Antonio Esfandiari Wins One of the Sickest Coolers Ever on High Stakes Poker for $824k
Antonio Esfandiari made his triumphant return to High Stakes Poker, and he'd go on to win one of the biggest pots of his life in one of the sickest coolers ever on the show.
"The Magician," a poker boom era fan favorite, hasn't played a ton of poker in recent years. He's spent most of his time with his family, living the retired life. But he's been popping up here and there on livestreams and TV shows, such as Hustler Casino Live, and he's shown he hasn't lost a step.
Poker Legend Beats Aces-Full
Esfandiari, a three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, joined the High Stakes Poker game for Episode 6 of Season 15, which dropped last week on PokerGO. We won't spoil too much of the season in this article, but there was a hand during Episode 7 that was legendary.
That hand, in a $500/$1,000 no-limit hold'em game, started with Scratch CEO Sameh Elamaway, one of the Season 13 stars, raising to $5,000 with A♠A♥. Esfandiari, in late position, called with 8♠8♣, as did Justin Gavri, who looked down at J♣7♣ in the big blind. The flop came out 6♠8♦8♥, giving Esfandiari quads.
"Oh my god," a shocked Nick Schulman, one of the commentators, announced.
Action checked around to the A♦ turn, the grossest card in the deck. Gavri checked, but Elamaway, who hit aces-full, bet $10,000, seeking value from his monster hand. Esfandiari, licking his chops with the biggest stack in the hand (nearly $600,000), raised to $37,000. Gavri didn't have anything, so he folded. But Elamaway, who couldn't have possibly known he was drawing to a one-outer, three-bet to $85,000.
Esfandiari called to see the meaningless 3♦ on the river. Elamaway bet out $225,000, leaving about $93,000 behind. A snap-raise and snap-call then followed, creating a pot of $824,500, which went Esfandiari's way in one of the biggest coolers ever on High Stakes Poker.
The hand was a bit reminiscent of a High Stakes Poker pot played between Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu nearly 20 years ago during the Gane Show Network days. Both players flopped a set, but Hansen sucked out on the turn wtih a one-outer for quads, and he took down a $575,500 pot.
Poker fans can watch all 17 episodes of High Stakes Poker exclusively on PokerGO.
*Feature image courtesy of PokerGO.
