ANTONIO
THE MAGICIAN MAKES
EVERYONE'S CHIPS DISAPPEAR!
Antonio Esfandiari, a showman magician
turned poker player, took down the biggest
prize in Commerce Casino and World Tour
history by conjuring up a win in the no-limit
hold'em championship finale of LAPC XIII.
The event drew a record 382 entrants,
and first place was worth $1,399,135.
The
victory was practically handed to him
when he held pocket aces, made a moderate
raise and got Houston pro Vinny Vinh to
move in with Q-4, though he denied using
hypnosis. Esfandiari, from San Francisco,
came in third in a WPT event at Lucky
Chances, and has a fifth-place finish
in a $2,000 no-limit hold'em event at
last year's World Series. To use a term
coined by his poker friend Phil "The Unabomber"
Laak, he "felted" (got down to the felt)
a player in early going with set over
set and stayed ahead of the curve, starting
with the chip lead on day 3 and day 4.
Esfandiari
also gave full credit to John Bonetti
for coaching him all four days. The advice,
summed up by the inimitable Bonetti, was:
"For the first two days, don't do nothin'
stupid, for the third day, just survive
and get down to six, for the fourth day,
mix it up."
The
event, which is expected to be televised
the end of May, started with blinds of
8-16k and 3k antes, with Esfandiari leading
with 1,148,000 in chips. In early going,
Adam Schoenfeld, a Card Player columnist,
picked up a lot of chips when he forced
first Esfandiari and then Vinh to fold
with re-raises. By the times blinds went
to 12-24k, he was in front with 1.41 million.
Mike Keohan was the most aggressive, continually
moving in, eventually about 10 times in
all.
The
WPT has tried to make their TV tournaments
spectator events, and at one point they
succeeded beyond their expectations. On
hand 35, Esfandiari raised to 60k, Vinh
re-raised 110 more and Antonio moved in
for 437k. As Vinh pondered and fiddled
with his chips, a crowd of Esfandiari
partisans yelled for a clock. When Vinh
finally folded, Esfandiari showed 10d-7d
and Vinh was visibly upset. "Vinny's on
tilt!" the crowd began to chant. Imagine
a Masters golf tournament with the crowd
yelling, "Tiger's on tilt!"
Six
hands later, David Benyamine was the first
out. With blinds now 20-40k, he moved
in under the gun for 212k with A-5 suited.
Keohan called with pocket jacks and flopped
a set. Benyamine, a Parisian, has several
European cash-outs including a win in
a 2003 Grand Prix de Paris no-limit hold'em
event.
At this point the five finalists were
fairly tightly grouped. But then Schoenfeld
left the group. After Keohan raised to
105k, Vinh called and Schoenfeld tried
an all-in steal with Ks-3s. It didn't
work because Keohan had pocket kings,
and now was chip leader.
Vegas
pro Bill Gazes went out much the same
way. Esfandiari raised to 170 and Gazes
moved in for 570k total with A-8. He ran
into Esfandiari's pocket queens and couldn't
hit his ace. On hand 75, Vinh relieved
Esfandiari of 525k when he moved in with
pocket 8s, which held up against Antonio's
Ks-Qs.
Blinds
now became 50-100k with 10k antes. It
was costing each player 190k every four
hands and playing tight was not an option.
Keohan had a close call when he called
Vinh's raise and went all in for 235k
with Kh-10h against Vinny's 6-6. On fourth
street, with a board of Jc-9h-2s8h, he
still had 21 outs with four hearts, an
open-end straight draw and two overcards,
and caught a 7 for a straight. A few hands
later, though, he moved in for 250k with
a similar hand, Qd-Jd. Esfandiari and
Vinh called with the same hand, K-7, checked
the pot down and chopped up Keohan when
the board came 9-9-5-6-10.
With
two players left, the Commerce commenced
its traditional bringing in the cash ceremony.
This time a phalanx of young ladies in
black gowns delivered the first and second-place
prize money of $2,117,620 on silver platters.
The bills were piled on the table, along
with the traditional Remingon trophy.
When
play resumed, Vinh had a slight lead of
about 100k. Vinh took a bite out of Esfandiari's
stacks when he held 6-3 and two treys
hit the board. Esfandiari came back and
did even more damage when he had As-3s
to Vinh's 7-7 and two treys flopped. Esfandiari
now had about 2.6 million of the 3,820,000
in play.
Vinh is a very tough opponent with wins
this year in no-limit hold'em in Tunica
and pot-limit Omaha at LAPC. But Antonio
managed to hold him at bay until the final
hand when he raised to 250k with A-A and
Vinh moved in with Q-Q. With a K-9-2-3
board, Vinny had no outs and the magician
had turned himself into a millionaire.
-- by Max Shapiro
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