The poker world lost a fan favorite on January 8 when Amir Vahedi passed away due to diabetes-related complications at 48 years of age, but the smiling, cigar-chomping Vahedi's visage will persist.
Vahedi was best known in poker circles for two things. One was mentoring Ben Affleck as the actor started out in poker, but for legacy purposes, I'm far more inclined to focus on his sixth place in the 2003 World Series of Poker main event final table, likely the single more important on-the-felt snapshot in poker's history.
Vahedi entered the final table with the second biggest stack and the momentum of having won a bracelet two weeks earlier. With amateur Chris Moneymaker being the only player with more chips going in, Vahedi was heralded by many as the favorite. In the end, though, the pressure of the moment got to him and he was oustered after a series of questionable plays.
"He was running good," remembered 2003 WSOP tournament director Matt Savage. "He was playing good too. We all thought he had a real good shot at it, but he admitted to me later that he just got nervous. He'd tell me 'I was supposed to be Moneymaker!' Know what? I think he'd have been a good champion for poker too."
Over the last few years, Vahedi fell on hard poker times, but he never lost the smile or the spirit that made him one of the most liked players in the community.
"He was jovial," said Sam Simon, the developer of the Simpsons and a wealthy enough man to afford solo lodgings come WSOP time, who chose instead to room with Vahedi. "He was fun the best guy to have at your table. He loved playing poker. I'm going to miss him. Such a nice man, a soft hearted guy. He had some demons. He'd stepped back from poker and started turning his life around."
Vahedi's is the first passing from that historic 2003 roster, but thanks to the miracle of television and the Internet, the image of Vahedi on top, wearing that goateed grin with a fat cigar clamped between his jaws will live on in memory. It seems the most appropriate recollection.