Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, born Amir Esfandiary, is a professional poker
player and former professional magician, known for his elaborate chip tricks.
Esfandiari was the face of the United States' first legal and regulated online
poker site, Ultimate Poker, however since Monday, November 17, 2014 it has
shut down due to low revenue. In addition to appearing on several
poker television shows, he has won two World Poker Tour championships and three
World Series of Poker bracelets in his career, including the "Big One for One
Drop" in 2012, a $1,000,000 buy-in tournament benefiting the One Drop
Foundation. By winning the event, along with the largest cash prize in the
history of poker at $18,346,673, Esfandiari has been ranked number one
for all-time tournament poker winnings, until Daniel Negreanu took this title by
finishing 2nd in the "Big One For One Drop 2014".
In 2012, he authored The Magician's Secrets for Winning Tournaments on Insta
Poker, a poker strategy game available for iOS.
Early life Esfandiari was born in Tehran, Iran.
When he was nine years old, his family moved to San Jose, California. He
graduated from Del Mar High School in 1997.
At the age of 19, he changed his name to Antonio, which was adopted from a desire
to be a magician. Antonio the magician sounded more mystical than Amir the
magician. He became a professional magician. While he was performing magic,
he was invited to a game of Texas Hold 'em and started to play poker. He has a
younger brother, Pasha, who also plays poker.
Live poker In 2004, he won close to $1.4 million
and his first World Poker Tour title at the L.A. Poker Classic. He won his first
World Series of Poker bracelet a few months later in pot-limit Texas Hold
'em. Esfandiari appeared in the second and
third seasons of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. After finishing
last the previous year, Antonio was able to redeem himself with a second place
finish the third season. He was also in each season of GSN series High Stakes
Poker and each season of NBC's Poker After Dark.
On April 17, 2008, Esfandiari made the final table at the 2008 PokerStars.com
EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo finishing in eighth place, winning €168,000. On
July 14, 2009, Esfandiari made his deepest finish to date in the World
Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 24th on day 8 of the tournament, earning
$352,832. In 2010 he won his second World Poker
Tour title by winning the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World for over
$870,000. On July 3, 2012, he won the largest buy-in tournament in history,
the Big One for One Drop, a $1,000,000 buy-in live event. After beating 47
other players, he earned $18,346,673, the biggest cash prize in poker history.
The same year at the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, Esfandiari won his
third bracelet in the €1,100 No Limit Hold'em event, defeating Remi Bollengier
heads-up to earn €126,207. In the 2013 World Series of Poker he placed fourth
in the One Drop High Roller tournament, the successor to the Big One that he had
won a year earlier, and earned $1,433,438.
As of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $26,250,000. Esfandiari
has been ranked as high as #14 on the Global Poker Index.
= World Series of Poker Bracelets= An "E" following a year denotes
bracelet(s) won at the World Series of Poker Europe
Other television appearances Esfandiari co-starred in the TV show I
Bet You, on MOJO HD, with Phil Laak. He is the face of World Poker Tour's
Poker-Made Millionaire. He was also seen in the season 7 opener of Entourage.
Recently Esfandiari appeared as an undercover officer in the movie
Freelancers starring Robert De Niro and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.
In January 2014, Antonio Esfandiari began shooting a web reality series with
Ultimate Poker: Strip Magic. The series features Esfandiari performing street
magic on the Las Vegas strips along with exclusive interviews. In March of 2014,
the season one debuted on Youtube.com/UltimatePoker.
In September 2014, Esfandiari paired with fellow poker professional Phil Laak
on 'Underground Poker' which aired on the Discovery Channnel as part of a
three-part mini-series entitled 'All In, All Night'.
Bibliography World Poker Tour: In the Money ISBN
0-06-076305-1 References
External links Antonio Esfandiari at the Internet Movie
Database Shulman, Allyn Jaffrey. Antonio
Esfandiari Performs Wizardry at Commerce Casino. Cardplayer.
Anderson, Lessley. All-In SF Weekly.