Antonio Esfandiari was born on December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran. His family moved to San Jose, California when he was 9 years old. He knew little of the English language but quickly picked it up, becoming fluent in just six months. He was a model student all throughout his school years until he reached the 12^th grade. That was the year that he fell into the party scene. His grades suffered and he eventually moved out of his home and into an apartment. He took a job as a waiter to pay the rent and the party crowd was soon camped out in his apartment.

Antonio The Magician Esfandiari

While working as a waiter, Antonio Esfandiari saw one of the bartenders perform a magic trick. So impressed, Esfandiari went to the nearest magic shop and asked how it was done. He purchased some magic props and soon was performing his own tricks during his waiter job to earn tips. He practiced magic for two years and built up a client list through the restaurant where he worked. He even changed his first name from Amir to Antonio for his act.

During this time, one of Antonio Esfandiari’s roommates was a professional poker player and introduced him to the game. Esfandiari, as it turned out, had a natural talent for it. Along with his magician’s act and his job at the restaurant, he began to play and make money at it. He mostly played in $2/$4 Hold’Em games.

Then when he was 20 years old, a friend took him to a tournament at the Garden City Club in San Jose. Until then, Antonio Esfandiari had never played in a tournament and was knocked out early. Afterwards, he researched the game, learning all he could. The game had definitely sparked an interest in him and it couldn’t have come at a better time. When the economy fell, his magic act suffered. He was no longer making the kind of money that poker was bringing in. It was no contest. He quit his magic business as well as his waiter job to play poker full-time.

Antonio Esfandiari and the WSOP

At his first WSOP tournament, Antonio Esfandiari had built up a bankroll of $20,000 but ended up losing it all in events and cash games. He returned to California and slowly built his bankroll up again. It was at one of the WSOP events that Esfandiari met Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak. The two were sharing a table and Esfandiari was showing off some of his magic skills to the other players. Laak was extremely interested in knowing how Esfnadiari accomplished the tricks and began to bug him about it. Esfandiari, annoyed, left and moved to another table but Laak followed. The two eventually struck up a conversation and became fast friends.

Antonio Esfandiar and the World Poker Tour

In 2002, Esfandiar’s career as a poker player started to show some success. He entered the first season of the World Poker Tour 2002 Gold Rush at the Lucky Chances Casino in San Francisco. He played his way to the final table where he faced pro players Phil Hellmuth, Paul Darden, Vince Burgio, Chris Bigler, and Tommy Garza.

Antonio Esfandiari ended up taking third place and earning $44,000.During the match, he knocked out Phil Hellmuth. His over-jubilant display, along with the crowd’s reaction, angered Hellmuth and the two have since become fierce rivals at the table. In April of 2003 at the World Series of Poker, Esfandiari made it to the final table in the main event and took fifth place and won $34,000.

2004 was Esfandiari’s break out year. During Season 2 of the WPT at the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino, Esfandiari took first place in the No Limit Hold’Em Main Event. He beat out Vinnie Vinh in heads-up to win the title and $1,399,135. At that time, Esfandiari was the youngest player to ever win a WPT event. A few weeks later, he made the final table at another WPT event, the 6^th Annual WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino. He shared a table with Humberto Brenes, John Juanda, Harry Demetriou, and his friend Phil Laak. Esfandiari ended up in sixth place. Several months later, Esfandiari continued his winning streak. At the 2004 World Series of Poker, he beat out Phil Nguyen in the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’Em event. The win earned him his first gold bracelet and $184,860. By the end of the year, he was ranked in 11^th place on the poker players 2004 Money List.

Antonio Esfandiari Poker Tournaments

Antonio Esfandiari has had other numerous wins in his career. In 2005, during the WPT Season 3 at the L.A. Poker Classic, he made it to the final table and took fourth place. A month later he took third at the national Heads-Up Poker Championships. At the Five-Star World Poker Classic WPT Championship, he won third place in No Limit Hold’Em. A month later at the Harrah’s New Orleans Poker Challenge, he won third at the main event. Then in June at the WSOP, he had a fifth place finish. In 2008, at the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Finale, Esfandiari took eighth place at the main event.

Antonio Esfandiar on Television

Besides tournaments, Esfandiari has appeared on the first four season’s of GSN’s High Stakes Poker and NBC’s Poker After Dark. He also appeared on the second season of Poker Superstars Invitational where he finished in last place but came back in season three to finish second. He is currently starring in the show I Bet You on Mojo TV with his friend Phil Laak.

Antonio Esfandiari currently lives in San Francisco and when he is traveling the poker circuit, he rooms with Phil Laak. He has made an instructional DVD on poker, has written a few books on the sport, and has appeared in poker video games. His nickname is ‘Magician’, and he continues to do tricks at the table.

He has stated that one day he hopes to open a magic-themed restaurant. As of 2008, his estimated tournament winnings are $3 million. He can be found playing online at UltimateBet.com where he has a chair reserved for him. He is a spokesman for WPT Online, has a blog on AlwaysBluff.com, and also has his own website, MagicAntonio.com.