Interview with Antonio Esfandiari - Questions End December 4th

Antonio Esfandiari has been kind enough to do an interview with us and answer any questions THF members may have.

Hes out of the country at the moment though should be able to get back to us after December 4th and answer any questions we send him

Post your questions in this thread. I will collate them and then email Antonio with them in about a week....say monday 28th november.

Only post interview questions in this threads. I rarely delete posts but ill delete any off topic posts to keep the thread clean. Its a pain to have to go through a 10 page thread with only 10 questions with the rest of the posts not being related If you have a question or suggestion about her interviews please post them in a new thread.

About Antonio

Known as The Magician, you can find more info about him at his website http://www.magicantonio.com

Antonio is a fantastic poker player and is currently representing ultimatepoker

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I was playing against you in a tourney Antonio and everyone else (some playing some not) kept typing stuff addressed to you. Some of it was all good banter but the sheer volumn of it stuck me as the kind of thing that would actually counteract any enjoyment you could have had from the game. I know you are more of a live poker player than an on-line one but do you ever just want to sign on as something that no-one will be able to identify as yourself so you can just have some fun playing cards?

Secondly people seem to come to the high end of professional touney poker from a wide variety of colourful backgrounds - you yourself were a magician i understand. I know the money is high in poker but you hardly ever hear of someone moving on from the poker scene to something else. Is there anything else you fancy doing when either your success or your enjoyment from poker might disapate?

ive read that one of your strengths is your ability to read other players.
Is your success rate lower in online games compared to brick and mortar or can you still get a good read on players by the way they bet?

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Texas Holdem Resources : Hand Rankings Terminology Pre Flop Odds Odds Chart
Poker Odds Calculator - Find out if you were right to make that call!

Hello Antonio. Thanks for doing this interview. Firstly, in what ways, if any, has job as a magician helped you in poker?

Being a great tournament player, what would you emphasize mostly to someone wanting to improve their tournament skills, or wanting to move from cash games to being successful tournament players. What would you suggest for players to work on the most to improve their tournament game?

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cky12 - PokerStars
cky12 - FullTilt

My Poker Journal

hey Antonio, i just wonder if what they say is true. I know you can do alot of chip tricks and im just wondering if you think that it helps intimidate people? I know that now you are a big star so chip tricks probably dont need to do the job, but when you were first starting out, did it help?

Who is your favorite poker player and why? also do you play on pokerstars and what games would we find you at if you do (even though i know you play for ultimate bet)

Also your girlfriend is really hot

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"A Smith and Wesson Beats Four Aces" - Anonymous

Hey Antonio, as one of my favorite players to watch on the World Poker Tour, I have always wanted to ask you a question with your success. Do you feel that being on the WPT with cameras right there adds an amount of pressure on you knowing if you make a wrong move you could watch it and regret it? Or do you feel right at home with cameras? If so how do you overcome it?

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First of all, thank you for taking the time to join us here at Texas Holdem Forums.

A recent debate came up lately here at the forum and a few of our members chimed in with their thoughts. I wanted to get a proffesional players point of view. I will be asking this question to other proffessionals as well and will post the results along with the responses from our forum members. So heres the scenario:

Its the very first hand of the WSOP and your in the Big Blind and you look down to see Pocket Aces. Everyone folds except the Small Blind ( an obvious rookie ) who announces "ALL-IN"!! . The question is.. Do you call? and why or why not?

Antonio,I have always enjoyed watching you play,players like you have made the game great.Do you think your famous wave upsets players making you an even bigger target or puts them on tilt? Keith