The Magician Captures 3rd WSOP Bracelet In Cannes

What a year 2012 is proving to be for Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari. Following his triumph in Las Vegas at the $1 million Big One for One Drop for $18,346,673, the 33 year old US pro has now added a third WSOP bracelet to his tally by taking down the WSOPE €1,100 No Limit Hold’em event in Cannes for    €126,207.
Following his victory in France, Esfandiari commented on his twitter account: “Thank u 2 all my peeps for the support. Tonights WSOPE bracelet victory in the 1k NL tournament was incredible.THOUGHT I used up my1Time’s-)”
Not surprisingly, Esfandiari now sits atop the WSOP Player of the Year board ahead of such players as Phil Ivey and Greg Merson, and looks favourite to take the title when the tournament series comes to a close on October 4th.
At the seat of his latest triumph, Esfandiari managed to excel over the 626 player field and enter the final table of nine in pole position. Also at the table were five Frenchmen hoping to become the first from the home nation to capture a WSOPE bracelet.
As the players began to exit the arena, France’s Remi Bollengier took control over the table eliminating Butler (7th), Detoc (5th) and Teisseire (4th) along the way. Meanwhile, Antonio Esfandiari (A-8) scored his first knock-out against McLean Karr (Q-10), who subsequently departed in 6th for €24,309 and after Esfandiari (6-6) spiked a set to dispatch Salvatore Bonavena (A-J) in 3rd (€57,059), the heads-up phase got underway with Esfandiari holding a slight chip lead.
After staying ahead from then on, the final hand of the tournament was played after Esfandiari (Q-8) was all-in on the river with the board showing 10c-8s-As-Qd-5d. It then took Bollengier (Qs-7s) five minutes before making the call only to see the bad news. Consequently, the Frenchman finished the runner-up for €78,059, while full WSOP accolade went to Antonio Esfandiari.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1st: Antonio Esfandiari (USA) €126,207
2nd: Remi Bollengier (France) €78,059
3rd: Salvatore Bonavena (Italy) €57,059
4th: Antonin Teisseire (France) €42,356
5th: Valentin Detoc (France) €31,869
6th: McLean Karr (USA) €24,309
7th: Ashly Butler (USA) €18,798
8th: Jamel Haddad (France) €14,736
9th: Florian Ciuro (France) €11,707