The hottest poker player of 2008 is eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel. He’s widely considered to be one of the best all-around poker players in the world, with bracelet victories in five different variations of the game. This year he’s been on fire so far, to the dismay of his opponents. Seidel just won his first WPT championship at the Foxwoods Poker Classic on April 9th, pocketing $992,890. That was just over a week after finishing 16th at the World Poker Challenge for a payday of $28,099.

Those two cashes, added to his second-place finish in the Aussie Millions last January ($880,000) has given Seidel a sizable lead on the professional leaderboards. He currently has a 660-point lead over Michael Binger.

With Seidel winning a WSOP bracelet almost every year, he could carry his lead all year long. It’s not a surprise to see him atop the tournament leaderboards.

The 2008 edition of the Aussie Millions has been won by a young Russian player named Alexander Kostritsyn of Moscow, Russia, who was able to beat one of the best players in the world in Eric Seidel. Both players won over a million Aussie dollars; Seidel winning $1M (AUS) and Kostritsyn taking home the $1.65M (AUS) first prize. Michael Chrisanthopoulos also had a big payday, winning $700,000 for his third-place finish.

Earlier in the week, Howard “The Professor” Lederer won the $100,000 buy-in professional’s no-limit hold’em event. The event attracted numerous big-name players including Gus Hansen, Tony “G” Guoga, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Erick Lindgren and Masaaki Kagawa. There were 25 players in total, with the top five getting paid. Lederer won $1.25M (AUS), a sizable difference between the second-place winnings of $650,000 (AUS), which went to Mark Teltscher of London, United Kingdom.

The first WSOP Europe begins this week on September 6th at the LCI Leicester Casino. The events will be played at three different venues; the LCI Leicester Square, The Sportsman Casino and the Fifty.

The WSOP at LCI Leicester Casino consists of a three-day 2500-pound H.O.R.S.E tournament. They’ll also host some of the $10,000 main event players until the number shrinks down to a number the Fifty can handle for the later stages of the tournament.

The WSOP at the Sportsman Casino has the 5000-pound Pot Limit Omaha Championship. They will also share in the main event action until numbers reduce. The Fifty hosts the main event including the final table starting on September 10th.

Many top pros have pre-registered and the industry is looking to expand successfully into the fast-growing European poker market. Notable competitors include Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Gus Hanson, Doyle Brunson, Eric Seidel and Phil Hellmuth.