Antonio Esfandiari has come a long way since joining the WPT as their official ambassador. I know everything seems to have moved so fast with the World Poker Tour and all but this was the guy that was seen during season one flourishing the cards into the air in front of the camera. Apparently Steve Lipscomb heard Antonio was a magician and thought it would add something to the intro. A star is born.

Esfandiari burst onto the scene during season one of the WPT taking down $1.4 Million at the LA Poker Classic. Since then he has life time winnings of over $2.6 Million and recently took down 2^nd place for $220k at the Monte Carlo Grand Finale. Recently Antonio has not been as much of a staple on the tournament trail but has stepped up his game quite a bit this year. You may have seen him in his reality show “I Bet You” with his side kick Phil Laak. Antonio also won a WSOP bracelet in Pot Limit Holdem in 2004.

Antonio was born in Iran in 1978 and by the time he was nine years old his family moved to the U.S. During his early years Esfandiari proved to be an excellent student and by the time he had graduated high school had gone full fledge into magic with his own show. His plan was to be THE magician. By the time he was twenty he had his own clientele and things were looking good but poker would have its lure as Antonio would find out after getting hooked on tournaments and the prospect of larger pay days than his cash game.

At the urging of his friend Phil Laak Antonio began to play tournaments and the rest is history.