Antonio Esfandiari, Bill Perkins Make High Stakes Poker Season 10 Debuts

Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Feb 21, 2023 3 min read

Antonio Esfandiari has been a regular on High Stakes Poker over the years, and on Tuesday night the partially retired poker pro made his Season 10 debut on PokerGO, and wasted no time splashing chips around.

Bill Perkins, Roger Sippl, and Robert Sanchez also appeared on the poker show for the first time this year. They were joined by Jennifer Tilly and Bobby Baldwin, both of whom were the only returning players from previous Season 10 episodes.

Perkins, Esfandiari Tangle in Big Pots

Bill Perkins high stakes poker — Bill Perkins

Right off the bat, Esfandiari and his pal Perkins, the wealthy hedge fund manager and University of Iowa grad, went to battle. In the first hand, on an eight-high board, the "Magician" fired out a $4,000 bet with middle pair and was raised to $18,000 by Perkins and his top pair.

Esfandiari couldn't find a fold and then both players checked when a high-card hit the turn, but then Perkins went for value on the river (a 4x) with just a pair of eights, and was able to get paid off to scoop a sizable early pot.

Moments later, the same two competitors tangled in the pot of the day. Sippl had raised to $3,000 in early position with 9?8? before being three-bet to $10,000 in late position by Esfandiari and his A?K?. Perkins, in the straddle with Q?Q?, came over the top to $40,000, forcing the original raiser to muck his cards.

With action back on Esfandiari, he decided to gamble and moved all in for $159,000 and received a quick call. Both players agreed to run it twice, and the first board came out 6?8?J?2?8?, guaranteeing that Perkins wouldn't lose the pot, at the very least.

The second run out was completely different as Esfandiari hit quads on the turn to seal the deal, and they chopped up the $342,000 pot. Shortly after, Esfandiari pulled off a solid bluff with king-high, convincing Sippl to fold middle-pair in a $50,000 pot.

Tilly Bounces Back

jennifer tilly high stakes poker — Jennifer Tilly

On last week's episode of High Stakes Poker, actress Jennifer Tilly couldn't catch a break and fell victim to the card-catching table bullies. This week, however, she ran much better. Well, except for one hand where Sippl bluffed her off queen-high preflop with the old seven-deuce.

Tilly began her run with two pair against Esfandiari, who showed aggression semi-bluffing with a gut-shot straight draw that didn't come through on the river. On the next hand, with A?Q? in the hole, the "Bride of Chucky" star made a great call with ace-high on the river when Perkins bet $15,000 into a pot of just $8,000 on a missed straight draw (king-high). One hand later, she rivered a straight against Esfandiari and Sanchez to take down a pot of $37,000.

The bluff of the day went to Perkins, who took advantage of Baldwin's tight style of play. On a board of 10?8?2?5?, Baldwin bet out $20,000 with J?J? and then folded to a raise to $60,000 despite having a spade. Perkins had top pair with 10?6? but was drawing to just four outs on the river.