He has won four WSOP bracelets, the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship and the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions, and he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2020. ^[2][3] Away from the table he is known for his proposition bets.

Huck Seed at the 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship — “Huck Seed 2007” by flipchip / LasVegasVegas.com, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Huck Seed: key facts

Full name	Huckleberry Seed ^[5]
Country	United States ^[1]
Born	January 15, 1969 ^[1]
Lives in	Las Vegas ^[11]
Known for	1996 WSOP Main Event title, mixed games, heads-up play, proposition bets
Poker Hall of Fame	Inducted 2020 ^[3]
WSOP bracelets	4 (73 WSOP cashes, 28 final tables) ^[2]
Major titles	WSOP Main Event 1996; NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship 2009; WSOP Tournament of Champions 2010 ^[1][8][9]
Live tournament earnings	$7,910,633 as of October 5, 2026 ^[1]

Early life: basketball and Caltech

Huckleberry Seed grew up in California and in Corvallis, Montana. He was a strong athlete in high school and made the 1987 Montana All-State basketball team. He was then accepted at the California Institute of Technology, where he played on the university’s basketball team while studying electrical engineering. ^[5] He stands 6’7″. ^[5]

On one trip home from college he stopped in Las Vegas and won $1,000 in a $10/20 limit hold’em game. In 1989 he took a leave of absence from Caltech and never returned, choosing to play poker for a living after discovering the number of games available in Southern California. ^[5]

Beginning in poker

Seed played his first World Series of Poker in 1990, at 21, and made two final tables, finishing fourth in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo event and fourth in the $1,500 Limit Omaha event. He made five more final tables in tournaments in Los Angeles and Las Vegas that year. His first six-figure score came in 1991, when he finished second in the Four Queens Classic for $118,750. ^[5] According to PokerNews, eight of his first nine WSOP cashes were top-ten finishes. ^[1]

His first bracelet came in 1994, in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, worth $167,000. ^[2]

Playing style

Seed has won bracelets in No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha and Razz, and has reached WSOP final tables in many other games. ^[2][5] A 2009 PokerNews profile described him as “a quiet, introspective presence at the table, preferring to let his skills do the talking”. ^[5] Card Player’s report on the 1996 Main Event called him an “aggressive young player” who, four-handed, “attacked pots preflop in almost every hand”. ^[7]

Fellow Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, backing his nomination in December 2020, called Seed the “1st player to break Chip & Doyle’s 30 year hegemony in cash games” and wrote that “for a period” he “took on all comers”. Seidel also said Seed was the inspiration for the main character in the film Lucky You. ^[4]

Greatest achievements

WSOP bracelets

Year	Event	Result	Prize	Source
1996	WSOP Event #25: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event (295 entries)	1st	$1,000,000	[2]
1994	WSOP Event #3: $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha	1st	$167,000	[2]
2000	WSOP Event #17: $1,500 Limit Razz	1st	$77,400	[2]
2003	WSOP Event #27: $5,000 Limit Razz	1st	$71,500	[2]

In the 2003 Razz event he beat Phil Ivey heads-up. ^[3] His WSOP.com profile lists 73 cashes, 28 final tables and $3,651,896 in WSOP earnings. ^[2]

The 1996 WSOP Main Event

On May 13, 1996, Seed was the last of 295 entrants, a record field at the time, to enter the Main Event. It was his seventh attempt at the title. He reached the six-handed final table second in chips with 632,000, behind John Bonetti’s 784,000. ^[6] Seed eliminated Men “The Master” Nguyen and played heads-up against Bruce Van Horn, who started the duel with a 2-to-1 chip lead. Seed doubled up with pocket queens against Van Horn’s ace-jack, and in the final hand his 9-8 made two pair on a 9-8-4 flop against Van Horn’s king-eight. ^[6][7] The final pot of 2,328,000 in chips was the largest in WSOP history at the time. At 27 he became the third youngest Main Event champion, after Stu Ungar and Phil Hellmuth. ^[6]

Place	Player	Prize	Source
1st	Huck Seed	$1,000,000	[6]
2nd	Bruce Van Horn	$585,000	[6]
3rd	John Bonetti	$341,250	[6]
4th	Men Nguyen	$195,000	[6]

Three years later he reached the Main Event final table again and finished sixth for $167,700, eliminated by the eventual champion, Noel Furlong. ^[1][3]

Other tournament results

Year	Event	Result	Prize	Source
2009	NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship	1st	$500,000	[8]
2010	WSOP Tournament of Champions (27 entries)	1st	$500,000	[9]
1998	Carnivale of Poker ($5,080 buy-in)	1st	$306,000	[1]
2008	WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.	7th	$284,160	[1]
2009	WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.	5th	$276,609	[1]
2025	WSOP Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better (615 entries)	2nd	$102,281	[10]

In the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship he beat Vanessa Rousso in a best-of-three final. With that run his lifetime record in the event reached 18-4, the best of any player, passing 2008 champion Chris Ferguson. ^[8] He had finished tied for ninth in 2007 and third in 2008. ^[5] In July 2010 he won the invitational WSOP Tournament of Champions, beating Howard Lederer heads-up. ^[9]

Step back and return

After his strongest run, from 2008 to 2011, Seed played less. His last tournament cash before 2023 came at the 2016 WSOP, a 32nd-place finish for $2,597. In January 2023, interviewed at the Hanoi Series of Poker in Vietnam, he said: “I have no plans to play after this.” ^[11] He came back to the WSOP in 2025 and cashed in several events, including a second place in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $102,281. He lost heads-up to Blaz Zerjav, missing what would have been his first title since 2003. ^[2][10]

Poker Hall of Fame, 2020

On December 30, 2020, Seed was announced as the 2020 inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame, its 59th member. The 31 living members could each cast up to 10 votes; with one abstention, Seed received 76 of a possible 300, ahead of Matt Savage with 51, Isai Scheinberg with 45 and Eli Elezra with 30. He was 51. ^[4]

Proposition bets

Floating in the ocean: he bet Phil Hellmuth that he could float in the ocean for 24 hours (also reported as 18 hours) and lost. ^[3][4]
Standing backflip: he won $10,000 from Howard Lederer after learning a standing backflip in two days. ^[4]
Desert golf: he won a six-figure bet that he could break 100 four times in one day on a desert golf course using only a five iron, a sand wedge and a putter. ^[3]
The mile: he bet Doyle Brunson he could run a mile in 4:40 and ran 4:47. ^[3]

Notable TV appearances

During the poker boom Seed was a sponsored professional for Full Tilt Poker and appeared on Fox Sports’ Poker Superstars Invitational and NBC’s Poker After Dark, as well as the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. ^[5]

In his own words

“The main thing was trying not to get too anxious. In past years, I would get up to 50,000 or 100,000 in chips, then get knocked out.” On his approach to the 1996 Main Event. ^[6]
“I think of poker as a sport. Sometimes it’s hard work, and sometimes it’s not so much fun. But when you win something like this, everything is worth it.” On winning the 1996 Main Event. ^[1]
“It feels good to be included with all the poker legends that I once idolized and competed against over the years.” On his Hall of Fame induction, 2020. ^[3]
“Life is short, and I don’t believe you should do one thing all your life.” January 2023. ^[11]

Iconic hands and moments

NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship 2006, with Barry Greenstein and Chip Reese

Source: PokerGO on YouTube. ^[12]

FAQ about Huck Seed

How old is Huck Seed?

Huck Seed was born on January 15, 1969, so he is 57 as of October 5, 2026. ^[1]

Where is Huck Seed from?

He is American and grew up in California and in Corvallis, Montana. ^[5] Sources differ on his birthplace: PokerNews gives Corvallis, Montana, while Card Player calls him a Santa Clara native. ^[1][4]

What is Huck Seed’s real name?

His full name is Huckleberry Seed. ^[5]

What is Huck Seed’s net worth?

There is no reliable public figure for his net worth. What can be verified is his live tournament record: $7,910,633 in earnings as of October 5, 2026, according to PokerNews. Results from his cash games are not published. ^[1]

How many WSOP bracelets does Huck Seed have?

Four: the 1994 $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, the 1996 Main Event, the 2000 $1,500 Limit Razz and the 2003 $5,000 Limit Razz. ^[2]

When did Huck Seed win the WSOP Main Event?

In 1996, when he beat Bruce Van Horn heads-up to win $1,000,000 from a field of 295 entries. ^[6]

When was Huck Seed inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame?

He was announced as the 2020 inductee on December 30, 2020. ^[4]

How tall is Huck Seed?

He is 6’7″ tall. ^[5]

Related Poker Legends

Read more about Phil Hellmuth, his opponent in the ocean-floating bet, Doyle Brunson, who took the other side of the mile bet, and Dan Harrington, the Main Event champion the year before Seed. ^[1]