The ‘Middle Guard’

There are many people out there who are convinced that it’s only a matter of time until the ‘new guard’ of young internet players completely dominate the game (I don’t know that I agree, but many feel this way). It seems every year, more and more of these ‘youngins’ emerge and challenge the throne of the ‘old guard’.

So, that got us to talking about Lindgren. Is he part of the ‘new guard’….not really. Erick is 31, certainly young, but he’s not what we now think of as a young gun – these days it seems like if you are over 26 or 27, you can’t be a young gun. Ok, so Lindgren is ‘old guard’, right? Definitely not. That perch is reserved for guys like Doyle, TJ, Dewey, and some of the greats of the game.

It wasn’t three or four years ago that Erick and his contemporaries (Daniel, Ivey, Allen Cunningham, etc) were referred to as the ‘new guard’. That doesn’t seem right these days, with the youngest US bracelet winner being just a week or two legal at the time of his win (Steve Billirakis), and the youngest WSOP bracelet winner on any continent still too young to play in the USA (Annette Obrestad).

So, Daniel, Erick, Phil, Allen…..Welcome to the Middle Guard.