Celebrating more than just his birthday early Thursday morning, Team Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Facing fellow Team Victory pro and good friend Andrew Robl in final heads-up action, Esfandiari secured the title and $870,124.

The event, also known as the Bellagio Resort & Casino’s “Doyle Brunson World Poker Classic,” boasted one of the most notable WPT televised final table line-ups in history. The las six players included Team Victory Pros Esfandiari and Robl, female poker phenomenon Vanessa Rousso, World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winners Ted Lawson and Kirk Morrison, and recent WSOP “November Niner” John Racener.

Both Esfandiari and Robl dominated a starting field of 438 entrants throughout all four days of competition that began on Friday, December 3rd, maintaining their chip leads heading into Wednesday’s televised final table.

Victory Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman witnessed his team dominate the final table from a front row seat located directly behind Robl. “At the moment when Antonio and Andrew went heads up,” he exclaimed, “it felt like we had all just won the tournament.”

At 25 years old, Esfandiari won his first WPT championship in 2004, becoming the youngest poker player to win a WPT title and a million dollar prize. That same year he went on to win the WSOP $2,000 pot-limit hold’em event and a coveted WSOP bracelet. His stylish performances would fast-track him to stardom, eventually becoming one of the most televised poker players in the world. Esfandiari appears regularly on Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker, and has made several cameo appearances in film and television, most recently HBO’s award-winning program Entourage.
Also going deep in Season VIII of the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic were Victory Poker pros Jonathan Little, finishing in 38th place, and Keith Gipson, finishing in 59th place.