Poker News Daily has learned that Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari will appear in a major motion picture alongside three high-profile celebrities. The yet-to-be-named movie begins filming in five weeks.
On Monday, Victory Poker officials took part in a home game with major Hollywood producers, celebrities, and poker players. On Thursday, Esfandiari dined with one of the producers he met at the game along with rapper 50 Cent and the decision was made to put him in the upcoming silver screen presentation. What role he’ll have or whether Victory Poker will be promoted in any way in the movie remains to be seen.
Esfandiari posted a picture on Twitter arm-in-arm with 50 Cent, whose movie credits include “Get Rich or Die Tryin,” “Fantastic Four,” and “Cradle 2 the Grave.” Esfandiari accompanied his image by Tweeting, “Just had lunch w 50 Cent. Very cool guy.” He made no mention of any movie deal.
Also purported to be appearing in the upcoming movie with Esfandiari are Bruce Willis and Paul Walker, the latter of whom has been at the center of the “Fast and the Furious” franchise. Walker has actually starred in three movies in the series, the most recent of which was dubbed “Fast and Furious” and came out last year. He is slated to appear in a 2011 movie called “Fast Five” alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Vin Diesel, and rapper Ludacris.
According to IMDB.com, Willis is set to star in two movies listed as being in pre-production, “Looper” and “Ten,” which will be released in 2012 and 2011, respectively. His other film credits include “Cop Out,” “Sin City,” and 1988’s “Die Hard.”
Esfandiari appeared in the 2007 poker movie “The Grand,” which featured the likes of Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, and Jason Alexander. Poker players who appeared in the flick included Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Phil Laak, Esfandiari’s co-host during the two-season run of Mojo’s “I Bet You.” Esfandiari also appeared on the Season 7 kickoff episode of HBO’s “Entourage” alongside 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker.
His co-workers at Victory Poker include Lee Markholt, Paul Wasicka, Alec “traheho” Torelli, James “Andy McLeod” Obst, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, and Andrew “good2cu” Robl. Its main female face, former Playboy Playmate of the Year Sara Underwood, recently turned out to the “Million Dollar Challenge” on Fox donning a PokerStars patch.
Esfandiari’s appearance in the upcoming motion picture may ultimately funnel traffic to the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network site. Other rooms on the Network include DoylesRoom, Poker4Green, Power Poker, Laak’s Unabomber Poker, and Cake Poker, its flagship site. Victory Poker jumped ship from the Everleaf Network to the Cake Poker Network in August.
Esfandiari, a former pro of UB.com, remains one of the most recognizable faces in the poker industry. He emerged onto the live scene in 2004 after winning the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic for $1.4 million and then took down a bracelet three months later at the WSOP in a $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event.
Esfandiari was the runner-up to Todd Brunson in the 2006 Poker Superstars Invitational and then finished eighth in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final two years later. “The Magician” made a magical run in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, bowing out in 23rd place, and has appeared on multiple poker television shows including “High Stakes Poker,” “Poker After Dark,” and the PokerStars-sponsored “Big Game.”
