Antonio Esfandiari Performs Wizardry at Commerce Casino

Youthful, exuberant, and probably the most gleeful 25-year-old on the face of this planet, professional magician Antonio Esfandiari couldn't sleep for days after outplaying 382 entrants and capturing first place, to the tune of $1,399,135, at Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Classic. Without giving it a second thought, the generous youngster tipped the dealers $35,000, which is more than some people make in a whole year.

Antonio only recently burst upon the poker scene and is the youngest tournament winner of prize money exceeding a million dollars, to say nothing of the fact that he won the biggest prize handed out in the history of both Commerce Casino and the World Poker Tour.

This rivals Phil Hellmuth's 1989 win at the World Series of Poker, when he was only 24 years old. However, in 1989, first place at the WSOP was a mere $755,000. The WSOP didn't pay a million for first place until Brad Daugherty won it in 1991. Another kid who won a million dollars is 29-year-old John Myung, who won his at Carl Icahn's Sand's Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City a few months ago.

After winning the tournament, people were clamoring around Antonio, shaking his hand, wanting to get any small piece of him, and even asking for his autograph. Life was simply grand.

Last year, after his debut on national television when he placed third in a World Poker Tour event at Lucky Chances Casino in the San Francisco area, the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed Antonio. "I love being on TV," he said. "I was such a dork in high school. All I ever wanted was to be popular. My dream was for someone, someday, to ask for my autograph." Shortly thereafter, his dream came true.

As a matter of fact, recently, Antonio was at a party where he saw actor James Woods milling about. Antonio recognized Woods from the movie Casino, but didn't want to appear star-struck, so he stayed away. Unbeknownst to Antonio, Woods spotted him at the bar and recognized him from a prior WPT show. Woods approached the amazed Antonio. "Antonio," said Woods, "you're one of my favorite players. Keep up the good work." Life could not be better for this Iranian-born young man, living the American dream.

After four grueling days and an impressive win, the beaming Antonio realized that his success entitled him to play in Commerce Casino's Celebrity Invitational the following day. He hadn't planned on playing in the Invitational, nor had he slept; the win hadn't sunk in, and his head was spinning. Four days of intense poker play had already done him in, but he tried to pull himself together for the Invitational, which promised to be more fun for Antonio than for anyone else. After all, Antonio was now a celebrity himself. He would be recognized and publicly congratulated.

During the Celebrity Invitational, the fatigued Antonio found himself extraordinarily chatty, grinning from ear to ear, but only half-heartedly playing, as if in a dream. Before he knew it, he had amassed a huge quantity of chips, and decided it might be nice to win the Invitational. He ran into Lyle Berman, who said encouragingly, "We're counting on you, kid!"

The Invitational was down to two tables when I arrived. As I got close to the table, I heard one of the players bragging to the crowd that she had just forced Antonio to lay down the best hand. I walked up to Antonio and told him what I had heard, and he giggled and divulged the junk he had just laid down.

Having just gotten word from Card Player Publisher Barry Shulman that Antonio would be featured on our next cover, I wanted Antonio to be the first to hear the good news. When I quietly told him I needed to interview him before he flew back to his hometown of San Jose, California, he displayed the exuberance and excitement of a child. He blurted out: "I was hoping to be on the next cover, but I didn't want to ask you!"

As it turned out, the exhausted millionaire made yet another television appearance, coming in a modest sixth in the Celebrity Invitational the following day and taking home another $8,000. However, it was a sweet win when his friend and roommate Phil "Unabomber" Laak clinched the title and won $100,000.

The Celebrity Invitational was to film the final table of six players on a Thursday afternoon. That morning, I was awakened by an unusually early phone call. "I'm ready for my interview," said the bubbly Antonio. After telling him he was nuts and should be sleeping before filming the final table that afternoon, we agreed to meet for breakfast. He looked exhausted, but there was contentment in his eyes. He hadn't slept. He hadn't had time to digest the fabulous win. His phone was ringing off the hook with congratulatory messages. He kept saying he could hardly believe it. It was crazy. It was sick. It was unbelievable.

As we were chatting and sipping our Starbucks, T.J. Cloutier stopped by to congratulate Antonio, who told T.J. he had learned a lot from the poker giant. With his wife's breakfast dutifully in hand, T.J. explained that room service never quite got it right. Without missing a beat, in Antonio's own inimitable fashion, he mischievously teased T.J.: "If I wanted to have a husband, it would be you. Can I have a hug now?" T.J. laughed as he quickly walked away from Antonio's playfully outstretched arms.

Antonio was born in Iran on Dec. 8, 1978, and moved to the United States when he was 9 years old. He was in the third grade, and lived with his father and grandmother. He did not understand a word of English, except for "hello." There was no one to teach him English, and for many months he stumbled through his new life unable to communicate with his schoolmates. He had to observe gestures and intonations to understand. In school, he met a Greek boy who also didn't speak English. The two of them communicated with hand motions, and after about six months, the boys began to speak English.

After high school, Antonio went to DeAnza College for about a year. Then one evening Antonio was at a restaurant and saw a bartender do a magic trick. He loved it! The next day he went to a magic store and said he wanted to do that very same trick. The store clerk sold him the magic trick, and Antonio went home and practiced and practiced. He wanted to be the next David Copperfield. He was so excited with magic that he practiced for 12 hours a day for two years.

Antonio started working as a professional magician when he was 19 years old. He was a waiter in an upscale restaurant where they allowed him to perform his magic. He started giving out business cards and after a short period of time, he developed a corporate clientele. He performed his magic at private parties for a few years. Anyone who observes Antonio perform immediately recognizes his gift. Not only has he reached a high level of manual skill, his entertaining showmanship is unrivaled.

About a year into his magic gig, Antonio found himself in a casino. He began learning how to play hold'em and loved the competition. He was doing a magic show when someone invited him to attend a no-limit hold'em home game. Antonio smiled as he recalled that his entire net worth at that time was less than a whopping $1,000.

During his first experience in this home game, he won $2,000. It was thrilling to triple his net worth. Knowing nothing about money management, he immediately went out and spent $1,100 on a dining room table. He took the rest to a $20-$200 spread-limit game in San Jose. In three months, he worked that $2,000 into $20,000. He was riding high in the land of opportunity.

In 2001, he ventured out with his prized bankroll in hand to try his skill at the World Series of Poker. He did a lot of magic at the WSOP, established a name for himself, and played a lot of poker. Unfortunately, when all was said and done and the WSOP was over, he found himself stone-cold broke – penniless. Poker was simply not as easy as it appeared at first blush. Antonio had to start all over again, and that is precisely what he did. With great fortitude, he started over, first waiting on tables, then doing magic, and eventually building up a bankroll.

At the WSOP, he had met Phil "the Unibomber" Laak and they became friends. The Unibomber taught Antonio about money management. Antonio promptly learned that when you have only $2,000 to your name, you don't spend $1,100 on one dining room table, even the loveliest of tables. The Unibomber lived in New York City and Antonio told him about the good games in California. Eventually, Antonio convinced the Unibomber to move to California, where they still room together today.

Prior to Antonio's big win, he made a respectable showing at two major tournaments. In November of 2002, he placed third at the WPT's Lucky Chances tournament, a televised event, winning $44,000 and beating most of the 152-player field.

Then in April of 2003, Antonio squarely faced the bad memories of the WSOP in order to once again take a stab at winning a coveted gold bracelet. He entered the $2,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament and, playing against an expert field of 407, put the WSOP ghost to sleep when he captured fifth place and $34,060. Although he didn't win a bracelet, he played well, which bolstered his confidence.

There are many people from whom Antonio has learned and to whom he credits some of his success. They are Rob Fulop, who created popular Atari games; Eldon Elias, also known as Cajun slick; Scott Lundgren, the greatest pot-limit/no-limit player alive, in Antonio's opinion; and Gabe Thaler. When Antonio started playing poker, he used to play heads-up no-limit hold'em with Gabe for hours on end. They played for so many hours and for so many years that when Gabe was watching Antonio at the final table, he knew exactly what Antonio was doing. Gabe is the one guy Antonio would never want to play heads up against.

Antonio has many smaller wins under his belt, but nothing like his win at Commerce Casino. His experience at the L.A. Poker Classic was truly magical. From his perspective, never during the tournament was his mound of chips ever in jeopardy.

Although Antonio told me about his experience on day one, I was at the next table and observed it firsthand. There was a buzz in the air when everyone saw the action. I left my table to observe what was causing all the commotion. Antonio and one of his opponents each had about $12,000. Antonio had a pair of fives and the other player had a pair of threes. It was raised and called. The flop came K-5-3, and both players went all in. The turn and the river provided no help for either player, and Antonio had doubled up before the first break.

On the second day, Antonio had the 10th-biggest stack. With 27 players remaining, he had the lead. With six players remaining, he still held the lead, with about 30 percent of the chips.

The players at the final table were Antonio Esfandiari, Quoc Al "Vinnie" Vinh, Bill Gazes, Mike Keohen, Adam Schoenfeld, and David Benyamine. Antonio thought Benyamine was the best player at the table, and he definitely did not want to tangle with him.

The final-table action, which will air on the Travel Channel on April 28, started with blinds of $8,000-$16,000 and $3,000 antes. Antonio led the pack with $1,148,000 in chips.

At the final table, Antonio raised approximately 17 times out of 20. His plan was to bully the table and continue raising until someone came over the top. Finally, with four players left, there was a crucial hand that knocked out another player. Antonio was on the button with a pair of queens, and he made his standard little raise. Bill Gazes reraised all in, Vinnie Vinh called, and Antonio moved his chips all in. Vinh thought about it, and then folded. Gazes showed A-8 offsuit. The flop came 9-8-2, and when Gazes got no further help, he was knocked out of the tournament.

Finally, the tournament got down to two players, Antonio and Vinh. Antonio recalled one crucial hand in which he held A-3 in the big blind. Vinh had a pair of sevens and limped in from the button. The flop came 9-3-3. Antonio bet, Vinh raised, Antonio reraised, and Vinh moved all in. Antonio won the pot, but because Vinh had a few more chips than Antonio, the tournament wasn't over yet.

Antonio then described what happened three hands later. He smiled and said the hand was so sexy. He slowly repeated: "It was soooo sexy." He even stopped speaking to bask in the glory of the memory. Then, he beamed while he recounted the glorious end of the tournament. Antonio made his standard little annoying raise that he had made so many times before. Vinh thought, and thought, and thought some more. Antonio was practically praying. He was thinking, please call, please call, oh God, please call. He was screaming inside and trying to keep his cool outside. After what seemed like an eternity, Vinh moved all in. Antonio said that he will always remember that instant as a moment of pure ecstasy in his life. Antonio remembered smiling and firmly announcing: "I call."

Antonio, loving the camera, dramatically took one card in each hand and lifted them high, in order to show the cheering audience what was about to come. He held pocket rockets – aces, two beautiful, lovely, wonderful, sweet aces. It was the dream hand. Vinh had chosen the wrong time to bluff, and showed Q-4 offsuit.

Thus, Persian-born Antonio Esfandiari won $1,399,135. It was one of the most exciting days in his life thus far. In his excitement, he almost babbled about it.

Antonio told me that some of what he will do with his winnings is take all of his best friends on an all-expense-paid trip to either Miami or Hawaii. He believes nothing is more important than loyalty and friendship, and he plans on taking good care of his friends.

He is also going to buy a house, and promises not to go crazy and play higher limits than he is comfortable with.

Antonio's father is very hard-working and supportive. However, he wasn't too thrilled about Antonio's poker aspirations until he visited a poker casino with Antonio. They were watching a poker game, and over and over again, Antonio told his dad what the players held in their hands. He was correct so often that he convinced his dad that he could be a successful poker player.

Let's fast-forward to Bay 101 in San Jose after Antonio's win. Many of us knew that his win was a secret, because he wanted to tell his dad in person. He was taking his dad to the Bay 101 tournament, and before they entered the casino, he said, "By the way, Dad, I won over a million." Before he had time to explain, they had entered Bay 101, where Antonio was mobbed by friends and strangers who clamored to congratulate him. How sweet it is to be a winner!

Last year, Barry Shulman and I ran into Antonio at Bellagio in Las Vegas. We invited him to join us for a lovely dinner at an upscale restaurant. He was waiting for a poker game and politely declined. Just as we were leaving the poker room, he ran up to us and asked if the offer was still open. Of course it was, we told him. He said that it took him a few moments, but he realized there would always be another poker game, and a nice meal with good people was far more important. At dinner, he showed his humility and explained that he had learned so much in his short time of playing poker. What he had learned was how to behave in a tasteful manner. He told us stories about winning hands and cheering for himself in a way he wished he could forget. He remembered playing with the classy Phil Ivey, and winning a pot and behaving in an embarrassing manner. T.J. Cloutier took him aside and told him that he was behaving inappropriately. When a champion like T.J. tells a kid he has behaved badly, it is memorable. Antonio decided then that he always wanted to be thought of as a classy, refined poker player.

On April 28, 2004, on the Travel Channel, the nation will witness the classiness of a young, quick study who won more than a million dollars and graciously accepted the title.