Antonio Esfandiari

Antonio Esfandiari, also known as The Magician one of the best poker players of our years. He is also the inventor of the poker game Lodden Thinks.

Antonio Esfandiari Biography

Antonio Esfandiari was the highest earning tournament poker player ever, with total winnings in excess of $25m up until Daniel Negreanu took that title by winning "Big One For One Drop 2014". A large chunk of this was from his $18.3m win in The Big One for One Drop, besting Sam Trickett heads-up to take home the bracelet.

Esfandiari, is also known as 'The Magician', as he was once a professional magician before becoming one of the best and most recognisable faces in modern day poker.

He is always a funny character at the table, and never fails to provide some top quality poker at the same time. Not many people have a bad thing to say about Antonio for obvious reasons. Antonio started playing poker when he was invited to a poker game when he was 19, during the same time he was peforming magic. It seemed from here on he was destined to transfer his magic onto the tables.

He kicked off his incredibly successful career big time when he won almost $1.4m at the LA Poker Classic Event.

Antonio has a very close friendship with fellow poker pro player, Phil Laak. They have been known to create great TV together at the televised table with their wit and generally likable personalities.

Game invented by Antonio Esfandiari & Phil Laak:

Lodden Thinks

The game of Lodden Thinks spiralled from some joking between the two as to what fellow pro Johnny Lodden while the three were at a televised table during a WSOP event. Esfandiari decided that their usual chat was boring and they needed to spice it up a little, so the two came up with Lodden Thinks.

The rules are as follows:

- 3 people are involved in the game, with 2 'betting' against each other, and one being 'Lodden' (ps. this doesn't actually have to be Johnny Lodden surprisingly.)

- Anybody can come up with a question with a numerical answer, and pose it to the group, with 'Lodden' thinking of an answer.

- The two 'bettors' then start off a bidding war as to what they think 'Lodden' would think. This goes on until one of the bettors declares 'I'm under', which means they take any number under what their opponent has just said, which subsequently means the other person takes over that number.

- 'Lodden' then reveals their answer, and depending on where that number lies in under or over, the winner is declared. What is so interesting about the game, is that it does not matter what the actual answer is, it only matters what 'Lodden' thinks the answer is.

A typical game for the minds of poker players.

Take a look at a Lodden Thinks game between Brunson and Ivey.

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9 years ago13,055ThePokerAces,

Published 9 years ago

Antonio Esfandiari - She is Committed

Antonio Esfandiari plays a hand against Annette Obrestad

9 years ago5,406ThePokerAces,

Published 9 years ago

Antonio Esfandiari vs Daniel Negreanu - Antonio on the Ropes

Esfandiari taking a long time to try and figure out where he is at the hand

9 years ago4,410BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Ike Haxton and Antonio Esfandiari Battling

Ike Haxton and Antonio Esfandiari outplaying each other

9 years ago4,431BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Vanessa Selbst Making a Play vs Esfandiari

Antonio Esfandiari facing some serious aggression from Vanessa Selbst

9 years ago7,167BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Antonio Esfandiari Slowrolling Unabomber

Antonio Esfandiari slowrolling his buddy just a little bit

9 years ago3,811BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Esfandiari and Tony G Clash in a Big Pot

The Magician finds himself in an uncomfortable spot

8 years ago35,146BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Underground Poker Show

Underground Poker show by Discover Channel, featuring Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari

8 years ago26,818BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Underground Poker Show (High Quality)

Underground Poker show by Discover Channel, featuring Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari

8 years ago3,683BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Sam Trickett on a Heater

Sam Trickett hitting couple of nice cards to save him in two consecutive hands

8 years ago11,127BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari Going at It

Big discussion between Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari - weak or not weak?

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

WSOP Event #36: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed (Live Updates)

The higher buy-in will probably make for a slightly smaller field than the 959 who showed for the $3k version.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

WSOP Event #20: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER (Live Updates)

The five day event will start off with two day ones on the 10th and 11th of June 2017 to help get through what looks to be a huge number of entries.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Dan Bilzerian Shows Up at WSOP

Dan Bilzerian rolled into the WSOP looking to play high-stakes No-Limit Hold’em in the brand-new King’s Casino cash game section at the Rio.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

WSOP Event #6: $111,111 HIGH ROLLER for ONE DROP No-Limit Hold'em (Live Updates)

This year, the WSOP’s pride of place in the Rio will be the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop No Limit Hold’em event

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

WSOP Event #2: $10,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em Championship

Not only is the $1k tag team back but the first open event of the WSOP is going to be a $10,000 buy-in version.

Gross, Rast, Esfandiari & Michael Phelps $10,000 WSOP Tag Team (Live Updates)

In Phelps, Jeff Gross believes he has found the man who can help him take down the gold bracelet in Vegas.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Hellmuth, Ivey, Esfandiari, Holz Among 50 Booked for €111K One Drop

​The first ever €111,111 One Drop High Roller to be played in Europe is selling out fast as more than half the seats have already been filled.

Live Poker Events, 7 years ago

What We Think About This Year’s Bay101 Shooting Stars

Looking at the line-up - there’s a definite hint of the A-List and the Z-list about a large chunk of the participants!

The Alternative Final Table

CBS Sports Network will premiere their new poker show – appropriately named ‘The Final Table’ – which will see Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari, among others, analysing the U.S. tournament scene and results.

Antonio Esfandiari Takes on Staking Ambassador Role

Esfandiari’s decision to post his staking packages exclusively on the StakeKings’s site will no doubt tempt those with a few thousand to spare.