When the world woke up on Tuesday, Erik Seidel was live tournament poker's all-time money leader at $16.9 million. Now, as the calendar switches to Wednesday, a new name tops that list, Antonio Esfandiari (pictured). The owner of two World Poker Tour titles added a second World Series of Poker bracelet to his war chest on Tuesday by taking down the Big One for One Drop for $18 million.The $1 million buy-in tournament literally changed the course of poker history, as Esfandiari, who entered the day with $4.9 million in live tournament earnings, now has $23.2 million. All figures are according to the Hendon Mob database.
First, let's turn to U.K. poker pro Sam Trickett, who took second in the One Drop event for $10.1 million, the third largest prize ever awarded in live tournament poker. Trickett told ESPN's Kara Scott about his poise throughout the One Drop final table in a post-game interview: "I always feel really confident when I play. I try to stay calm and make good decisions."
Trickett looked highly disappointed during his on-camera interview, but later posted on Twitter, "Lost HU. Kind of angry at myself for taking a high variance line on the last hand, but ah well! $10m should ease the disappointment." Indeed, $10 million should be able to cure the blues.
Trickett then Tweeted his plans for the evening: "Thank you everyone 4 ur support, ur all legends! Time to go drink until my organs hurt."
After Trickett talked to Scott, Esfandiari followed suit, saying, "I just knew I was going to win. You have to put it out there and believe it and sometimes it comes true."
Phil Hellmuth (pictured), who won an MGM-sponsored satellite into the One Drop and finished fourth, commented on Twitter that he had 15% of himself. There has been no word on how much Esfandiari actually pocketed. And on Twitter, posters disagreed as to how much Trickett had, with percentages ranging from 20% to over 50%.The poker world poured in its support for Esfandiari on Tuesday after his monumental win. 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner Ryan Daut44 Daut took to Twitter to say, "Huge congrats to @magicantonio. He is the definition of 'shark.'" Also chiming in was California's Greg gses75 Sessler: "I can say that I once flew in a private jet w/ the winner of the 1st ever $1,000,000 buy-in MTT & owner of the largest cash ever!"
Poker pro Haralabos Voulgaris, who was among the 48 players who took part in the Big One for One Drop, Tweeted, "When they say 'the greatest individual prize in the history of sports,' it must really sink in. What a great accomplishment @magicantonio."
J.C. PrtyPsux Alvarado took to Twitter with several R-rated words to express his emotions: "$18 motherfucking million. Holy shit! I'm too much of a hater to be happy for a poker player who won 18 mil in 3 days. Sorry." Then there was U.K. poker pro and PocketFives Training instructor Jon sketchy1 Eaton (pictured), who calculated, "Damn it, I can't even win the Main Event twice and pass up Antonio now. #fb."Longtime PocketFives member Eric sheets Haber was among those tuned in on Tuesday night and cautioned Esfandiari, "Don't forget to reg for the 1k tonight Antonio... lines will be long in the AM." The final $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event on the 2012 WSOP schedule begins on Wednesday with the first of two starting days.
Dani ansky451 Stern pointed out on Twitter, "Unreal tournament. Congrats to @MagicAntonio, one from the live generation who is absolutely legit." Talking along the same line was Grayson the_dean22 Nichols, who chirped, "Amazing event won by an excellent player. Congrats @MagicAntonio. Great for the game. #onedrop."
David Doc Sands Sands, who drove deep in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, lauded, "Very impressive work @MagicAntonio. Congrats @Samtrickett1 as well. Sam's only mistake was not wearing a cut-off during HU play #liveandlearn." James P0KERPR033 Campbell asked, "Can you imagine what it would feel like to win a poker tourney for $18 mill? Ask @MagicAntonio. Maybe someday my day will come. #DreamChaser."
Finally, Jason treysfull21 Mercier, who played alongside Esfandiari in the One Drop, was kicking himself in the pants after "The Magician's" final act: "Antonio asked me to swap 1% when he had 12 mill and I had 11 mill and position on him. I declined. Then he busts me KK vs AA. Then he wins. #JBL." Mercier is the #2 player in ESPN's rankings, The Nuts. All we can say is, FML.
