DerbyWars $25K Final Four Player Profile - Richard Seidl

The Final Four face off in DerbyWars' $25,000 Head-to-Head February Bracket Championship Saturday, with the Final round on Sunday. The Four players who advanced this far have won 4 matchups in a row, against some tough competiton and with some challenging races. Here's a player profile!

Richard Seidl (Rs12345), of Port St. Lucie, Fla. earned two entries into this month's $25K Head-to-Head Championship, and successfully advanced both of them through the Sweet Sixteen.

"There are a lot of tough players in these games so there is always a sense of accomplishment when you do well," said Seidl.

One of his entries fell at the Elite Eight round to Paul Scott (Ptscott), who also shepherded two entries through the first rounds of play. Siedl once again faces Scott in the Final Four, for a clash of the titans that promises to be an exciting matchup!

 

"Head to head play is interesting, as you definitely don't want to panic early or play like you would in a 100+ person game," he said. "I also like to try and spot trends in the person I am playing and adjust strategy accordingly."

Seidl's interest in racing was sparked by a similar intellectual challenge.

"Seven years ago I moved from northern Virginia to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. I started to go up to Charles Town and found my way to the race track there," he said. "At the time I was an information security analyst, so regularly went through huge amounts of security event data in my job. Going through race data had many similarities and I was instantly drawn into that analysis. Initially I was just betting and that ultimately lead me to the tournament play."

Seidl joined DerbyWars in May of 2014, and since then has a $20,000 game and many top of the leaderboard finishes on his dossier. His gameplay strategy reflects his background - precise and specific to the game at hand.

"I have a methodology I use to narrow race fields down using numerous factors in a rank order," he explained. "I then consistently pick horses from that system in a specific rank based on the type of game I am playing and dollar amount I believe I will need in a specific game. Since it is largely based on probability, I try to hold to my strategy throughout the game but can adjust based on the score or how the other person is picking."

 

Seidl has had plenty of opportunity to study his opponent, as they faced each other twice before in the bracket. With such a strong strategic hand to play, it will be no suprise if Seidl makes it all the way to the Championship round! The first prize of $10,000 will go to good use should he be the ultimate winner - "I have some pretty hefty school bills coming as I move into my dissertation this coming fall, so likely a good portion of it will have to go towards that."