Veteran Erik Seidel added a World Poker Tour title to his eight World Series of Poker victories with a hard fought success at the Foxwoods Poker Classic.

The 48-year-old from New York City came out on top after a 12-hour final table battle to earn the $992,890 first prize.

It continues a rich run of form for Seidel who took his eighth WSOP bracelet last year in the Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball event and finished in second place in the Aussie Millions in January.

A field of 345 players gathered in Connecticut but it had been whittled down to six at the start of the final table with Seidel (3.2 million) holding a commanding chip lead over Ted Forrest and Internet pro Adam Katz (2.3 million) with Robert Richardson, Frank Cieri and Andrew Barta also in contention.

But Forrest saw his decent size stack dwindle and was the first to be eliminated albeit $103,000 richer.

Amateur Richardson had doubled up on Katz to improve his position and then his pocket rockets held up against Forrest who had gone All-In after being dealt pocket Jacks but received no help from the board.

Richardson proved to be the nemesis of Katz who went out in fifth place for $151,000 after the former nailed a King on the river to give him top pair. Katz had gone All-In post-flop holding a pair of Queens.

Richardson continued to pick off his opponents one-by-one with Cieri next to depart with $200,000 to show for his efforts.

Cieri went All-In with a small stack, holding a Queen and seven of clubs, but Richardson had a pair of sixes after the flop and the turn and river brought no help for Cieri.

Then came a marathon six-hour three-handed session with Seidel's slow methodical style - one of the reasons he doesn't attract the attention that his record deserves - prevalent.

Barta eventually ended up at the bottom of the podium with $281,000 to his name.

Barta went All-In pre-flop with an Ace and a Queen and knew his time was up when Seidel held Jack trips after that flop. He was drawing dead and departed after 228 hands of final play action.

Remarkably the heads-up was the shortest in World Poker Tour history and lasted just one hand.

Seidel was the commanding chip leader and after a flop of Ace, King, nine, Richardson as he had done pre-flop, called the leader once more.

The Turn produced an eight of hearts and Richardson moved All-In with his remaining 1.275 million.

Seidel called immediately and held a pair of Aces for top pair with Richardson holding a pair of nines and needing help on the river.

The River delivered the King of diamonds meaning Richardson had to settle for $559,000 and a second place finish.

For Seidel it was a ninth WSOP/WPT victory and an amazing 63 cash finishes now sees his total tournament winnings close to the $10,000,000 mark some 20 years after he finished runner-up in the World Series of Poker main event to Johnny Chan.

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport