Chef Anton

Chef Anton

Chef Anton, 2006
Born	January 29, 1969 (1969-01-29) (age 42) Bronx, New York, United States
Education	Culinary Institute of America
Official website
http://www.ChefAnton.com

Chef Anton is the stage name of Anthony S. Riniti (born 1969), a trained chef from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He is an award-winning expert with the pool cue, and a noted magician whose performance includes a unique mixture of magic, hustling tricks and billiard trick shots. Because of his unique style, he was the first ever billiard trick shot artist invited to a special evening performance at the noted Magic Castle venue in Hollywood, California. At the Commerce Casino's Legends of 9-Ball Tournament, Chef Anton defeated former world champions and became the first two-time United States Trick Shot Champion of Pool.

Biography

Riniti was born in the Bronx, New York, United States, on January 29, 1969, to Anthony and Josephine Riniti. In 1982, when his father retired from the New York City Fire Department, the family moved to southern California. At the age of 13, Riniti started body building, and five years later, won the 1987 Natural Nationals and then took 2nd place in the Natural Internationals.^{[citation needed]}

He has appeared on television in the TNN programs "Crook & Chase", "Prime Time Country", Talk Soup, and ABC's Monday Night Live, and worked as a technical consultant on billiards and magic for ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX networks.^[1]

With Whit Haydn, Chef began the School for Scoundrels in 1996, as an eight-hour course on street scams and as a web-based retail business. School for Scoundrels, taken from the 1960 Terry-Thomas movie of the same name, is taught over a four week period each November at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. It focuses on the subject of short cons (Three-Card Monte, Shell game, Fast and Loose), with students from the fields of magic, law enforcement, gambling, and history. They teach the history, psychology, techniques, and application to magic of these ancient scams.^{[citation needed]}

They have also created a major web resource for their School for Scoundrels students and others interested in the history and methods of short cons, including a store, forum, video and photo gallery, and Scoundrels Wiki site. In 2008, he and Joan Binder^[who?] created a new Motivational Speaking company called It Ain't Magic, Inc.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

• Two-time United States Trick Shot Champion of Pool
• 1987 Natural Nationals Bodybuilding Champion.
• Twice been nominated for the Magic Castle's "W.C. Fields Bar Magician of the Year" award
• 2008 National Hydrofoiling Champion
• Ranked #1 Trade Show Sales Entertainer by Exhibitor Magazine

Works

• Pool Hustler's Handbook - DVD, Chef Anton, 2010
• Chef Anton Live at Soapy Smith Night - DVD, Chef Anton, 2010
• Chef Anton's Magical Menu of Pool Ball Wizardry - DVD", Chef Anton, 2010
• The Close-Up Magic of Chef Anton - DVD, Chef Anton, 2010
• Pool Hustler's Handbook, Chef Anton, 2002
• Pool Hustler's Cookbook, Chef Anton, 2004
• Chef Anton's Magical Menu of Pool Ball Wizardry, Chef Anton, 1994 VHS

With Whit Haydn

• School for Scoundrels Notes on Three-Card Monte, also VHS and DVD
• School for Scoundrels Notes on the Shell Game—Introduction to the Shell Game, also DVD
• School for Scoundrels Notes on Fast and Loose, also VHS and DVD

References

1. ^ Chef Anton website

External links

• Scoundrels Forum
• Scoundrels Wiki

Persondata
Name	Chef Anton
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 29, 1969
Place of birth	Bronx, New York, United States
Date of death
Place of death