Esfandiari's $18.3 million proof Iranians are easy going and love High-stakes games
They call him the magician, partyman or ladies man. But many Americans know Antonio "the magician" Esfandiari as the most entertaining, humble and natural (effortless) poker player in the world. Maybe his easygoing nature and penchant for the high-stakes game came with his Iranian genes!
Many people think of Iranians as a fighting crowd, but anyone looking at history of Iran and Iranians, both in problem and success areas, would agree that this is a nation that has a casual attitude especially towards "high-stakes" ventures, from politics to games - yes even games like poker! One proof is the immense popularity of Vegas with the large expatriate community of Iranians in Los Angeles. At one time, Farsi (Persian) was heard in many tables in Vegas with $1000-a-hand or higher bets!
In 2009, The World Series of Backgammon (WSOB) was won by an Iranian immigrant in Norway, Shahab Ghodsi, who attracted a lot of attention, especially because of his casual personality and entertaining style of conversation (link here). But perhaps no one embodies that quintessential Iranian love of high-stakes games and easygoing "showman"ship than Amir Esfandiari. He recently beat 47 of world's top poker players to win $18.3 million in The Big One for One Drop, a charitable event at the 2012 World Series of Poker. In addition to the money, Esfandiari won a special edition platinum bracelet, which he immediately gave to his father. This was Esfandiari's second career WSOP title. With the $18,346,673 first prize, his total tournament winnings come to $23,245,828, the most any player has won in organized tournament history.
Through three days, Esfandiari glowed, running from table to table, joking with friends and seeming entirely at home in the largest-buy-in tournament in poker history. He seemed like a man who knew what awaited him. "Yes, I did think [I'd win]," Esfandiari said as he basked in the afterglow of his victory. "I believed it, I declared it and I wanted to win even more since I took third [last week]. I was determined to come back and win."
Esfandiari entered the final day's play with a small chip lead over England's Sam Trickett, with whom he flip-flopped in the standings for most of the table play that was broadcast on ESPN. Malaysian businessman Richard Yong was eliminated during the first few hours of the final table. After the dinner break, 1978 world champion and City Center CEO Bobby Baldwin went out next in seventh and Esfandiari's close friend, Brian Rast, was stopped by Sam Trickett in sixth with a massive cooler.
Esfandiari's Life
At the age of nine, Amir Esfandiari moved with his family from Iran to California. He changed his career name from Amir to Antonio at the age of 19. Antonio dropped out of college to become a professional magician. One night he was invited to a home game to play heads-up poker, a two-player game of poker. According to himself he made $7000 that night and that was his first poker bank roll. He continued his love for poker and his main breakthrough came in 2004 when he won the WPT (World Poker Tour) LA poker classic main event award for $1.4 million. That same year he won his first bracelet at the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) in Vegas $2000 pot limit hold'em event for $184,860. He was then roommates with Phil Laak, another professional poker player.
On his birthday in December 2010, Esfandiari won the five diamond world poker classic main event for $870,124. He called it, in his signature casual style, "the best birthday gift in his life!" As with any professional poker player, Esfandiari has seen his share of games that "tilted" him (poker term for frustration!) but he seems like a "natural" in coming back every time. In the recent "One for big drop" some speculated that he only had 15% of his own contribution and the rest came after he posted a message on twitter asking people who know him if they were interested in buying shares of him in this tournament. According to Jason Mecier (one of the best poker players in the world) Antonio asked him during the tournament if he wants to swap 1% and Mercier rejected his offer. Ironically Mercier was knocked out of this tournament by Esfandiari, where his pocket kings (KK) ran into Antonio's pocket aces (AA).
In his personal life, Esfandiari is known for his candid and witty personality, but also for his love of parties, women and his hedonistic life. He admits that as a young man he was not popular and he used "magic" to attract attention. In a 2011 interview, (video embedded above) Esfandiari discussed his hedonistic life but also indicated that he might soon be "hanging it up" because he does like to become a father:
There were rumors a few years ago that Esfandiari was dating Shannon Elizabeth (the hottie in American Pie the movie). He is a regular cash player in Bellagio and has appeared on "high-stakes poker" shows on the GSN network. He has also appeared on numerous "Poker after dark" shows on NBC. The show is directed by another Iranian American, Mori Eskandani, with commentaries by Ali Nejad (also Persian).
For Esfandiari, the recent $18.3 million victory seems to represent maturation: "I did some self-awareness work, tried to put things in perspective," he said. "What was important, what wasn't important. Going out and partying all the time, it really didn't make me happy. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but I kind of grew out of it. I'm 33 now. I decided to live a better life. This WSOP, I decided I was going to be focused, wake up every day, go to the gym and win a bracelet. It's 100 percent the reason I won."
Many of Esfandiari's competitors also noticed the change. "The way he started out in poker, I didn't respect," Hellmuth said of Esfandiari after being eliminated in fourth place. "You know he'd bust Phil Ivey and start shouting, 'Hit the door!' and all this crazy stuff. You know, the early days. But he's come a long way, and … he's actually turned into a really great guy. He's worked really hard on himself and he's turned into a great guy."
Who knows if and when Esfandiari will try at becoming a family man or if he will be a succesful one at that. As with any other good poker players, Esfandiari has a mind very hard to read!
For a partial list of other distinguished Iranians in the world, see Kodoom.com's page here
