What Poker’s "Professional Best Friend" Is Up To These Days
Jeff Gross touched on a variety of topics - including the big blind ante, poker players boxing and Fortnite.
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.
Wikipedia
Antonio EsfandiariWorld Series Of Poker
Antonio EsfandiariWorld Poker Tour
Antonio EsfandiariPublished 10 years ago
Antonio Esfandiari Livestream Q and AAntonio Esfandiari does a Q&A at the Ultimate Poker office in New Jersey.
Published 10 years ago
NBC HU 2013 Antonio Esfandiari vs Jennifer TillyNBC HU 2013 Antonio Esfandiari vs Jennifer Tilly (Ep03)
Published 10 years ago
Antonio Esfandiari vs Tom Dwan in Set Over Set HanSet over set between Antonio Esfandiari and Tom "durrrr" Dwan. Tom Dwan rivers a higher set that Antonio Esfandiari and busts The ...
Published 10 years ago
Esfandiari betters Phil Ivey!Phil Ivey obviously caught some sort of read from Esfandiari on this one!
Published 10 years ago
Antonio Esfandiari runs into a big hand of Tony GThe Big Game. Tony with a full house against Esfandiaris trips
Published 11 years ago
Behind the Scenes at Caesars Cup with Esfandiari,The third ever Caesars Cup played out today at the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific and we're taking you behind the scenes. We s...
Published 11 years ago
Footy and Life Beyond the Felt with EsfandiariIn today's daily WSOP APAC highlight show we join a group of poker pros including Antonio Esfandiari, world champ Greg Merson and ...
Published 11 years ago
Premier League VI: Duhamel huge bluff vs. EsfandiariJesse May called it one of the best plays ever. What do you think about this hand from Jonathan Duhamel against Antonio Esfandiari.
Published 11 years ago
Antonio Esfandiari Talks One Drop Win and PartyingAntonio Esfandiari won the biggest prize in poker history last week, $18.3 million for taking down the Big One for One Drop. Poker...
Published 11 years ago
Season XI WPT Five Diamond Day 5 - Antonio EsfandiariWPT Five Diamond Las Vegas Final Table December 9th 2012. Antonio Esfandiari's birthday wishes were granted when P.B.F. Jeff Gross...
Jeff Gross touched on a variety of topics - including the big blind ante, poker players boxing and Fortnite.
Vince Van Patten’s Written A Poker Movie… And It Might Be Good
Finally the poker world has found a boxing match worthy of Madison Square Garden.
Main Event runner-up Tony Miles took to Twitter to respond to the comments and criticism he received.
Nick Petrangelo has won the inaugural running of the WSOP $100k NLH event, defeating a field of 105 total entries.
Impressing a supermodel can’t be an easy job, but an Americas Got Talent magician managed it in spades – literally.
Bonomo laid claim to 'the best tournament player in the world' title when he finished off a resurgent Negreanu to lift the SHRB title in Las Vegas.
Drinan doesn’t say who was on the other end of the evidently competitive arm-wrestling competition.
Journalist Lance Bradley’s new book “The Pursuit of Poker Success” has called on the world’s leading players to chart the route to greatness in the game…
In a crazy series of straddle-over-straddle-over-straddled pots, the two went head to head again and again, like two pastel be-shirted highlanders.