Erick A. Lindgren born on August 11, 1976 in Burney, California, is an American professional poker player, one of poker's original "Young Guns" and part of a player faction settling into adulthood at the tournament tables.
Lindgren played many sports in his small town like basketball, football and baseball, and daydreamed of someday playing in the NFL or NBA.
By the time college rolled around he realized that there was no chance to realized his dreams, so he enrolled in classes at Butte Junior College, not far from his hometown. It wasn't long before he'd discovered the Colusa Indian Casino, only a short drive from the campus. The casino was where Lindgren did his real learning. At the age of 21, Erick took a job working as a proposition player at a San Pablo, Calif., casino. In 2002, Lindgren decided to pack up and move to Las Vegas.
Lindgren won his first major tournament in 2002 at the $3K Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic Championship, for $220K. In 2003, he won his first WPT title in the $4K No-Limit Hold ém Championship event, banking $500K. He followed this with a win in the Poker Million III, earning his second 2003 WPT title and an additional $1 million in prize money. Erick shared his experience at the WPT in his book, World Poker Tour: Making the Final Table.
In January 2005, he finished 2nd in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Atlantic City. In February, he finished 5th in the WPT LA Poker Classic and just a week later, he won the second Professional Poker Tour tournament, also in Las Vegas. In January 2006 he made another WPT final table, finishing 3rd at the 2006 Borgata Winter Poker Open.
In June 2006, Lindgren won the $600,000 first prize in the FullTiltPoker Poker Pro Showdown event, outlasting Mike Matusow, Clonie Gowen, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson and Phil Ivey. Still single and living in Las Vegas, Lindgren counts poker peers Daniel Negreanu and Gavin Smith among his good friends.
On June 27, 2007, Lindgren won a $350,000 prop bet with Gavin Smith, Phil Ivey and others. In June of 2008, Erick earned his first WSOP bracelet and over $374K. This placed him in 20th position on the All-Time Money List.
In 2008, he was named WSOP player of the year. With 5 total cashes, he took home $1,348,528 in prize money. As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $7,300,000. His 23 cashes as the WSOP account for $1,988,943 of those winnings.
1 WSOP Bracelet
2 WPT Championships
2004 WPT Player of the Year
Over $7.3 Million in Career Tournament Earnings