Some new, seemingly credible/accurate leads in the poker community’s quest for the
identity of “seda1” have emerged in the last few days.  For those who don’t know,
“seda1” came into the online nomenclature a little over a week ago when the mystery
player started battling Phil Ivey at the highest of no-limit stakes offered on the
web (Ivey’s $500/1000 NL Deathmatch table on Full Tilt), losing as much as $1.2
million in one session (over $600,000 on the table which is doubled as a result of
the rumored cross-booking).

As reported in the February 20th edition of Pokerazzi (LINK TO 20th ARTICLE),
speculation on the real identity of “seda1” ran the gamut from Barry Greenstein, to
Tiger Woods, to rappers Nelly and Jay-Z.

After some research, Pokerazzi can confirm that “seda1” is 100% not Barry Greenstein
(to anyone with moderate knowledge of poker that has been watching the matches, this
was probably already obvious.)

Also, a high-stakes cash game pro told me that “seda” is “someone Phil has played
live that he is now playing online.”  I asked another pro if it was “anyone interesting”
(such as Jay-Z or a star athlete) and he told me “no.” This is seemingly further
evidence that “seda” is a non-pro (probably not a celeb, either) and is most likely a
wealthy amateur.

The railbird detectives over at the twoplustwo.com forums have done some sleuthing of their own, and the following was posted by user “sixsixtie” on February 21st:

Another poster followed up by pointing out that one of Daniel Negreanu’s highly publicized
heads-up matches at the Wynn was against a player who wished to remain anonymous, and that
Daniel referred to as “Persian Shawn.”(Click Here)

User “WutRUTryin2Hit” says he remembers Daniel blogging that “Persian Shawn” was an L.A. Businessman. Another twoplustwo Sherlock, “kerze,” then posted this:

So, let’s add it all up:

1. “Shawn” Shahrokh Sedaghat has documented live tournament winnings.
2. He is the Chairman of the Board of Seda Specialty Packaging Corp, which is based out of L.A., and possibly also a lawyer (although Pokerazzi could not confirm the two Shawn Sedaghat’s are the same person).
3. Daniel had previously played high-stakes heads-up matches with a player he referred to as “Persian Shawn” who was a wealthy L.A. businessman.
4. My first source says that Phil has played “seda1” live before, which adds credence to the theory that they met in one of the big Hollywood home games.

Sounds like we may have a winner (or rather, a $1.2 million loser).