Esfandiari burst upon the scene in the WORLD POKER TOUR’s™ first season with a third place finish in one tournament that earned him $44,000 and the moniker now inscribed on the visor he wears, “Kid 44.” The experience sparked a love affair between Esfandiari and the television cameras of the WPT (all sixteen of them) and convinced him to become a professional poker player.

Of course, it was just the harbinger of bigger things to come. When he finished first with $1,399,135 at this season’s L.A. Poker Classic, Esfandiari, 25, became the youngest tournament winner of prize money exceeding a million dollars, not to mention the captor of the largest prize ever handed out at Commerce Casino.