James Madio (born November 22, 1975 in The Bronx, New York City, New York) is an American actor.

Madio attended Herbert H. Lehman High School in The Bronx. He appeared in his first film in 1991, with a minor part as one of the Lost Boys in Hook. He later appeared beside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries as a drop-out in high school. He has played lead roles in television series including miniseries Band of Brothers, in which he portrayed Frank Perconte, and USA High in which he played funny-man Bobby Lazzerini. He briefly worked for a small financial brokerage firm in Melville, New York before accepting the job with USA High.

Erick Lindgren (born August 11, 1976 in Burney, California[1]) is an American professional poker player.

He won his first major tournament at the Bellagio in 2002 and followed that up with his first World Poker Tour (WPT) win ten months later. Six months after that, he won the WPT PartyPoker Million III cruise, where he walked away with the million dollar top prize.

In January 2005, he finished 2nd in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Atlantic City. In February, he finished 5th in the WPT LA Poker Classic and just a week later, he won the second Professional Poker Tour tournament, also in LA.

In January 2006 he made another WPT final table, finishing 3rd at the 2006 Borgata Winter Poker Open.

In June 2006, Lindgren won the $600,000 first prize in the FullTiltPoker.net Poker Pro Showdown event, outlasting Mike Matusow, Clonie Gowen, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson and Phil Ivey. Lindgren's winning hand came in the first hand of heads-up play when his A♣ K♣ defeated Matusow's A♥ J♣ on a board of 6♠ 6♣ 9♦ A♠ 3♠.

In January 2007, Lindgren won AUD 1 million for beating out 17 other players in the $100,000 buy-in hold 'em event at the Aussie Millions.

Lindgren is the author of the book, "World Poker Tour: Making the Final Table", which covers strategy for poker tournaments.

Both the first name 'Erick' and the family name 'Lindgren' are Swedish names, representative of his Swedish ancestry.

He is a member of "Team Full Tilt" at Full Tilt Poker.[2] In February 2008, Lindgren hosted "FTOPS Event #9", part of Full Tilt's series of large buy-in tournaments. The tournament had over 5,600 entrants, and had a prize pool of over $1.65 million. Lindgren won the tournament becoming the first Full Tilt pro to win an FTOPS event that they hosted. He took home over $291,000.

On June 27, 2007, Erick won a $350,000 prop bet with Gavin Smith, Phil Ivey and others. To win the bet, Erick had to play four consecutive rounds of golf at Las Vegas' "Bear's Best" golf course between sunrise and sunset. He had to carry his own bags and shoot under 100 in each of the four rounds. Temperatures reached 106 degrees and symptoms of heat exhaustion set in, but Erick won the bet. He said on a PokerListings interview that he lost 12 pounds during the bet. [3]

On June 5, 2008 Erick defeated Justin Bonomo during heads-up play for his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the 5,000 buy in mixed no-limit/limit Texas Holdem event at the 2008 WSOP.

As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $7,300,000.

Gavin Smith (born 4 September 1968 in Guelph, Ontario) is a Canadian professional poker player who won the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown Championship event in 2005.

Smith learned how to play cards by playing cribbage and rummy with his father. He started playing poker at the age of 26, playing mixed games with co-workers. He became a poker dealer in 1996 and set up his own poker club in 1998. He has also worked as a taxi driver and on a golf course.

Smith first came to note by winning tournaments in no limit Texas hold 'em and seven card stud in the 1999 and 2000 World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

World Poker Tour

In May 2005 he won the first prize of $1,128,278 in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Mirage Poker Showdown in Las Vegas, defeating Ted Forrest in the final heads-up confrontation. In October 2005 he made the WPT final table again in the 2nd Annual Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, where he finished 3rd, behind Minh Ly and Dan Harrington. He made a third WPT final table in January 2006, finishing 4th. The three WPT final tables earned him the World Poker Tour Player of the Year award for season 4.

World Series of Poker

He first cashed in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2003 and would later make the money in the $10,000 no limit hold'em main event in 2004, finishing 52nd. He went on to cash in 2005 also (471st)as well as in 2007 (592nd). In spite of his many appearances at the WSOP he has not succeded in winning a bracelet yet. He does however have several high finishes including a runner-up finish in 2007 ($1,500 Pot-Limit Hold 'Em for $155,645). The experience Smith gained in mixed-games when he started playing has also served him well as he has several high finishes in H.O.R.S.E. tournaments.

World Series of Poker circuit events

In May 2006, Smith finished 2nd in the World Series of Poker circuit event at Harrah's New Orleans, winning $293,930. Smith had made a bet with Allie Prescott on who would win. If Smith won, Prescott would give him $70,000 per year for 10 years; if Prescott won, Smith would give him $100,000 per year for 10 years. [1] Peter Feldman went on to win the tournament.

Other poker related activities

He won the B.A.R.G.E. Main Event in 2004, besting a strong field of 249 poker enthusiasts, in Las Vegas, NV.

In July 2006, Smith won the World Pro-Am Challenge event at the Poker Dome Challenge, taking home the $500,000 first prize.

From April 2006 until October 2006, Gavin was one of the hosts of The Circuit radio show sponsored by Card Player Magazine. Smith and Joe Sebok also host PokerRoad Radio with Ali Nejad.

He Won Poker After Dark´s Season 3 Week 2 "19th Hole" defeating Phil Ivey in heads up play.It was his first time on the show.

Smith plays online poker on several sites and has played under the alias birdguts as well as his own name on Full Tilt Poker where he plays as one of their Full Tilt Pros.

Smith is good friends with Erick Lindgren who helped bankroll him early in his career.

Smith came in second place at the Pacifica 2008 tournament at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,600,000.