Erick Lindgren, nicknamed "E-dog," was born on August 11, 1976, in the 3,000-resident village of Burney, California, up in the mountains where his dad owned a tire shop. He now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is one of the most recognized names in the world of poker today, having been around for many a full decade. Ten years ago he was one of a few "young guns," as they called them, who were young and successful poker players in the league. Now he’s a veteran at the top and trying to stay there.

Growing up, he was very athletic playing every sport available, including basketball, football and baseball. He was an all-star shooting guard in basketball and all-league quarterback in football. Known as a gambler even then when he’d challenge a friend to bet to see if he can make a half-court shot or anything else he could place a wager on, he always dreamt of going pro at one of them.

Instead, he found his calling in poker at Butte Junior College when he learned Texas Hold 'Em for the first time at nearby Colusa Indian Casino. He got a job there as a blackjack dealer at 19 years old, his first and only full-time job. That is, if you don’t count be a thriving online winner, fully-sponsored by fulltiltpoker.com, a place he now spends most of his playing time at.

Poker grabbed him instantly and soon college became a distraction from his small-time tables. At 21, he accepted a position as a prop player at a casino in San Pablo, California. In addition to this, he played up to eight games at a time on three different computers in his apartment, sometimes pulling all-nighters and into the next day. His winnings were small but they soon added up.

With this experience, and a new slack-yet-forceful style of play, soon to be his trademark in the poker world, he entered bigger live tournament play. This was when he received the name E-dog. When he beat an opponent, they said to him, "You got me this time, you dog." From then on, the name stuck.

His first win came in the Wild Wild West Limit Hold 'Em Tournament in 2000 where he took home $7,300. Just three tournaments later, after his move to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2002, he hits the scene hard by winning the Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic, banking $228,000. After a string of top ten finishes, on October 18, 2003, Erik takes home a half million dollars from winning the Ultimate Poker Classic. Only two tournaments later, he wins his first million on March 18, 2004, by taking first place in the PartyPoker.com Million III Tournament, beating his friend, Daniel Negreanu for the title.

That year, 2004, he received the first annual WPT Player of the Year Award.

In 2005, he would beef up his wallet with several fat-purse tournament wins and final tables. He reached the final table six times in about ten contests. This streak would only get better through 2006, with many high appearances and wins, including a 3rd place and a first place by April 8.

He began 2007 with fireworks, winning $759,340 taking first place in the 2007 Crown Aussie Millions Championship on January 12.

Erick’s cashed in 44 times, has a total winnings peaking at 4.9 million, won seven tournaments, including four World Series of Poker final table appearances. His ProRank is 133, and says his favorite poker to play is No Limit Hold 'Em.

E-dog’s quiet style of play is attributed to something’s he’s quoted as saying: "My overall goal is to pick up a lot of small pots without a lot of resistance." He also says if he could change anything in the world he would stop war. This is a pretty big long shot, but at least he can dominate the opposition by picking away at the table. This way, he’s eliminating competition with each hand he plays.

Personal Quote

Online poker is where I started earning a ton of money, back in 1998. Once I’d discovered internet poker, pretty soon I had three computers going and was playing up to eight games at once.