The Magician” Antonio Esfandiari is the lucky number one of the leaderboard. Esfandiari was born in Iran and moved to California when he was nine years old. His initial name was in fact Amir, but he decided to adopt the name Antonio when he became a professional magician at the age of 19. While he was performing magic, he was invited to play a game of Texas Hold’em and never looked back.

After 16 years, “The Magician” is proud of his choice. He has won over $25 million by playing high-stakes live tournament poker. The $20 million mark, however, was reached only last year when he decided to invest $1 million in the famous Big One for One Drop WSOP Event. The result? First place and $18,346,673 in prize money. Since then, he cashed in big one other time, in the “One Drop High Rollers No Limit Hold’Em” event: fourth place and $1,433,438 in winnings. His first major result dates back to 2004 when he won the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, including his first million dollars ($1,399,135 to be exact).

British Poker Pro Sam Trickett ranks second in the all-time list with over $19.6 million won. He is only 27 years old and started playing poker back in 2005 after suffering a knee injury that ended his professional football career. Trickett soon became a regular in Sheffield’s poker events.

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