Antonio Esfandiari’s online poker room Victory Poker has ceased to offer online poker gaming.

The official statement from the Victory Poker website reads “Victory Poker has moved its international player database over to Cake Poker.  The Victory Poker brand will no longer serve as a poker skin.”

Victory Poker acted as a “skin” for Cake Poker which is the main network that Victory resided on.  Skins feature their own theme and special promotions.

With Victory no longer around, we recommend Unabomber Poker, the poker room of choice for Antonio Esfandiari’s buddy Phil Laak.  Unabomber Poker is also part of the Cake Poker network, so players will still have access to the great player pool and features that made the Victory Poker experience an enjoyable one.

Unabomber Poker features great benefits such as 33% rakeback that can also be combined with an amazing 110% deposit bonus up to $600.  Make sure to use the Signup Code: RAKE when registering your new account to qualify.  Combining a rakeback and bonus deal at Unabomber Poker can earn a player as much as 60% total rakeback which is unbeatable!

There are also other great promotions including bounty tournament freerolls featuring Phil Laak.  Knock out the Unabomber and you will win an autographed Unabomber hoodie shipped to anywhere in the globe!  This is a great chance to win the ultimate piece of poker memorabilia and bragging rights.

Unabomber Poker is a great room and it is our recommended online poker room of choice for all Antonio Esfandiari poker fans that are hungry for online poker action.  Get back in the game today!

Antonio Esfandiari has finished in 7th place at the WSOP 2011 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Event winning $58,000.

He battled through a very large field of 2,890 entrants to make the final table, proving his status amongst the elite of the poker world.

Antonio was struggling and short on chips as the final table neared.  However, he managed to quickly turn things around and became the chip leader going into the final table.

However, his fortunes would take a dive at the final table as he ran his good hands into monsters. First up, he held A8 on an Ace high flop only to run into his opponent’s AA in the hole. He would end up being eliminated after getting all in with KT only to be dominated by AK.

He finished the tournament in 7th place, a huge accomplishment given the sheer number of players that took part in the event. The eventual winner would be the unknown Kenneth Griffin who won $455,000 and a coveted gold bracelet.

Another notable poker star, Phil Hellmuth made a deep run in the tournament finishing in 28th place and winning $10,500 for his 4th cash of the 2011 WSOP.

Antonio Esfandiari will be looking for another deep run as the World Series of Poker Main Event gets underway on July 7th. His strong showing through a massive field will give him confidence going into poker’s biggest event. He went very deep in the Main Event back in 2009 when he finished in 24th place and cashed for over $350,000.

Antonio Esfandiari won the biggest pot on High Stakes Poker’s newest season after taking down a massive all in pot worth $593,000.

The Victory Poker superstar locked horns with Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein when both players flopped monster hands in a pot that could have gone either way.

The hand came up when Antonio held 8h7h and opened the pot.  David “Viffer” Peat came along with 76 and Barry Greenstein also saw the flop holding 44.

The flop came T64 with two hearts on board.  It gave Antonio a double-gutted straight draw and a flush draw for a monster hand.  Greenstein also hit the flop hard and now held bottom set.

Esfandiari fired out $6,200, Viffer called unsuspectingly holding middle pair and Greenstein raised it up to around $30,000.  Esfandiari re-raised to over $100,000 in order to push his monster draw to get everyone to fold or happily get all in with his big hand if someone else had a hand big enough to play back at him.  Viffer got out of the way.  Greenstein pushed all in and the Magician made the call.

As usual, Barry Greenstein declined a request to run the hand more than once.  He was a slight favorite in this match-up with about a 60% chance of winning the huge $593,000 pot.  It seems as though fortune does not shine on Barry on the felt at High Stakes Poker as a Qh fell on the turn and the board did not pair on the river to help him.

Antonio Esfandiari’s magic touch paid off and he scooped the massive $600,000 pot, the biggest so far from Season 7 of High Stakes Poker.

Antonio Esfandiari will be playing on the new season High Stakes Poker.

The new season will kick off on February 26th on GSN.  It will also be aired in 3D on DIRECTV’s n3D channel.

The latest season will be featuring a great line up of pros including Antonio’s buddy and rival Phil Laak.

Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein will be two more regulars featured as well as WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel and two-time Champions Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.

Jason Mercier, Phil Galfond and fellow Victory Poker Pro Andrew Robl will be some of poker’s young online stars making appearances this season also.

The new season promises great action with the minimum featured buy-in of $200,000 with $400/$800 blinds and a $100 ante.

The teaser for the upcoming season has been released and Antonio features prominently in the promotion.  This is great for poker fans who can expect to see a lot of the Magician at the tables.

January 7, 2011

Antonio Esfandiari has finished in 19th place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 High Roller Event.

The tournament has the highest buy-in in the world at $100,000 each and featured a star studded list of poker’s best players.

It attracted 38 entries including PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Humberto Brenes and WSOP 2010 Champion Jonathan Duhamel.

Antonio’s good buddy Phil Laak also took part as well as his Victory Poker teammate Andrew Robl.

The CardPlayer Player of the Year Tom Marchese entered as did Bluff Magazine’s Player of the Year Sorel Mizzi.

Antonio Esfandiari’s Elimination Hand

It was not a magical day for our man as he got all his money in with 99 to face a race situation against the AT of Vivek Rajkumar.

The first card off the deck was a T and that was the end of Antonio’s tournament life.

“You can all take my $100,000 and shove it up your asses,” Antonio announced half jokingly as he headed for the door.

14 December 2010

Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak are making a cameo appearance in the movie “Setup” by rap superstar 50 Cent.

The movie is about a diamond heist gone bad and is being filmed in Michigan.

50 Cent, Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak

Major stars taking part include Bruce Willis, Ryan Phillippe and Jenna Dewan Tatum.

Esfandiari and Laak make a cameo appearance in a scene at an underground high stakes poker game between gangsters.

Antonio is tagged in the card shark roll and his lines directed at Phil are:

“Dude, do you squat when you piss?  Quit betting like a fucking pussy.”

To which Phil replies “Fuck you, just play.”

50 Cent is supposed to hold up the game in the scene in the movie.

Make sure to check it all out when it is released.

December 9, 2010

Antonio Esfandiari has won the World Poker Tour Five Diamond Poker Classic and $870,000.

This victory marks his 2nd WPT title and another great win for the Magician.

He said “I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back. It’s just amazing.”

Antonio Esfandiari at World Poker Tour Five Diamond Poker Classic

The taste of victory was made sweeter as the heads-up action was against his good buddy and fellow Team Victory pro Andrew “Good2CU” Robl.

The two of them enjoyed some shots before getting the final battle underway.

Magic in the Cards

Antonio came into the final table in 5th place.

He was able to battle back and was responsible for eliminating WSOP runner-up John Racener in 4th place and PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso in 3rd.

Racener moved all in from under the gun for 1,000,000 in chips when the action got four handed. Antonio made the call from the small blind. Racener held Qc8c and Antonio had him dominated with KcQh.

Antonio then busted Rousso in 3rd place after a lengthy three-handed battle. Rousso got short and made an all in move with Qh2h and the Magician was in a dominant position again holding AcQs

When the action got heads-up between Team Victory, Robl held 9.5 million in chips to Antonio’s 8 million.

Esfandiari would build a 2:1 chip lead before the final hand developed when he raised to 800,000 to then have Robl move all in.

He made the call with KcJd to Robl’s QdTc. The flop fell all diamonds AK6 and his top pair hand was up against Robl’s combo flush draw and gutshot straight draw. The action was tense as the last two cards were dealt.

The turn brought a 6c and the river was a 5s giving Antonio Esfandiari the title!

Andrew Robl received a 2nd place payout of $550,000.

It was a dream night for Antonio who was also celebrating his 32nd birthday and for Victory Poker who had two of their hottest pros prove themselves at the Bellagio Casino’s WPT event!

Team Victory knows how to party, so it is almost certain that their two star boys hit the town hard afterwards.

Antonio Esfandiari held onto his chip lead and wrapped up Day 4 as the chip leader.

The World Poker Tour Five Diamond Classic began on Day 3 with 54 players remaining on six tables. By the close of the action, only 15 players were left and the Magician continued to lead the field.

He held 2,680,000 chips and a strong lead.

World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up John Racener was in 2nd place with 1,900,000.

Fellow Victory Poker teammate Andrew Robl had climbed to 3rd place with 1,750,000 chips.

Sorel Mizzi, who could win the Player of the Year award with a win in this event, sits in 7th place.

PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso is in 10th.

This $10,000 buy-in event is hosted by the Bellagio Hotel & Casino and is one of the top stops on the WPT.  With many stars still remaining, this event has the potential to offer one of the most exciting final tables of the year.

Succeeding here could also provide a huge boost for Team Victory Poker with both Antonio Esfandiari and Andrew Robl going for the win.

Victory Poker is the home of many top pros and great tournament players who are proving their ability on the felt time and time again with great success.

Stay tuned as we bring you all of the latest news from this great WPT event.

Antonio Esfandiari is in the hunt for his 2nd World Poker Tour title.
He is currently the chip leader at the WPT Five Diamond Classic with over 1,082,500 in chips.

He had previously won the WPT LA Poker Classic in 2004 bagging $1.4 million for his great finish.

He is now looking to add another WPT title to his list of poker accomplishments.

The WPT Five Diamond Classic is the Bellagio Casino’s top poker event of the year with all the top pros showing up to take part.

This year’s winner will walk away with $870,000.

Close of Action on Day 3

When the action closed at the end of Day 3, only 54 players remained at six tables.

Antonio had a big chip lead over 2nd place Doug Lee who held 702,500 in chips.

Vanessa Rousso was in 3rd with 694,000 and Freddy Deeb is close behind with 654,000.

The legendary Doyle Brunson is still in contention in 13th place sitting with 466,000 in chips.

We will bring you all the latest news on Antonio Esfandiari’s quest for his 2nd WPT title.

July 5th, 2010

Antonio Esfandiari was eliminated in 14th place at the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions Event, just a few places away from making the money and the final table.

The Magician was one of the 20 past bracelet winners to be voted into the event along with 7 other players who took part in this star studded line up.

Esfandiari never got off to a good start in the tournament but managed to survive Day 1 of the event.

Antonio Esfandiari Eliminated

Antonio Esfandiari would be eliminated from the Tournament of Champions by Johnny Chan when the Magician got all in on the turn with his AQ on a T74Q board.  Chan held pocket Tens and the flopped set meant that Antonio would be drawing dead on the river.

Final Table

The final table would be made up of the true super stars of today’s game. Included on the list were Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Johnny Chan, Joe Hachen, T.J. Cloutier, Barry Greenstein, Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman and Huck Seed.

Daniel Negreanu would start the final table with a big chip lead of almost $200,000.  The two other big stacks at the start of the action would include Johnny Chan with $130,000 and Joe Hachem with $125,000.

Huck Seed Wins Tournament of Champions

Huck Seed would be the eventual winner of the TOC and the $500,000 1st place prize.  Rounding out the top three places would be Howard Lederer finishing in 2nd for $250,000 and Johnny Chan finishing in 3rd for $100,000.

The final payout table for the event is: