Lindgren in Treatment, PCA Underway, Selbst Engaged

Erick Lindgren Admits to Gambling Problem

The feature story in the latest issue of Bluff Magazine features Erick Lindgren, the former member of Team Full Tilt and high stakes poker player and sports bettor who now finds himself in a unique position. He spent the 2012 holidays in a rehabilitation facility in Southern California called Morningside Recovery to deal with a gambling addiction.

The article states that Lindgren began to lose control of his betting practices, and the situation became dire in 2011 when he lost “too much” money in football betting and was unable to pay backers, fantasy leagues, and other debts. A debt to Haralabos Voulgaris exceeded $2 million at one point, and he owes $2.4 million to Full Tilt Poker, an amount that is now due to PokerStars since the sale of FTP.

Lindgren also admitted to going through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in order to resolve some of his debts that affected his life and that of his family. Wife Erica Schoenberg, with whom Lindgren has a one-year old son, has been supportive, and agent Brian Balsbaugh paid for Lindgren’s stint in the rehab facility.

The purpose of the help, according to Lindgren, is to address his sports betting addiction in a way that still allows him to play poker. He claims to have a backer for some upcoming live poker tournaments. “I’ve had a gambling problem for a long time, and I’ve finally got the opportunity to address it,” he said.

High Rollers in Action at PCA

The 10^th Anniversary PokerStars Caribbean Adventure kicked off on January 5 with the much-anticipated $100K buy-in Super High Roller tournament. Reentries were also allowed. As of the afternoon of January 6, the number of players was 47, but added with 10 reentries purchased, the official number was 57. Of the eight people to be paid, the winner was set to receive $2,003,480.

The first day of play saw a number of well-known players in the field, including Phil Hellmuth, who bought in many hours after the cards were in the air, and he was eliminated about 30 minutes later. At the end of Day 1, Philipp Gruissem, on his second buy-in, held the lead with 771,500 chips. Scott Seiver had 729K to end the day, and Dan Shak was in third place with 650K.

As Day 2 came to an end, the field had dwindled, and David Sands busted Vanessa Selbst to take a significant chip lead. Nick Schulman then eliminated Jason Mercier to create the unofficial nine-handed final table on the money bubble. Not long after, Sands was back in action to eliminate Antonio Esfandiari in ninth place, and the final table was set for Monday, January 7, as follows:

Seat 1: Nick Schulman – 2,295,000

Seat 2: Dan Shak – 870,000

Seat 3: Greg Jensen – 1,500,000

Seat 4: Scott Seiver – 755,000

Seat 5: Vladimir Troyanovsky – 505,000

Seat 6: Philipp Gruissem – 1,610,000

Seat 7: Cary Katz – 540,000

Seat 8: David Sands – 6,680,000

Vanessa Selbst Engaged

The night before the Super High Roller began at the PCA, Vanessa Selbst proposed to longtime girlfriend Miranda, who accepted the proposal. Selbst hoped the excitement from the new engagement would bring good luck in her first $100K buy-in tournament. No word on plans for the upcoming nuptials.