This has been by far one of the craziest 4 weeks of my life. It all started with my 10 year high school reunion in the bay area. The next weekend was a celebrity charity tournament in San Diego where I partied with Jessica Biel, and played cards with Nelly and the owner of the hotel, Michael Kelly. The weekend after that was Labor Day weekend with all the boys in Vegas, and the weekend after that I was at the VMA’s; also in Vegas. In the last 4 weeks I have been up and about almost every single night. Where do I start!?!?!

Let’s start with my 10 year high school reunion. I wasn’t what you would call the most popular kid in school. I had been looking forward to this event for a long time. I booked a huge stretch limo and the best hotel suite in town. Let’s just say me and my boys rocked the house that night.

The following weekend I was invited to play in a celebrity charity poker tournament at the Ivy Hotel in San Diego. For those of you who are not familiar with San Diego, the Ivy is THE only hotel worth talking about. There is a very unique sense of energy and sexuality in this place. I can’t really explain it but it’s definitely there. The last thing you want to do is sit around and do nothing. You feel energized and rejuvenated staying there. The tournament was hosted by Jessica Biel, who is a very sweet and cool down to earth girl by the way. Along with her there were quite a few celebs present. Donna Baldwin organized the whole thing, and let me tell you they spared no expense. We were flown out on a private jet, got comped 3 rooms–I took my dad and some of the boys–and every single thing was comped for the entire weekend. All the booze and food you could ever want. After a serious night of gambling and partying somehow we ended up in Mexico! I would go into detail on Mexico, but that might not be such a good idea.

The next night there was a huge party on the rooftop with a private concert by Joss Stone, and Michael Kelly, being the awesome dude that he is, let me and my party have one of the only 3 tables in the place. We partied like true rock stars that night. Girls were everywhere! At 4 in the morning Michael Kelly wanted to play cards, and well, I love the guy, so when he wants to play cards I’m done doing whatever it is that I’m doing! Get the deck!!! There we were at 5 in the morning in some suite playing 4 handed; me, Phil Laak, David Wells, and Michael Kelly. My roommate and dear friend, Scooby (real name Walter), was dealing. Michael quit around 6 and we continued. It’s not often you get Phil Laak stuck! At around 7am some “blinged out” guy walked in wanting to play cards. As he sat down Scooby turns to me and goes do you know who that is? I never watch TV or know anything about music so of course I was clueless. Turns out it was Nelly, a very well know rapper. We played with Nelly for hours. All bullshit aside, I have a new found respect for rappers because I was super impressed with this guy. He is very smart, super witty and quite comical. We had a very good time playing with him. The worst part was that he was actually a pretty good poker player!! It was rather annoying actually. I’ll never forget Phil Laak turning to Nelly and going, “dude your worth like 200 million you’re supposed to come in here, lose 200k, and be on your way. Why are you playing good poker?” It was so funny! Phil kept calling Nelly Doctor Nelster. He was definitely kickin’ it like one of the boys.

Next weekend was Labor Day weekend. All of my best friends came into town and they all crashed at the pad. It was an insane weekend. Some of you may have already heard about what happened with Kobe and the Cristal so I won’t get into it too much, but it was pure insanity. You can read about it in my previous blog. The following night we went to Jet at Mirage and had a roped off section about 10 feet away from Justin Timberlake on the turntables. It was pretty sick. The entire club was shoulder to shoulder and we had all the room in the world thanks to Dave Roberts, my host at the club. Manny only bought 10 bottles of Cristal on that night…lol!! Only ten bottles comes out to about $15,000; and, of course, a plethora of females. INSANITY!!! Why stop there…I mean Sunday night Labor Day weekend is the biggest night. Eric Morrilo (very big DJ) was spinning at Tao, so we rocked the house until 6 in the morning.

Next weekend was the MTV video music awards in Las Vegas for the very first time. As if my body needed another excuse to party. My best friend, Tony was still in town from Labor Day weekend. Nelly was here for the VMAs, and having hit it off in San Diego, he invited us out to chill with him. I thought I got treated pretty well…let’s just say I am a bug on the windshield compared to the VIP treatment Nelly got.

It’s now Tuesday after VMA weekend and I am so excited to get back to normal life. I’m sure you all think I’m some crazy party animal but that really isn’t the case. Yes I go out and socialize quite a bit but it’s not often I get wasted. Usually when I am with my good friends growing up is when I really party. For the most part many times you see me out I’m dead sober. Living in Las Vegas going out all the time can catch up to someone and the last thing I want to be is that guy. I sound like such an alcoholic!!! I swear judge only on the weekends…lol.

Antonio

Antonio Esfandiari, Poker, Nelly, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel