Antonio Esfandiari, a professional poker player and a magician, was born Amir Esfandiari on December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran. His family moved to San Jose, California when he was nine years old and he grew up there. He changed his name to Antonio Esfandiari at the age of 19 to perform magic and that is how he got his nickname ‘the Magician’. He quit his job as a professional magician and waiter to devote all his time to poker, which was more profitable.
Antonio Esfandiari won the third place and walked away with $44,000 at the $500,000 Guaranteed Gold Rush World Poker Tournament (WPT) Season 1 Main Event – No-Limit Hold’em in November 2002. He participated in the Holiday Bonus Tournament and won $5,995 by finishing third in Event #9 – No-Limit Hold’em.
In February 2004, Antonio Esfandiari became famous after finishing first at the LA Poker Classic – WPT Season 2 Event #23 No-Limit Hold’em and walked away with $1,399,135. In the same year, he bagged a whopping $184,860 at the 35th Annual World Series of Poker, when he finished first in Event #21 – WSOP Pot-Limit Hold’em. At the WPT Invitational $200,000 Freeroll – No-Limit Hold’em event he ranked sixth place and bagged $8,000.
The year 2005 was a lucky one for Antonio Esfandiari for he won many cash prizes, beginning with the fourth-place finish and $12,746 cash prize at the LA Poker Classic WPT Event Season 3 WPT No-Limit Hold’em. He finished third in the No-Limit Hold’em event of the 2005 National Heads-Up Poker Championship and won a huge amount of $125,000 in March. The same month he secured 14th rank at the Shooting Star Tournament – WPT Season 3 Main Event – No Limit Hold’em with a good $40,000 to his credit. In April 2005, his brilliant performance helped him secure third rank and $122,035 in prize money at the No-Limit Hold’em event of the Five-Star World Poker Classic – WPT Championship Season 3. In the same year, Antonio Esfandiari recorded an impressive win at the Harrahs New Orleans Poker Challenge – WSOP Circuit in the No-Limit Hold’em (Event 8) and walked away with a huge sum of $221,445.
Antonio Esfandiari won some regular cash prizes in 2007, which started off with his 13th-place finish at the LA Poker Classic WPT Season 5 in Event #17 – Shootout – No-Limit Hold’em with $2,425. He finished 39th at the 38th Annual WSOP Event #8 – No-Limit Hold’em and earned a decent sum of $11,905 in June. Later that year, he walked away with prize money worth $26,488 at the IP Poker Classic Event #4 – No-Limit Hold’em. At the European Poker Tournament (EPT) at Monte Carlo in April 2008, Antonio Esfandiari finished eighth and bagged $220,184 in the No-Limit Hold’em event.
Besides playing poker, Antonio Esfandiari has also written the book World Poker Tour: In the Money that talks about strategies in poker. While most of the books on poker are based on tournaments, another of his book Cash Games is about Texas Hold’em, his favorite game, and provides useful tips on how to improve one’s poker skills. He was selected as the face of World Poker Tour’s Poker-Made Millionaire. He also appeared in the TV show, “I Bet You” on MOJO HD, with fellow poker player Phil Laak.
With a total live tournament winnings exceeding $3,000,000, Antonio Esfandiari can surely make his dream magic-theme restaurant a reality in the future.
