Methods and systems to vary an erasure slicer threshold based on a measure computed from prior soft and/or hard symbol decisions, identify reliable symbol estimates based on the threshold, identify unreliable symbol estimates for erasure based on the threshold, modify the identified symbol estimates, output the reliable symbol estimates and the modified symbol estimates as erasure slicer decisions, and filter the decisions in a feedback filter of a decision feedback equalizer (DFE). The erasure slicer threshold may be based on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or mean-squared-error (MSE). A symbol estimate may be identified for erasure when a coordinate of the corresponding soft decision is within an erasure area defined by the threshold. Symbol modification may include replacing a corresponding coordinate of the symbol estimate with a coordinate of a decision boundary associated with the erasure area.