Antonio Esfandiari has earned probably more than $26 million in different tournaments during his career, but his latest win on the WSOP Circuit in Los Angeles against Jamie Gold must be a career highlight.
Esfandiari attended this year’s $1,675 WSOP Circuit event in LA, despite calling the entry fee ($10,000) his bread and butter.
Final Stages
A WSOP Circuit isn’t quite as valuable as a WSOP Bracelet, but at the final table there were a number of stars who could have won the tournament.
Jamie Gold was leading the way on the final day, and Ludovic Geilich, Bryn Kenney and Bruce Buffer were not far behind. However, not long after the action in the finale got started Esfandiari stole the momentum and took the chip lead.
In order to clinch his first-ever WSOP Circuit ring, the Magician only needed to survive a few early scares.
With an imposing 11:1 chip lead, Antonio seemed confident in the early stages of the heads-up match, but after Gold doubled his stack within just a few hands Antonio almost lost his way.
A Little Magic
Despite Gold’s few good hands in the beginning, Esfandiari kept his composure and sealed the deal with Ac 2h.
The dealer burned and turned an As 5c 2c flop, Esfandiari checked and raised and Gold moved all-in with Ah Kd. Esfandiari made a call and won the match after a 2d on the turn.
After the event Esfandiari said: “I’m a dad now. I love being a dad, and obviously my son is the most important thing in my life. I’m definitely rusty with my tournament poker. There were spots where I really didn’t know what to do. So this was a great warm-up for the World Series. After the past couple days, my confidence is oozing”.
WSOP Circuit LA Main Event Results
1st Antonio Esfandiari – US$226,785
2nd Jamie Gold – US$139,829
3rd Barry Woods – US$103,080
4th Ray Henson – US$76,830
5th Alexander Greenblatt – US$58,025
6th Bryn Kenney – US$44,395
7th Blaise Hom – US$34,395
8th Ludovic Geilich – US$26,980
9th Jackduyph Duong – US$21,420
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