Infamous former Full Tilt Poker pro Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren has won his way to the Hustler Casino Live $1 million buy-in cash game by outlasting 50 others in a $25k satellite.
Lindgren (pictured above in his heyday) was once the game’s golden boy, mixing it with the world’s biggest names throughout the noughties. Picking up WPT, WSOP and Aussie Millions titles, the Californian became a popular figure among the Full Tilt Poker team pros.
Huge sponsorship deals as well as five and even six-figure scores were the norm for Lindgren until a combination of poker’s Black Friday and a gambling addiction brought everything crashing down around his ears.
Last night saw him back where he wanted to be, in the winner’s circle and recipient of a $1million stack to bring into the HCL flagship $1 million buy-in cash game.
Fifty-one players forked out the $25k buy-in for the MDG Wild Card Tourney, which meant there was some spare cash to be shared among the 2nd to 4th placed finishers.
Among the contenders, Ethan “Rampage” Yau, chess master Alexandra Botez, and a host of HCL regs including Wesley “WesSide” Fei and Billy “DGAF” McNulty.
Played as a Turbo, it still took 6 hours to reach the final table, Kansas City wrestling coach “Coach Collins” and HCL reg Britney Jing looking to make the four paid spots.
Doctor on the Bubble
When it came down to the stone bubble, it was Chinese-born cash game pro Britney who saw off table shortstack Dr Prabhaker “Dr P” Patel for his last big blind…
Britney: 9♥ 9♣
Dr P: 8♦ 3♠
Flop: 9♦ 2♥ 10♥
Turn: 7♦
There was one last chance for Dr. P to launch a chip and a chair recovery but it wasn’t to be, the river blanking…
River: 7♥
…and the remaining four players were in the money with a 2xbuy-in $50k sewn up.
Lindgren Delivers a Cooler
Britney would go no further in her quest for a seat at the biggest game in town after a cooler flop against Lindgren…
Britney: A♣ J♥
Lindgren: 5♥ 5♦
Flop: 4♠ J♦ 5♠
A betting war saw Britney 4-bet shove and the instacall gave her the bad news…
Turn: Q♠
River: 7♠
Three-handed play lasted all of one hand, Ala’s shove with A♦ 9♠ called by Lindgren holding A♥ 10♦ and that’s all she wrote, Ala picking up $75k as compensation.
Heads-up vs the Coach
Heads-up, Lindgren against Coach Collins was a longer drawn out affair than one might have expected. It looked to be all over when Lindgren flopped a set against a flush draw, but the turn brought Collins a 5th club.
Nevertheless, he was still a huge dog and it all ended soon enough…
Collins: J♣ 2♠
Lindgren: Q♣ 10♠
Flop: 4♦ Q♦ 6♣
Turn: 7♥
River: 3♦
…and with that, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren has bagged himself the Million Dollar Game Wild Card spot.
Final results
| 1 | Erick Lindgren | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Coach Collins | $150,000 |
| 3 | Ala | $75,000 |
| 4 | Britney Jing | $50,000 |
The Million Dollar Game
The post-match interview with Hustler Casino Live’s co-owner, Ryan Feldman, saw Lindgren pay credit to his rivals: “This was a group of battlers!”
“From the first hand today to the end, these guys have no give-up in them. So, it was unique and it was tough, and I thought it was my spot because it was a tournament spot. They didn’t care. So, everybody played well and they played aggressive, and it just happened to be my day and I didn’t mess it up.”
Feldman then reeled off some of Lindgren’s opposition in the Million Dollar Game, which includes Alan Keating. Lindgren responded: “I kinda feel like Chris Moneymaker. Maybe Alan Keating will be Sammy Farha!”
There will be three Million Dollar Game livestreams and Feldman revealed there will be another $25k sattie to give someone a chance to play Wednesday’s $1million buy-in cash game.
You can catch all the MDG first session action tonight on HCL’s YouTube channel.
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