Patrik Antonius

Patrik Antonius, a professional poker player from Finland, who currently lives in Monte Carlo, was a tennis coach and player before he became a poker pro. Antonius is greatly admired within poker circles not only for his poker expertise, but also for his exceptionally good looks. Barry Greenstein has compared Antonius’ poker expertise to that of Phil Ivey’s and has also referred to him as among the biggest winners in online poker history.

Early Life

Patrik Antonius, who was born in the year 1980, has been familiar with poker ever since the tender age of 11; however, his aim was to become a tennis player. Unfortunately, a back injury killed his dreams of becoming a professional tennis player and he renewed his interest in poker. Antonius shocked the poker gaming community by rising to the pinnacles of poker success in the shortest possible time.

Poker Career

Antonius played his first poker tournament in the poker rooms of Casino Helsinki and won a small prize of $275, but that was just a small beginning. Antonius then got interested in online poker, after which he began winning in millions. Today, his lifetime poker tournament winnings have hit the $2,800,000 mark, which is truly excellent considering the fact that Antonius claims that he participates in online poker tournaments only when he is on vacation. Even today, Antonius keeps winning fabulously large sums of money playing online poker tournaments, poker ring games, as well as live poker tournaments.

Antonius, however, claims that he is more interested in poker fame than in the money. He is reported to have stated that he is more attracted to the poker fame and prestige than in million-dollar jackpots. His dream is to be remembered as a poker legend, among the best real money poker players in the industry. In a bid to make his dream come true, Antonius has challenged a number of top poker pros such as Tom Dwan and Doyle Brunson.

Antonius accepted Dwan’s challenge on Full Tilt Poker, putting up $50k against Dwan’s $1.5 million. Dwan had challenged players to play a heads-up tournament of 50,000 hands, and the winner would win the amount staked by his/her opponent and retain the winnings.

In 2005, Antonius won around $100k after participating in 3 World Series of Poker (WSOP) events and 2 World Poker Tour (WPT) events. He finished third in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event, which was held in Barcelona, before winning over $340,000 in the EPT Baden Classic. Antonius’ cash winnings that year were the largest, and when he finished second in WPT’s Five Diamond Classic, he had over a million dollars in his poker bankroll. In 2008, he reached the final table of the WSOP, finishing second and winning nearly $124,000.

Although Patrik Antonius is one of the best professional poker players, his love for tennis continues, and he can be spotted playing golf as well as tennis in his free time. When he is not busy playing poker, tennis, or golf, he spends quality time with his family.