Erik Cajelais

Biography

Before Erik Cajelais took to the poker circuit, he worked as a bartender. After picking up poker in some home games with his brother and friends, Cajelais realized he was getting pretty good at the game. Soon enough, his skill level built up high enough that he decided to try and make himself into a professional player.

In 2005, Cajelais put up a nice result for over $11,000 at the Borgata Poker Open. He also cashed in the WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods.

The following year, Cajelais began to blow up. He cashed in his first WSOP event this year and also in the United States Poker Championship where he received some quality television coverage. Later on that year, at the North American Poker Championships, Erik took tenth place for over $55,000, his largest score to date. He also cashed in the World Poker Finals again, but one month later, things got really, really awesome for Cajelais.

In December of 2006, Cajelais found himself at the final table of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. Erik Seidel, Justin Bonomo, Shannon Shorr, Steve Sung, and Joe Tehan were also at the final table to give Cajelais all the trouble he could handle. When it was all said and done, Cajelais came out on top and earned the $430,730 first-place prize.

A few more solid performances followed in 2007. Erik cashed in such events as the Borgata Poker Open, Ultimate Poker Challenge, and WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Rincon. At Rincon, Cajelais took fifth for over $50,000.

That summer at the WSOP, Erik battled all the way down to heads-up play in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event against Burt Boutin. Boutin took down the event and Cajelais won second place for $483,755. Later on in the year, he also ran deep in the Turks and Caicos Poker Classic, finishing second for $225,000.

In total, Cajelais has over $1.4 million in career tournament earnings. Along with poker, Erik enjoys playing sports, having played both baseball and hockey for many years during his life. He’s also participated in bodybuilding and regularly keeps himself in good shape.