Erica Schoenberg is a professional poker player who used to be a professional blackjack player. Schoenberg is also known as Erica Lindgren and has earned the nicknames Blackjack Babe and Poker Babe.
She’s an attractive blond woman, which stands out in the poker rooms and at the blackjack tables. At one time she was sponsored by Mansion Poker and was later sponsored by Full Tilt Poker.
While she last cashed in a poker tournament in 2020, it’s not known if she still plays blackjack often. Of course, most professional blackjack players don’t want anyone knowing they’re a pro, so it might just be a cover.
Find out more about Erica Schoenberg, the blackjack player and poker player in this post.
Blackjack Player Erica Schoenberg
Little has been published about Schoenberg’s professional blackjack career. But this doesn’t mean she wasn’t or isn’t successful. Most professional blackjack players try to fly under the radar.
The biggest problem Schoenberg has as a professional blackjack player is her looks. And I don’t negatively mean this. But attractive females are easily remembered in the blackjack world, so it has to be hard for her to remain anonymous like pro blackjack players try to do.
While it’s been reported elsewhere that she played on an MIT blackjack team, this claim isn’t true. But she did compete in a blackjack tournament with a few MIT blackjack team members, and some of them gave her some instructions and training to help her blackjack game.
From all appearances, Erica moved on to a poker career around 2006. But this doesn’t mean she gave up blackjack. It might just mean she doesn’t want the casinos to know she’s still attacking their games.
From the limited information I can find, Schoenberg worked on a blackjack team, when she played professionally. When the blackjack team broke up, she started playing poker.
I don’t know what position she held on her blackjack team. But she’s the perfect build for a counter who signals the whale when the count is good.
Erica Schoenberg in World Series of Blackjack
Erica Schoenberg accepted an invitation to compete in the 2005 World Series of Blackjack. Here’s a list of the participants in the 2005 World Series of Blackjack:
- Razor Rob Boisvert
- Erica Schoenberg
- Randall Joyce
- Marshall Lafferty
- Scottie J Black
Schoenberg finished second. Razor Rob Boisvert won the event.
While other gamblers have participated in both a World Series of Blackjack and a World Series of Poker event, Schoenberg is the first female to compete in both.
Poker Player Eric Schoenberg
Erica Schoenberg first appeared on television playing poker in the 2005 Strip Poker Invitational, which was hosted by Carmen Electra. But she quickly became serious about her poker career and appeared on Poker Royale: Young Bloods soon thereafter.
On Young Bloods, she competed against Michael Mizrachi, Michael Sandberg, and David Williams. And in 2006 she qualified for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament. While she didn’t finish in the money, she kept competing. Her first poker tournament win of over $100,000 came in 2006 also. Details are in the next section.
While online tracking shows she played poker from 2006 to 2020, I don’t know if she’s still playing cash games. Her Twitter account indicates she’s involved with cryptocurrency now. I have more information about this in the section about her crypto career below.
Her Twitter profile now states she had a 13-year professional poker career. She also states that she’s a former card counter who’s now a crypto addict. But it doesn’t say she’s a former poker player. And one thing I know about poker players is this. It’s hard to completely stop playing poker.
World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour
Erica Schoenberg has competed in many WSOP and WTP events. She’s only won over $100,000 in three events, but only in two WSOP and WTP events.
Here’s a list of Schoenberg’s top poker tournament finishes.
- 2007 WSOP $1,500 No Limit Holdem, 3rd place, $261,646
- 2006 WPT Five-Star World Poker Classic $25,000 + $500 Championship, No Limit Holdem, 16th place, $117,165
- 2007 Mandalay Bay Poker Championship $2,500 + $120 No Limit Holdem, 1st place, $105,875
Schoenberg cashed in WSOP events in the following years:
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2019
- 2020
Any poker player would be proud of that run of cashes.
Erica Schoenberg Crypto Career
Erica Schoenberg currently works in the crypto field. Her profile links to exodus.com, which is a bitcoin and crypto wallet.
Though it doesn’t state it clearly, it doesn’t appear that Schoenberg owns the company or any part of the company. It appears she’s just an employee.
Based on a recent post on her Twitter account, she has a management position. She posted looking to fill a few different positions.
Erica’s Personal Life
Erica Schoenberg was born in 1978, on March 25th. She was born in Akron, Ohio. As a child, she excelled in math. And she was introduced to gambling at a young age.
She won a local mathematics championship competition growing up and played a wide variety of card games with her family.
Erica bet on things with her dad growing up, and her dad traveled to the horse track often. She eventually sent money and bets with her dad to bet on the ponies. she started going to the track with her father when she was older.
She has a college degree, majoring in Theater. Before becoming a professional blackjack player and poker player, she worked as a model, personal trainer, and instructor.
Schoenberg dated and was later engaged to, professional poker player David Benyamine from somewhere around 2005 or 2006 until 2009. In early 2010 she started dating professional poker player Eric Lindgren.
On May 29, 2011, Schoenberg and Lindgren married. The guests at the wedding included a who’s who of the poker world at the time. Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Mike the Mouth Matusow were in attendance.
The newlyweds had a baby boy on November 3, 201. Her husband, Lindgren ended up with massive gambling losses, and the rumors are that these debts and his inability to get his gambling under control eventually lead to their divorce. Supposedly, Erica was supportive at first, but the situation wasn’t resolved over time.
Schoenberg and Lindgren got a divorce in March 2014. She still uses the last name Lindgren on her Twitter account.
Erica Schoenberg Career Winnings
The amount of money Schoenberg has made as a blackjack player isn’t known. It’s almost impossible to learn how much pro blackjack players make, so this isn’t surprising.
According to the Hendon Mob database, Erica has won $862,503 in poker tournaments, with her last cash in 2020.
Taking her poker cashes into account, there’s little doubt that when you add her blackjack income and cash poker games in, Schoenberg has won over $1,000,000 gambling in her career.
Female Blackjack and Poker Players
This section isn’t exclusively about Erica Schoenberg. But because she’s an attractive blackjack and poker player, it’s relevant.
Males dominate the poker and blackjack world. Of course, there are women players in both gambling games. But in a male-dominated business, female players have a rough road.
Erica Schoenberg is an example of someone that has conquered both blackjack and poker. If a male had her gambling statistics, no one would think much about him. But as an attractive woman, Erica has made a name for herself.
While I’m glad Erica is well known for her poker play, being a woman in a world controlled by men has helped and hurt her career.
On one hand, female card counters have an advantage. Some men in the blackjack world think women aren’t smart enough to count. And a smart woman, which Schoenberg obviously is, uses this to their advantage.
But because she’s attractive, pit bosses remember her. And card counters don’t want pit bosses remembering them.
On the other hand, many male poker players have the same bias. And this helps a smart female poker player a great deal.
The moral of the story is this:
If you’re a smart woman gambler, learn to use the stupidity of males to your advantage. And if you’re a stupid male gambler with the wrong idea about female gamblers, be careful. They might just take your money.
The smart money is on stopping looking at female gamblers as anything except gamblers.
Conclusion
Erica Schoenberg is one of the few females to spend time as a professional blackjack player and professional poker player. While many men remember her as one of the prettiest representatives for Full Tilt Poker, even if she wasn’t a beautiful woman, she’s accomplished a lot in the gambling world.
With career earnings almost guaranteed over $1,000,000, Schoenberg has earned the right to be considered a successful gambler; not just a successful female gambler.
She doesn’t appear to be active on the poker circuit or in the blackjack world right now. But it won’t surprise me to see her at the tables again soon.