Antonio Esfandiari Going For Back-To-Back 'One Drop' Titles: 'Would Feel Fantastic To Take Another Big Bite Out Of' Poker EconomyPoker Pro Has Hopes Of Doing The Unthinkable And Defending His Title |
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The money bubble burst at around 4 p.m. local time after a lengthy hand-for-hand process, and the player leaving empty handed in 25th place was Yevgeniy Timoshenko.
However, the focus was quickly shifted back to the remaining players, one of whom could defend his “One Drop” title from last year, when the buy-in was $1 million. This year the entry fee was dropped down to $111,111, but the cap on the number of players was lifted. A total of 166 players built a prize pool that would divvy out $4.8 million for first.
That player is none other than Antonio Esfandiari, who sat, in his usual pajama-like attire, with about an average chip stack when the field was condensed to the final three tables.
When asked about the possibility of sucking another huge sum from the poker economy, the veteran grinder, winner of three World Series of Poker bracelets remarked with a laugh:
“Luckily the poker world has a lot of money, and I will not be bankrupting it. However, it would feel fantastic to take another big bite out of it, and punish them all.”
When asked if he has had any thoughts of playing longtime friend Phil Laak for the bracelet, Esfandiari said yes, and that it would be “amazing.” Laak also made the money, and had a stack of about the same size as Esfandiari when play resumed after a short break.
“I would LOVE to play Phil and beat him,” he said. “That would go down in history. It would be a forever-needle, but actually that would be the least of my concerns.”
“Winning the One Drop last year was the greatest thing that could ever happen, and to win it again would, I think, be one of the biggest stories in poker — ever.”
If Esfandiari were to win, he would have more than $9 million more in earnings than the second best on the all-time list (Sam Trickett). Thanks to the $18 million score last year, Esfandiari has nearly $23.7 million in career cashes. It’s worth noting that it isn’t actually his amount won when you factor in tournament buy-ins over the years, and that he sold an undisclosed but significant chunk of himself for the $1 million buy-in.
“It would be really hard for second-place to catch up,” Esfandiari said of the prestigious spot.
The event was scheduled to wrap up on Friday or early Saturday morning, but the World Series of Poker will likely let the event go into an official fourth day of play.
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