Jennifer Tilly and Antonio Esfandiari have crossed paths many occasions over the past 20-plus years. During the formative days of the poker increase, Tilly started an ongoing long-term relationship with Phil Laak that’s lasted over 20 years. Laak was shut associates with Esfandiari, and all three of them acquired appreciable tv time throughout the early days of televised poker. On a couple of event, Tilly and Esfandiari tangled on the desk.
They’ve performed money recreation pots on perennial fan favorites like High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark. Tilly additionally confronted Esfandiari within the opening spherical of the 2013 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and on that day, Esfandiari had the higher hand.
But of all of the occasions Tilly and Esfandiari have squared off on the poker desk, their recent clash on PokerGO’s No Gamble No Future stands as maybe their most memorable battle to this point.
Early on within the evening, with blinds of $100-$200 and a $400 under-the-gun straddle, motion folded round to Greg Mueller on the button. He raised to $1,500 with A♣9♠, and Darin Feinstein known as within the small blind with 5♥3♥. Esfandiari, who had the remainder of the desk effectively lined, three-bet to $10,000 with pocket tens. As the straddle, Tilly appeared down at pocket fours, and shortly stated, “All in,” committing her full stack of $59,600.
Mueller and Feinstein quickly acquired out of the way in which and Esfandiari known as, making a $122,400 pot. The preliminary thought was to simply run the board out one time, however a number of of the gamers, most notably Mueller, urged that in the event that they ran it twice, Esfandiari can be in danger for spinning the No Gamble No Future wheel.
“Wheel sounds fun,” Esfandiari stated.
Twice As Nice For Tilly
Tilly lamented that Esfandiari appeared like he had been making an attempt to squeeze out the sphere with a marginal holding, solely to point out up with an enormous hand as they waited for the primary runout. The flop was pretty clear for Esfandiari, coming down 7♦7♠6♠.
MAGIC for the QUEEN!!! 👑🥂🚀
What a hand between @JenniferTilly and @MagicAntonio on No Gamble, No Future, introduced by @CoinPoker_OFF.
Stream on https://t.co/l4l4onsRIp and YouTube. pic.twitter.com/l5qVb8EvLX
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) September 19, 2026
But then the 4♠ landed on the flip.
“Yes! I should’ve done one time,” shouted Tilly as she stood up and celebrated her luck. She’d at the least be getting her a refund, because the A♠ river accomplished the board.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if I won both?” supplied Tilly. “It would be very funny,” Esfandiari supplied in reply. “It would be comical.”
Phong ‘Turbo’ Nguyen, who was additionally on the desk, supplied the seller a $1,000 tip if Tilly gained the second runout, too.
The second flop supplied some backdoor hope, coming down A♦Q♥2♦. The 3♣ introduced the desk to the sting of a frenzy, as Tilly added 4 extra outs. As Tilly shouted for a 5, a bemused Esfandiari couldn’t assist however break right into a smile.
The 5♣ river accomplished a straight, giving Tilly the wheel and the whole $122,400 pot. As a comfort prize, Esfandiari stepped to the present’s signature outsized prop wheel, which contained large bonuses and large potential penalties.
“There’s no such thing as too much pain,” Tilly stated, as Esfandiari spun the wheel. It landed on bomb pot, a comparatively impartial consequence for the entire desk.
The recreation finally included Jared Bleznick and Michael Mizrachi, as effectively. Esfandiari turned it round by the top of the evening, ending with $96,500 in revenue. Tilly was in the end caught $109,100 on the conclusion of the session.
Image by way of screenshot from PokerGO broadcast.
