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Antonio Esfandiari

Online Poker Is Legal Again: Ultimate Poker Deals Real Money Hand in Nevada

by Wicked Chops Entity on 4.30.2013 in Poker News | no comments

 

This image was not Photoshopped.

This image was not Photoshopped.

One small step for man, one giant leap for grinders…

Online poker has returned to the United States!

In Nevada!

On one site…

[With a few people on it right now.]

But hey, gotta start somewhere. And not bad for just two years and two weeks after Why’s-It-Gotta-Be-Black-Friday.

Just two months after Nevada legalized online poker, Ultimate Poker is up and running. You have to a white 21 or over Nevada resident to play.

Ultimate Poker is a majority-owned subsidiary of Station Casinos LLC, which is owned by the Fertitta Brothers, who also own the UFC. The company announced Antonio Esfandiari as its poker ambassador earlier this month.

Check out Ultimate Poker here.

Tagged as: Antonio Esfandiari, featured, Online Poker, Poker News, Ultimate Poker

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Ravi Raghavan Denies Antonio Esfandiari Another Million Dollars

by Wicked Chops Entity on 12.10.2012 in Poker News | 5 comments

Ravi put an end to Antonio’s run good. Sort of.

Somebody had to stop him.

Antonio Esfandiari has had a good year. $18M dollars (or math math math a little over $4M) will do that. As will a WSOP-E bracelet.

The Magician was taking aim this week on his second WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond title–having won it two years ago and final tabling it last year.

Esfandiari dominated play for much of the event, and took the chip lead to the final table. However, somebody else–dare we say–pulled a rabbit out of his hat?

That somebody would be Ravi Raghavan, which we believe translates in Hindu to “spicy Indian ravioli.”

Raghavan bested a stacked final table, which included LUCKY CHEWY (5th – $234,197), the multi-aforementioned Esfandiari (4th - $329,339), and Shawn Buchanan (2nd - $746,502).

For the win, Raghavan banks $1,268,571 and his first WPT title.

Get full results and recaps here.

Tagged as: Antonio Esfandiari, featured, Poker News, Ravi Raghavan, World Poker Tour

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Antonio Esfandiari Wins 2012 WSOPE Event #2; Takes Over Player of the Year Lead

by Wicked Chops Entity on 9.25.2012 in Poker Tournaments | no comments

Ho-hum. Another $161,000…

Back when we first launched Wicked Chops Poker in 2005 (fuck), we discussed a phenomom occuring in the game that we dubbed “The Magician Invasion”TM.

The premise was that with Antonio Esfandiari, a magician, capturing a bracelet at the 2005 WSOP, and Scott Lazar, a magician, final tabling the Main Event…well you do the math math math.

Well, the Magician Invasion never actually happened.

Until this year.

Antonio Esfandiari…dare we say…turned up the heat during the summer. He cashed six times at the 2012 WSOP, including a third place finish in Event #36 (for over $151,000) and that smallish charity event he won for $18M.

Apparently, Esfandiari’s run good has continued into the Fall. The Magician dominated WSOPE Event #2 (€1,100 with Re-Entry), outlasting 626 players and capturing his third bracelet (and second of the year). For the win, Esfandiari banks €126,207.

The win also moves Esfandiari past Phil Ivey for Player of the Year honors.

A bunch of Frenchies final tabled the event as well, but sacreblue, could not pull out the victory.

Get full results here.

Tagged as: 2012 WSOP, Antonio Esfandiari, featured, Poker News, WSOPE

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Antonio Esfandiari on Howard Stern

by Wicked Chops Entity on 9.19.2012 in Poker News | 2 comments

Howard Stern brought on the $18M Man Tuesday’s show.

The Big One winner Antonio Esfandiari appeared on the Howard Stern Show on Tuesday.

The Magician talked about how most pros (and by “most” he means “all except Phil Ivey”) did not put up their own $1M but admits he, “put up a decent amount. … I had a nice payday.” Rumor has it to the tune of around $4M.

He also discussed standard stuff like “tells.” Standard fair.

But hey, a poker pro is on Howard Stern.

Give it a listen here.

Tagged as: Antonio Esfandiari, Howard Stern, Poker News, Project ONE Drop

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Antonio Esfandiari Wins $18M Project OneDrop Event

by Wicked Chops Entity on 7.3.2012 in Poker Tournaments | 1 comment

I love you, money.

Antonio Esfandiari just scored the biggest prize in poker history.

Now dirty little secret time for our mainstream readers: if he (or any pro outside of Phil Ivey) owned all 100% of himself, the score would be even sweeter. None of these guys completely owned themselves.

Regardless, the Magician controlled final table action, defeating Sam Trickett heads-up to bank $18,346,673. Trickett takes home $10,112,001.

The win makes Esfandiari poker’s all-time tournament money winner (obviously), putting him over the $22M mark. Tricket now has over $16M in career earnings.

Phil Hellmuth grinded out a fourth place finish for $2,645,333.

The two rich guys who were going to donate all prize money to charity–David Einhorn and Guy Laliberté–finished third ($4,352,000) and fifth ($1,834,666) respectively.

Get full final table results here.

Tagged as: 2012 WSOP, Antonio Esfandiari, featured, Poker News, Sam Trickett

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