After a long six days of play, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari is victorious in one of the signature events of the World Poker Tour, the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Antonio admitted that he was up against a very tough field of players and although he went into the final table as one of the short stacks, he managed to outplay his five opponents including his Victory Poker teammate Andrew Robl, who finished in second place.
Esfandiari led up throughout most of the tournament except going into the final table where his chip lead was taken away by the lovely Vanessa Rousso who took a very big pot from him on Day 5. Esfandiari managed to return the favour by first taking a big pot from Rousso in Hand #114 before finally eliminating her in 3rd place a few hands later to begin his heads-up match with teammate Andrew Robl.
Hand #123: Vanessa Rousso moves all in from the button for about 1.95 million, and Antonio Esfandiari calls from the big blind with :Ac :Qs. Rousso shows :Qh :2h, and she’s dominated as she faces elimination.
The board comes :7d :6h :5c :3s :8s, and Esfandiari wins the pot with his ace kicker. Vanessa Rousso is eliminated in third place, earning $358,964.
Adding to the list of casualties by Esfandiari was November Nine main event finalist John Racener, who got eliminated in fourth place during Hand #72 of the night.
Hand #72: John Racener moves all in under the gun for 1,005,000, and Antonio Esfandiari calls from the small blind with :Kc :Qh. Racener shows :Qc :8c, and he’s dominated as he faces elimination.
The board comes :Kh :6c :3s :7h :8h, and Antonio Esfandiari pairs his king on the flop to win the pot and eliminate John Racener in fourth place and take home $232,271.
Antonio’s victory made him $870,124 richer but what makes his victory even sweeter is that he won on his birthday. This is Antonio’s second WPT title although his last victory was back in February 2004 when he won the LA Poker Classic and a cool $1.4 million.
Congratulations Antonio!!
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Here is how the top 30 players finished:
| 1 | Antonio Esfandiari | $870,124 |
| 2 | Andrew Robl | $549,003 |
| 3 | Vanessa Rousso | $358,964 |
| 4 | John Racener | $232,271 |
| 5 | Kirk Morrison | $168,924 |
| 6 | Ted Lawson | $126,693 |
| 7 | Kia Mohajeri | $97,131 |
| 8 | Andrew Lichtenberger | $67,570 |
| 9 | Sorel Mizzi | $59,123 |
| 10 | Ray Dehkharghani | $50,677 |
| 11 | Luis Velador | $42,231 |
| 12 | Chris DeMaci | $42,231 |
| 13 | Amit Makhija | $42,231 |
| 14 | Charles Caris | $42,231 |
| 15 | Daniel Fuhs | $42,231 |
| 16 | Andy Frankenberger | $33,785 |
| 17 | Doug Lee | $33,785 |
| 18 | Doyle Brunson | $33,785 |
| 19 | Eugene Katchalov | $33,785 |
| 20 | Marco Traniello | $33,785 |
| 21 | Jerry Young | $25,339 |
| 22 | George Cariveau | $25,339 |
| 23 | Chris ORourke | $25,339 |
| 24 | Freddy Deeb | $25,339 |
| 25 | Thor Hansen | $25,339 |
| 26 | Joshua Weiss | $25,339 |
| 27 | Will Failla | $25,339 |
| 28 | David “Bakes” Baker | $25,339 |
| 29 | Michael Gracz | $25,339 |
| 30 | Bruno Lalonde | $25,339 |
