Last year’s winner of the WPT Five Diamond Classic, Esfandiari could become the first player ever to win back-to-back WPT event titles if he can pull off a win tomorrow at the televised final table of six.
He's given himself a chance, at least, by surviving a surprisingly long and up-and-down Day 4 today at the Bellagio.
He’ll now just have to beat one of the toughest final tables in WPT history to do it.
Joining Esfandiari at the final table tomorrow wil be chip leader and former November Niner Soi Nguyen, plus experienced and dangerous pros James Dempsey, Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger and Vanessa Selbst.
Nguyen famously made the November Nine tin 2010 as an amateur and has an FTOPS series win since then to his credit.
He’ll enter the final table as the chip leader with 4,995,000.
Dempsey, second in chips at 3,860,000, has a litany of cashes both online and live (totalling almost $2 million) not to mention a WSOP bracelet from 2010.
Lichtenberger, a LeggoPoker coach with over $1.4 million in cashes in just two years on the poker circuit, also stands a huge chance to take the title down as he enters third with 3,605,000 in chips.
Selbst’s record speaks for itself.
With over $4.1 million in live cashes, back-to-back NAPT Mohegan Sun titles, a long legacy as a DeucesCracked coach and more, she’s a threat in any tournament she enters.
With 37BBs and 2,250,000 in chips, she's coming into tomorrow in fourth but is as good a pick as anyone to win it all.
Esfandiari enters the final table fifth in chips at 1,255,000, but with his experience can easily turn the short stack into another title.
Vitor Coehlo is the wildcard at the table and enters as the short stack with just 560,000.
Coelho has just over $200k in career live tournament earnings, but he did hold the chip lead at WPT Jacksonville late in the tournament just last month and looks to have his game in top form.
The final six players and their official chip counts, courtesy of wpt.com: Seat 1. James Dempsey - 3,860,000 (64 BBs) Seat 2. Vitor Coelho - 560,000 (9 BBs) Seat 3. Antonio Esfandiari - 1,255,000 (20 BBs) Seat 4. Andrew Lichtenberger - 3,605,000 (60 BBs) Seat 5. Vanessa Selbst - 2,250,000 (37 BBs) Seat 6. Soi Nguyen - 4,995,000 (83 BBs)
Busting out prior to the final table today were former PCA High Roller champ William Reynolds (13th - $39,806), Kyle Julius (12th - $39,806), Rudy Maarek (11th - $39,806), David Williams (10th - $47,767), Anthony Yeh (9th - $55,728) and Braden Hall ($63,960).
Larry Wells was the bubble boy, exiting in seventh place. He took home just under $100k.
Cashes in store for the final six tomorrow:
1st Place: $821,612 2nd Place: $517,478 3rd Place: $338,351 4th Place: $218,933 5th Place: $159,224 6th Place: $119,418
Final table starts at 4:00 pm Pacific time tomorrow.
The live stream with hole cards plus commentary from Tony Dunst, Dan O'Brien and David Sands starts at 4:30 p.m. ET on a 30-minute delay.
For up-to-the-minute updates with no delay, check the WPT live updates.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com