2 Iranians on the final table of the world poker tour event !

[MoneyJock-e]

I am sure people who catch GSN may have seen it. But 2 of the best pros of the poker world and perhaps the two most famous iranians in the world right now - Antonio Esfandiari who won the 3.7 million dollar world championships a few months ago and Amir Vahedi, arguably the best player in the world, have both made it into the finals of the men/women tournament of champions in Las Vegas.

Actually I think this tournament is finnished now, unfortunately I can not find out the results until their next braodcast on friday.

It was funny when the first 2 of the 6 finalists were these 2 awaiting the next 4 finalists in the lounge. When Esfandiari joined Vahedi in the lounge he said: "here come the 2 persians..."

These two have very contrasting styles, Esfandiari is a fantastic player - in my opinion the best in the game, very popular and very well liked, where as Vahedi is perceived as the intimidating A. hole.

I always wanted to see these 2 go at it at a final table.

 

[westwienmaskulin]

perhaps the two most famous iranians in the world right now - Antonio Esfandiari who won the 3.7 million dollar world championships a few months ago and Amir Vahedi, arguably the best player in the world, have both made it into the finals of the men/women tournament of champions in Las Vegas.

yeah..who really cares for Abbas Kiarostami, Marjane Satrapi, Mohsen and Samira Makhmalbaf, Shirin Ebadi, Omidyar, Lotfizadeh, plus a neverending lost of unworthy Iranians, when we got Antonio?

 

[MoneyJock-e]

yeah..who really cares for Abbas Kiarostami, Marjane Satrapi, Mohsen and Samira Makhmalbaf, Shirin Ebadi, Omidyar, Lotfizadeh, plus a neverending lost of unworthy Iranians, when we got Antonio?

I knew some one here couldn't resist this retarded argument !

The reason Antonio is more famous than Marjane Satrapi is because he is on world poker tour events which have some of the highest ratings on TV here in north America. Professional poker on TV has become a phenomenon here and people who win these events can become instant celebrities, this has nothing to do with whether Antonio is more intelligent or significant than kiarostami, omidyar, ebadi, or Rezazadeh.

Esfandiari can walk in any city in north america and will get recognized by at least 5 out of 100 people, where as the other people you mentioned get recognized by 20 of 100 iranians and 1 in 10,000 of general public - even if!. Do you get it now ?

 

[westwienmaskulin]

I knew some one here couldn't resist this retarded argument !

The reason Antonio is more famous than Marjane Satrapi is because he is on world poker tour events which have some of the highest ratings on TV here in north America. Professional poker on TV has become a phenomenon here and people who win these events can become instant celebrities, this has nothing to do with whether Antonio is more intelligent or significant than kiarostami, omidyar or mohsen makhmalbaf you Douche Bag !

I really don't know whether the guy that is according to Tarantino the greatest living filmmaker in the world, and has been awarded endless awards is more famous, or the "professional" poker player. Let me see...if only 10% of Europe and 5% of US knows Kiarostami, then it's about 80 Million. Plus 25 million Iranians = 105 million.

So "Antonio" is more popular?

Professional poker is a phenomenon on US TV? that's great...nothing surprises me anymore!

 

[MoneyJock-e]

read my reply again, I included some numbers to give you some realistic perspective and not just to say 5% of americans know and recognize kiarostami because tarantino said he is good!!!!!!

Yeah, I am sure if kiarostami sat in the Giants stadium in NY or anywhere else with 80,000 fans, some 5,000 fans will ask to take a picture with him !!!

As far as poker is concerned, I'm sure you don't know much about NL TX holdm poker else you wouldn't say that. It is one of the most exciting and mentaly challenging games out there, which is whole lot more I can say about the austrian TV phenomenons of Bob sleding and really bad pop music!

 

[Behrang(ISP)]

unlike you guys i'm more realistic.

I bet if kiarostami sat in front of 80,000 irani's not even 10% would know who the hell he is ... to add... if he sat in front of 80,000 americans not 1% would know who he is...

either way not enough peopel are going to know the people westi pointed out... yet, since the public here is introduced to the world of poker (me one of them) we know the likes of Esfandiari, Moneymaker etc.

 

[MoneyJock-e]

unlike you guys i'm more realistic.

I bet if kiarostami sat in front of 80,000 irani's not even 10% would know who the hell he is ... to add... if he sat in front of 80,000 americans not 1% would know who he is...

either way not enough peopel are going to know the people westi pointed out... yet, since the public here is introduced to the world of poker (me one of them) we know the likes of Esfandiari, Moneymaker etc.

THANK YOU !

 

[Zir Taaghi]

thanks for posting this..


I think I remember Vahedi, the big guy with shades and goatie ?

the other one, Antonio, I cant recall..

I used to watch the tournaments regularly... I remember Vahedi once made it to top 3 if I'm not mistaken..

This is some great stuff... wow,, 2 Persians going head to head in finals ..

I hope they finish 1 - 2

 

[westwienmaskulin]

As far as poker is concerned, I'm sure you don't know much about NL TX holdm poker else you wouldn't say that. It is one of the most exciting and mentaly challenging games out there, which is whole lot more I can say about the austrian TV phenomenons of Bob sleding and really bad pop music!

yeah man whatever..

there's tactics and mindgames involved in every game..

when you race with 90 mph through an ice rink on a pan and it matters whether you are 0.002 seconds faster or slower than your opponent...you shouldn't be a complete nutsack.

and there are no pop music shows anymore on austrian tv...they rather show jack the farmer.

 

[JazzedUp]

I don't care about anyone being more of celebrity but I just can't see why anyone would watch poker on TV! You must have so much free time on your hand to do that! It's as bad as watching chess on TV. I don't care it's the most inteligent game in the world but still does not make exciting or appealling to watch.
Then again it's the USA and I don't get Americans

 

[Bauvafa]

I have never seen Esfandiari play but Amir is pretty damn good and very funny and emotional guy. Isn't there another Iranian in poker tournaments, can't remember his name, something like Aria or Ariayee, short stocky & rude kinda guy he is.

 

[westwienmaskulin]

I don't care about anyone being more of celebrity but I just can't see why anyone would watch poker on TV! You must have so much free time on your hand to do that! It's as bad as watching chess on TV. I don't care it's the most inteligent game in the world but still does not make exciting or appealling to watch.
Then again it's the USA and I don't get Americans

watching chess on TV is really odd..

there are newspapers for pete's sake where you can replay the game and think about the moves.
but why waste your time watching it on TV? you could also watch the paint on your wall dry..

 

[Behrang(ISP)]

guys,

watching poker on tv is sometimes more fun than playing it. you know what everyone's hands are you it keeps you guessing at what the players are going to do. i'm not going to lie, i watch it if its on tv because there is nothing else on. if they showed soccer games or any other sporting event id' watch it.

 

[MoneyJock-e]

I don't care about anyone being more of celebrity but I just can't see why anyone would watch poker on TV! You must have so much free time on your hand to do that! It's as bad as watching chess on TV. I don't care it's the most inteligent game in the world but still does not make exciting or appealling to watch.
Then again it's the USA and I don't get Americans

You get bored becuse you know absolutely nothing about the game and frankly even if you knew all the rules and how the tournaments were broadcasted, I don't think you would understand the concept behind it. But before you even start with this, you have to understand big time gambling, which in some small time city in iran or europe you will never get to do.

Tournament poker is broadcasted on nation wide networks, but this year 2 poker only channels have become available on cable and subscription to these have been overwhelming.

Even though I am a big soccer fan, I would rank the entertainment value of a soccer match behind most other sports and I would say that if the element of national rivalry was eliminated from the game, a soccer match itself would become pretty unwatchable, but then you would not understand what this means because you know of no other sport than soccer.
So in a country where tons of other preofessional sports are available to watch and play, for poker to score some of the highest ratings is something to say.

 

[MoneyJock-e]

I have never seen Esfandiari play but Amir is pretty damn good and very funny and emotional guy. Isn't there another Iranian in poker tournaments, can't remember his name, something like Aria or Ariayee, short stocky & rude kinda guy he is.

Vahedi has had more appearances on the final tables of major tournaments than anyone in history!

Esfandiari in my opinion is the number one player in the game even ahead of the one and only Phil Helmuth with 9 world bracelettes, Gus Hanson the most feared player in the world from Denmark, howard lederer the teacher, M. Nguyen the Vietnamese master. Doyle brunson the most successful player in history and phil Ivy the tiger woods of poker.

Esfandiari for one has won the greatest tournament in the history of poker and has won the biggest ever price money of close to 4 million dollars, but in the past 2 years he has also won many other tournaments and been the most consistent player of all, finishing in money almost always. But what makes him the greatest is his unbelievable and almost spooky sense of being able to read the opponents hands accurately !
Many people credit that to him being a successful magician from las vegas in the first place, but everyone knows that it is just sheer people's skills.

 

[JazzedUp]

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Basically you are saying if anyone doesn't like poker they don't understand the game and its concept and they must be a small town loser!!!!

You need to lighten up mate! Just becuase people around the world don't like what you like you don't have to get so defensive about it. You can say what you like and you can call me small town loser and whatever you say but to me watching poker is as exciting as watching paint dry!

p.s I don't live in Iran or Europe

 

[Intoxicated]

meebinam ke bahse poker dagheh....

aright fellas..

i'll make this short and sweet. i don't play much poker but i can say that i know a thing or two about it.
1, no matter what the event is i like to see iranians involved (well as long as it doesn't embaress me)..so im happy to see guys like Vahedi, Esfandiary, or old timetimers like Arieh($2.8 mill), Dastmalchi($1.61 mill), Matloubi($1.22 mill) in it.
2, baba poker is interesting and i actually enojoy watching it. i also enjoyed watching kasparov and comp playing (saw it in iran). however i don't go around shoving down people's throat that they should watch what i watch.
(so my friend MoneyJock-e don't be so rough on these guys)
also i feel somewhat insulted if someone tells me "you must have so much time to watch such boring game".. not everything has to be physical to be exciting..i am a sucker for mental games and YOU CAN'T BEAT ME IN THOSE GAMES

3, i...never mind i was suppose to make this short and sweet

Felan,
Bardia

 

[MoneyJock-e]

As ross perott would say: "what we got here is a failure to communicate....."

The main problem is that many people on this board are from places and countries not exposed to many other professional sports and entertainment concepts.

Clearly this guy jazz does not know anything about texas hold'm poker(not your regualr poker), has never played it and surely has never played it for money, which makes it a whole different ball game (he will try to deny all this to no avail), yet he feels obligated to make comments about it and then takes it as an insult when one questions the level of his knowledge about the game in the first place. Well this is no rocket science, simply put, the types of comments he has made can only be made by someone who's level of knowledge about the game is minimum- even if that, which means that they should stay in closet and keep their opinions to themselves.

The same thing happens over and over when conversation is about NFL footbal or baseball or etc and people from europe or worse Dubai who know absolutely nothing about these games feel obligated to express their opinion. Altough most of the time it is only becuse they feel left out, nevertheless the practice is very annoying.

 

[Dr Strangemoosh]

LOOLOLL Moneyjock you are AMAZING.

"The main problem is that many people on this board are from places and countries not exposed to many other professional sports and entertainment concepts."

LOOOOOOL

You just can't beat this guy.

Either he is a "character" created just to entertain us like Lezawang, Looloo Goozoo, Morjad or to an extent Ehsan.

OR he really is lacking in the old intelligence quotient!

Either way, he is great, every time a new post by him pops up I psyche myself up for some of the best entertainment you can get on this internet.

 

[Bauvafa]

Vahedi has had more appearances on the final tables of major tournaments than anyone in history!

Esfandiari in my opinion is the number one player in the game even ahead of the one and only Phil Helmuth with 9 world bracelettes, Gus Hanson the most feared player in the world from Denmark, howard lederer the teacher, M. Nguyen the Vietnamese master. Doyle brunson the most successful player in history and phil Ivy the tiger woods of poker.

Esfandiari for one has won the greatest tournament in the history of poker and has won the biggest ever price money of close to 4 million dollars, but in the past 2 years he has also won many other tournaments and been the most consistent player of all, finishing in money almost always. But what makes him the greatest is his unbelievable and almost spooky sense of being able to read the opponents hands accurately !
Many people credit that to him being a successful magician from las vegas in the first place, but everyone knows that it is just sheer people's skills.

thanx for the info. I love watching Amir, he's great & a damn good actor/bluffer.

do you know of the third Iranian in question? you must have seen him, don't know if he is, but she looks & acts like one.he's got a nice looking wife.he is no more than 30 or 32, short, stocky, makes nasty remarks (one of the announcers hates him).