Poker legend Antonio Esfandiari made a well-timed return to the table on the Hustler Casino Live stream this week and came with a huge win of almost $350,000.
Esfandiari was a mainstay on the poker scene during the poker boom of the 2000s, but has been mostly retired for the last few years to spend time with family. In fact, his last tournament cash was a deep run in the 2019 World Series of Poker main event. However, he occasionally resurfaces at the cash game tables.
A Big Return
That proved to be a nice decision last week as “The Magician” steamrolled the table and racked up a hefty six-figure win. The high-stakes game featured $100-$200 blinds and one of the biggest pots saw Esfandiari squaring off against Sam Kiki, founder of the Monkey Tilt online casino and also known as “Senor Tilt.”
After Esfandiari raised to $3,000 with A♣4♣ and almost $273,000 in front of him, Kiki called with 8♣6♣ and $309,000 behind. According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, Esfandiari was almost a 58% favorite to win the hand with Kiki checking in at almost 42%.
The flop brought Q♠7♦5♠, giving Kiki an open-end straight draw and improving his odds to have the best hand at showdown to 46%.
Esfandiari checked, and Kiki bet $4,000. Esfandiari called, and the A♦ then fell on the turn. Esfandiari fired $10,000 and Kiki called after thinking for just a bit.
With the pot now at $35,000, the river brought the 8♠. With flush possibilities now part of the equation, Esfandiari checked. Kiki continued riffling chips before announcing a $70,000 bet. That brought a big laugh from his opponent, as Esfandiari faced a huge decision.
“Oh man, this is so tilting,” Esfandiari said as he considered his options. “I just can’t help myself. Sometimes you’ve just got to see it.”
Esfandiari eventually called by saying, “This is a gift Kiki, you deserve it.” That wouldn’t be the case, however, and Esfandiari was rewarded with a $175,000 pot for the gutsy call.
Watch The Highlights
With a poker record dating back to 2002, Esfandiari has more than $27 million in live tournament winnings. Much of that came via winning the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop at the 2012 WSOP for more than $18 million. He also won WSOP bracelets in 2004 and 2012, and has two World Poker Tour titles from 2004 and 2010 for a total of $2.3 million. Esfandiari has also been a recent nominee for the Poker Hall of Fame.
A regular on televised poker shows like High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark, earlier this year he appeared on PokerGO’s No Gamble, No Future.
Esfandiari had been down about $167,000 in previous livestream appearances, according to HighRollPoker.com. But the big Hustler win has certainly turned that around.
