Erick Lindgren is not your daddy's kind of poker player. Not yet 30, he's a product of what's happening now in the poker world, playing the game of life as though he had been dealt pocket aces in a heads-up encounter, handling the routine of news media interviews smoothly, with enough pizzazz in his responses to explain his reputation as one of poker's rising young personalities. The junior college dropout from northern California who earned allconference honors as a basketball and baseball player before discovering the big bright world of professional gambling, has so much more than poker table strategy to talk about at a time when the poker industry is responding to the presence of corporate sponsors anxious to tap into rewarding possibilities.
Lindgren knows all about that.
There's his link with Knob Creek Bourbon, the company sponsoring both him and Howard Lederer, another of poker's success stories. A Knob Creek spokesman says the company likes the connection with youthful winners, people of substance. Couldn't ask for better demographics. Lindgbren also eagerly awaits the formal release of Daniel Negreanu's STACKED, a new home video game for all the most popular formats that enables the person at the controls to sit down to a high stakes game of poker with Negreanu and some of his friends, a list of personalities that just happens to include Lindgren.
But wait a minute, there's more, like his justpublished book, which is intended to help a world of wanna-be champs do exactly what he has done - make a lot of money playing poker.
Lindgren slipped into his high profile status the old fashioned way, making the right bets when the chips were down, so to speak. His recent big wins include the Poker Million III and the 2003 WPT event in Aruba. Those two wins, by themselves, were worth $1.5 million in prize money.
This past year he was second in the World Series of Poker circuit tournament at Atlantic City, fifth at the WPT's LA Poker Classic, he won the WPT's second Professional Poker Tournament, was fourth at the Mirage Poker Showdown and fourth in this past World Series of Poker's $3,000 buy-in no limit hold'em tournament. Like so many of poker's shining stars, this member of the "Full Tilt crew" spends more time than ever on the road, skipping from one major tournament to another.
But Lindgren has more than poker table activity on his mind these days, balancing, as he is, the interests of Internet affiliations, sponsorships and, oh yes . . . let's not forget his new book.
"That's right," he nods cheerfully, "I just came out with the book, it's called Making the Final Table. It draws from his recent success of the last year or so at the World Poker Tour and, as Lindgren explains it, "explores the style that is popular with a lot of the young players. It's a really aggressive style, playing a lot of hands."
The idea, he says, well . . . its' pretty much there in the title, offering strategy for building chip stacks which obviously has a lot to do with surviving long enough to get to that final table."
The book has been written with Matt Matros who previously wrote a poker book and made the final table at a World Poker Tour championship event. Why the partnership with Matros?
"My English is not good enough to do it all on my own," he laughs, turning the response into a wisecrack, So Matt came through in a big way. Besides, I just basically wrote it to make my mom proud."
The 29-year-old Lindgren is fast approaching 10 years of making his living in the poker business - "I feel old," punctuating that remark with a grin. He took a big step, demonstrating his commitment three years ago when he moved to Las Vegas and bought a house.
He can clearly see the impact of the Internet on the poker business. "It allows a lot of people to play a lot more than they would otherwise and you can play a lot of hands in a hurry on the Internet. The other factor is that a lot of people with an interest in poker don't have a regular casino close to where they live. The Internet allows you to hop on for 15 or 30 minutes at a time, any time they want to and find a full game."
Lindgren's role as a member of the Full Tilt team has helped polish his personal profile, just as it does all the other members, but it also helps whet the appetite of people who have the chance to improve their games while also developing a connection of sorts with the biggest names in the poker business. Think of it as marketing that slides along the cutting edge.
"When I'm on Full Tilt, I might be in a small game or I might be over in a fifty and a hundred no limit game, but no matter where I am you can come and ask me questions. It is a fun way to connect with the people who see the World Poker Tour and watch us play for these huge prize pools. They have an interest in poker but don't otherwise have a chance to see the kind of life we lead here in Vegas. No matter of what game I'm in you can come and ask me questions."
The convenience of Internet poker is a big plus for a lot of people but Lindgren concedes there is nothing like live poker. "It is easier to bluff when you are at home than when you look across the table at someone else and realize you have nothing, but for me there is nothing like the camaraderie of going to the tournaments and seeing all the people who play in these things. It's a closeknit group."
What's his favorite game?
"Right now I enjoy these tournaments (which means a lot of hold 'em). I've really gotten into the tournament mode. But I see myself a few years down the road in the big (cash) games with Doyle (Brunson) and Chip (Reese) and those guys fighting it out in the biggest cash games. That would be the pinnacle of poker to me."
But in the meantime, he says, the poker economy "is going through the roof," thanks in large part to action that continued to be driven by the Internet. "There are so many more games in more places available to everyone.
Lindgren adds after a moment of thought, "There are so many more games available. It a long way from the days when you had to be sitting in one of several rooms in Las Vegas to be part of whatever was happening."
These changing times also mean that the often long journey up the ladder of success is not what it used to be. Things can happen in a hurry now. A man can play thousands of hands on the Internet in the time it once took to climb in the car and drive from, let's say, LA's Commerce Club, to the Stardust in Las Vegas.
"I remember that climbing the ladder could be a slow process. There was a definite limit to the number of hands you could get out and you had to be careful about playing within your bankroll," he says. "I know it took me awhile. I started with the 3-6 games and then I went to 6-12 and then the 10-20 games." Where did he get his start as a serious poker player?
"The 3-6 games at this Indian casino in northern California is where I started and I suppose I was mostly recreational at the time, but even as I became a professional I took my time at each level." His point is that it was a "long process," going from the 3-6 level to the 40-80 games and beyond.
"Now people are learning so fast on the Internet. These kids are treating it like a video game and before they know it they are in the 50-100 and the no limit games on some of these sites."
What does this mean to the live games in the growing number of big poker rooms in Las Vegas and elsewhere?
"All of the money being made on these Internet sites eventually comes to the games in places like Vegas where the people with it want to play as big as possible." Any plans for other projects, possibilities that might be shaken loose by his success at the tables?
"Nothing much at the moment," he says, giving the response one of those high wattage Lindgren grins.
He and several other poker players did have roles in the upcoming Drew Barrymore and Robert Duval film Lucky You, but this hurry up and wait stuff associated with movie making is not his cup of tea. "That's hard work, the kind of thing that's probably not for me." He's keeping it simple. "I just like to play poker. This next year I'm thinking I want to focus more on poker and cut down on my traveling a little bit."
