Let me clear up a few items and misconceptions here.

First off, Lindgren is a huge degenerate. He's an Ivey type who doesn't feel satisfied with life unless he has every last dime in action some way. The prop bets you read about are just the tip of the iceberg with him. He's not necessarily a bad person or a scammer, but is just a sick gambler and is terrible with money.

Also similar to Ivey, Lindgren was getting by thanks to his high monthly distribution from Full Tilt. He wasn't getting Ivey/Lederer money, but he was getting a lot - I think something around $250k per month.

Despite this amazing income of around $3 million per year, Lindgren was always cash poor and struggled to pay his gambling debts. This has gone on for years.

I had a close personal friend who was owed 5 figures by Lindren about 4 years ago. Like the posters in this thread, it was from a high stakes fantasy league. The stories I'm reading here are all too familiar. The ignoring of messages. The false promises. The lack of urgency. The stalling. The eventual indignant attitude when you call him out. Everything you see happening now has occurred with him before.

So how does he keep getting fantasy action?

Because he's a fantasy donk. Much of this comes from his neglect of his fantasy teams. Everyone loves playing with him because it's like free money; if you can collect, that is!

After the terrible hassle my friend had with him, Lindgren finally paid up about 9 months late (after tons of broken promises and a lot of attitude.) I said to my friend, "Well, thank goodness that nightmare is over! You've obviously learned your lesson about playing in fantasy leagues with Erick Lindgren!"

Shockingly, my friend replied, "Oh no, I'll play with him again. It's free money. He always pays. You just have to be patient and lean on him for awhile."

People in this thread asked why people didn't get Lindgren to pay up front, and escrow the money with a trusted third party. It doesn't work that way. Just like poker, the huge fish often sets the rules of the game. If you tell Lindgren he has to pay up front to play in your fantasy league, he simply won't play. Your choice is to either play under his terms and hope you eventually get paid, or pass up his dead fantasy money. Most people chose the former.

Of course, now the Full Tilt gravy train has been derailed. This greatly changes things. Prior to April, 2011, Erick would (and did) pay his debts, provided you aggressively (but not TOO aggressively) prodded him. All it took was him having a good gambling month, and with $250k rolling in every 30 days, he had a lot of shots to run up the money. Now Erick is broke and has no income. He won't have any income. I think you can probably kiss any money he owes you goodbye, unless he binks a big tournament.

For those wondering how he can play the LAPC Main Event or semi-high-stakes NL cash games, it's most likely not his money. Erick is still both a good poker player and an A-list poker name. I'm sure he has no problem getting staked.

Even if he's not staked (which I believe he is), if he's down to his last, say, 50k, but owes $1 million combined to various people, he can't give you his last 50k. I mean, he can, but he won't. He sees that case money as his ammo to get himself out of the hole. I can totally feel for you guys being pissed when you see him entering $10k events while owing you $2800 and dodging you for months. Unfortunately, he probably owes 20 other guys the same $2800, plus many others a lot more, and you are no one special. You don't deserve to get paid ahead of anyone else.

With all of that said, while I'm sure some people were misled about Lindgren's financial status, a lot of the people crying foul knew very well what they were dealing with. They let Lindgren play fantasy on credit because he sucked at it, knowing full well that getting him to pay might be tough. You took a calculated risk and lost. This doesn't excuse Erick's actions, but most people in his fantasy leagues knew exactly what they were signing up for. The ones I truly feel sorry for are the ones who honestly didn't know, and thought Lindgren was solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.

The big Full Tilt distributions really ruined some people. Lindgren and Ivey are the first ones that come to mind. They developed some terrible gambling and money management habits, figuring that large sums of money would continue rolling in forever. Now theyr'e like addicts suffering from major withdrawal.

And yeah, Daniel is a hypocrite to some degree.

Props to him for calling out the scumbags like Annie Duke and Howard Lederer.

However, he definitely tends to give a free pass to those that he personally likes.

I still think Negreanu's outspokenness is a positive for poker, even if he's not even with his criticism. Until the big names step forward and call the shady pieces of garbage out on the carpet, they will keep getting away with more thefts and more fraud.

For those that know him. Will this thread make him address his debts any quicker or will it piss him off and give him an excuse to take longer to pay?

Or is he too big time to even acknowledge the existence of this thread?

Isn't there some report out there that says Lindgren owes money to FTP also?

Guys, hire a lawyer!

Lindgren is a well known degenerate. Much to the disappointment of some, just because he is famous doesn't make him any less of a stiff. Hopefully he can "Chino" a big event and pay some of you back down the road.

In terms of Negreanu, I'd lay odds that he never publicly chastises Lindgren. Although he claims to always represent the best interests of the game, he is the type of person that has very strong emotional reactions to people (i.e. people are "all good" or "all bad" to him), and thus will likely let the personal likability of Lindgren allow for a pass.

Ummm, no. To say others knew what they were getting into is not a good enough reason for him to welch on his bets. Plus let's not forget his perceived stellar reputation in the poker world...most that had bets w/ him had no clue he was such a huge degenerate, only that he was lazy when it came to paying, and he always paid up until this past season.

Let's not forget the fact that edog knew that the monthly payments stopped coming when FTP got shut down, and that was before the start of the NFL season, yet he took on a ton of side action across various leagues...for that reason, he is every ounce accountable for every debt...if he doesn't pay, he basically scammed people (by freerolling).

Yup, the same way he passes on Ivey and Hellmuth but slams Duke and Lederer

i don't think that word means what you think it means

If we're compiling a list, I'd like to add that I have a $10k fantasy debt that has never been paid by Neverwin (Dustin Wolfe). I've also been in a few leagues with Erick in the past, and he has always squared up with me when he lost. However, one year it took him almost until the start of the next season to do so. Not paying on debts like these is about as bad as it gets in the gambling world.

Wow

I think it has more to do with the fact that they're very close friends than Negreanu sees him as "all good." Would you publicly chastise your best friend, even if he was in the wrong? Negreanu may be fully aware of Erick's flaws, but he still won't publicly humiliate his friend.

You are calling out Daniel when your hero is Scott matusow. Gtfo.

Sighhh...edog is Def one of my favorite players, wouldn't of thought he would be cash poor...

Edit: wonder when this will make its way to NVG, where there will be hella traffic

I thought he used to have a huge stable and had a large nest egg.

Pretty sad times.

This does not surprise me in the slightest

Thats fine but it makes him a total hypocrite.

He is calling people out because he doesnt like them rather than what they have done.

Thats not good for the long time health/reputation of the poker world, nor does it make him a good representative for poker.

Thats a shame because I agree with most of his rants but when you know underneath he is not treating every case equallly it totally dilutes his message.

Can you really act like the moral ambassador of poker, chastising people for their ethics and morals when you dont hold yourself to those same standards?

Also many people have called him out on the above.

Yet he ignores it just like Howard has ignored FTP customers.

My non-pro poker enthusiast friends are going to be devastated.

It's surprising that a guy with such a great demeanor and mind for the game of poker, and a guy who comes off as very respectable and intelligent would be this much of a degen. Don't judge a book by it's cover i guess, but this one actually did surprise me quite a bit.

This tilts me so much. There is so little integrity left in the world. Reminds me of how a guy who owes me 50k is seen playing at LAPC, and then collects a 300 dollar debt "for me" from someone else and pockets it. These psychopaths will do absolutely anything with no remorse.

hire a lawyer to collect "fantasy fball gambling losses" lol......sounds like a plan!

No camera phones in the strip club. I just leave it in my car so I dont ass dial a woman I care about while im getting a handy in the back.

Had a short convo with E-dog about a situation that happened at the Bell last year in a 5k was hilarious.

LOL thats a good one

I like the places this thread is going.

This, exactly.