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Patrik Antonius (born 13 December 1980) is a Finnish professional
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
player, former
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player and coach, and model from
Vantaa
Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...
, Finland. He currently resides in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
. Antonius was mentored by poker pro
Marcel Lüske
Marcel Lüske (Amsterdam, Netherlands 23 March 1953) is a Dutch professional poker player. He finished 10th in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. Lüske is a mentor to and encourages the development of younger poker players.
Early life
Lüske's father ...
as a member of Luske's "Circle of Outlaws" and later advised by
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer C. Harman (born November 29, 1964) is an American professional poker player. She has won two World Series of Poker bracelets in open events, one of only four women to have done so.
Career
Harman won her first World Series of Poker brac ...
.
Antonius has two children.
Poker career
Antonius began making a name for himself on the
poker tournament
A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a "heads up poker, heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on th ...
circuit with two finishes near the final table of a
European Poker Tour
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...
(EPT) event and a
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...
(WPT) event, 12th at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, then 15th at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event two months later, in early 2005. He went on to finish
in the money
In finance, moneyness is the relative position of the current price (or future price) of an underlying asset (e.g., a stock) with respect to the strike price of a derivative, most commonly a call option or a put option. Moneyness is firstly a thr ...
in three events of the
2005 World Series of Poker
The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2nd, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7th. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15th marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports an ...
(WSOP). In September 2005 he made the
European Poker Tour
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...
(EPT) Main Event final table, finishing 3rd in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. The next month, Antonius won the EPT event in
Baden bei Wien
Baden (German for " Baths"; Central Bavarian: ''Bodn''), unofficially distinguished from other Badens as Baden bei Wien (Baden near Vienna), is a spa town in Austria. It serves as the capital of Baden District in the state of Lower Austria. Loc ...
, taking home the €288,180 first prize when in the final hand his beat Gunnar Østebrød's on a board of . In December 2005 he finished the year 2nd in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, winning $1,046,470.
In July 2006 he placed 9th in the 143-player 8-handed World Series of Poker $50,000
H.O.R.S.E. event, taking home $205,920, his biggest cash that year. In the
2007 World Series of Poker, Antonius entered numerous tournaments but he only cashed in the World Championship of
Pot Limit Omaha
Omaha hold 'em (also known as Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five ...
event, placing third and winning $311,394, making that his ninth WSOP cash and increasing his WSOP earnings to a total of $569,964. Antonius has been featured three times on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's
Poker After Dark
''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007. . In his first appearance, he finished as runner up, losing out to fellow poker professional
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer C. Harman (born November 29, 1964) is an American professional poker player. She has won two World Series of Poker bracelets in open events, one of only four women to have done so.
Career
Harman won her first World Series of Poker brac ...
, but his next attempt saw him defeat
Brad Booth in
heads-up play to take the victory. In his third appearance he was runner up again, this time to
Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan (;He has another Chinese name "Chen Qiangni" () which is also commonly used by Chinese-language media. It is a transliteration of "Johnny Chan" (as "Chen" for "Chan", "Qiangni" for "Johnny") rather than his Chinese birth name. born ...
. , Antonius' total live tournament winnings exceed $6,775,000. His 14 cashes at the WSOP account for $911,178 of those winnings.
Antonius was not able to enter the
2009 WSOP Main Event, as he was turned away when attempting to register along with hundreds of others due to a capacity field.
He also plays in some of the highest profile online tournaments, and in September 2008, he finished 2nd in the
Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Amaya ...
$25,000 buy-in Heads-Up
Pot Limit Omaha
Omaha hold 'em (also known as Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five ...
Championship, winning $320,000.
Antonius finished 9th in the 593-player 8-handed €10,400
2011 World Series of Poker Europe main event for a prize of €90,000. In January 2013, Antonius finished third in the Aussie Millions Main event for $600,000
Prize Money (Tournaments)
Cash games
Antonius is a
heads-up specialist.
He is a regular high-stakes player online and one of the most successful, having won millions of dollars.
He has played on
Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Amaya ...
under several nicknames, including ''Luigi66369'', ''CryMeRiver9'' and ''Finddagrind'', but having become a member of "Team Full Tilt" he now plays under his real name. During his early career he also used screen names e.g. ''I_knockout_U'', ''try_hrdr_fish'' and ''-ANTONIUS-'' on various other poker networks. Previously Antonius was one of a team of players associated with Martinspoker.com.
He is equally prolific in live cash games, and is a regular in the
Big Game, the high-stakes cash game at the
Bellagio Bellagio may refer to:
* Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town
* Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas
* Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building
* Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution
* 79271 Bellag ...
. Antonius appeared on the third to sixth seasons of
GSN's ''
High Stakes Poker
''High Stakes Poker'' is an American cash game poker television program. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. The first four seasons ran from January 16, 2006 to December 17, 2007 on GSN. The next three seasons ran fr ...
''. Patrik was involved, along with
Sammy Farha
Ihsan "Sam" Farha ( ar, إحسان فرحة; born 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese professional poker player. He is best known for finishing as runner up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2003. He has won three bracelets ...
, in the show's largest ever pot; it totaled $998,800. After a preflop raise and re-raise the flop came ; Antonius held for top pair and Farha held , giving him two over-cards and a flush draw. Sammy called Patrik's all-in raise instantly and the two agreed to run the turn and river four times. Though Sammy's hand was a slight favorite, Patrik won three of the four runs and collected $749,100.
In another sizable pot on High Stakes Poker, Patrik went up against
Jamie Gold
Jamie M. Gold (born August 25, 1969) is an American television producer, talent agent, poker player, and younger brother of Doug Gold, who is based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event ...
. Jamie had versus Patrik's . Patrik raised to $4,000 preflop with Jamie reraising to $14,000, after declaring that his hole cards felt "like aces". The flop came out , giving Patrik an inside straight draw. Jamie bet $15,000 into a $30,800 pot, which Patrik called. The turn was the , giving Patrik a straight and Jamie a set of kings. Patrik bet $45,000 into the pot, which Jamie raised all in. Patrik immediately called making the pot worth $743,800. The players agreed to run the river three times. Despite being a 77%-23% favorite, Patrik won only the last of the three times, as Jamie hit a full house on the first two. At the time, it was the largest pot ever on High Stakes Poker.
Antonius has since lost a pot of almost $600,000 to
Tom Dwan
Thomas Dwan Jr. (born 1986) is an American professional poker player who played online in the highest-stakes No-Limit Texas hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games, primarily on Full Tilt Poker under the screen name "durrrr". Dwan has won prize mone ...
on an episode of the
Poker After Dark
''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007. high-stakes cash game. Tom straddled the hand to $1,200 and Patrik was first to act having pocket 10s, with which he raised. Tom reraised the hand with pocket kings and Patrik called. The flop gave Patrik a set of tens and he bet $27,000, which Tom called. The turn was a king, giving Tom a set of kings. Patrik bet $59,000 which led to Dwan going all-in for over $200,000. Patrik called, making the pot almost $600,000. They ran it twice, with Patrik losing both. The hand had the largest pot in the history of Poker After Dark.
In November 2009, Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history, $1,356,946 against
Viktor Blom, who was at the time known only by his Full Tilt Poker moniker, Isildur1.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonius, Patrik
1980 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Helsinki
Finnish male models
Finnish poker players
Finnish tennis coaches
Finnish expatriates in Monaco
European Poker Tour winners
Poker After Dark tournament winners
People from Vantaa