Born in 1980 in Helsinki, Finland, Patrik Antonius is a Finnish professional poker player. He is especially skilled at heads-up play and is known for his aggressive play, calm demeanor, and intensity at the tables.
Before getting into poker, Patrik was looking to start a career as a tennis player but a back injury ended those dreams. After that, he became a male model for a while but eventually turned to poker because he wanted to be involved in something more competitive. He continued to model and play poker on the side until he became good enough to live solely off his poker winnings.
Patrik first started making a name for himself on the tournament scene in 2005. That year, he cashed twice in season 3 of the WPT and 3 times at the WSOP. In the summer he came in 1st at the Ladbrokes Scandinavian Poker Championships for $ 66,261. In the fall of 2005, he came in 3rd and 1st in two European Poker Tour (EPT) events for $ 145,068 and $ 343,366, respectively. Then in December 2005, he finished 2nd in a WPT event for $1,046,470.
In July 2006 he placed 9th in WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, earning $205,920. At the 2007 WSOP, he finished 3rd in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event, winning $311,394.
In September 2008 he finished 2nd in the Full Tilt Poker $25,000 Heads-Up Pot Limit Omaha Championship, winning $320,000.
Antonius was not able to enter the 2009 WSOP Main Event. He was turned away when attempting to register along because of a full capacity.
Antonius has been featured NBC's Poker After Dark numerous times. In his first appearance he finished in 2nd to Jennifer Harman. The next time he came in 1st after defeating Brad Booth in heads-up play. In his third appearance he came in 2nd again, to Johnny Chan.
He also appeared on the third, fourth and fifth seasons of High Stakes Poker and was involved, with Sammy Farha, in the show's largest ever pot, totaling $998,800.
Antonius is also active in highest-stakes games both cash and tournaments and online and offline. He also plays in the Big Game, the high-stakes cash game at the Bellagio. In November 2009 Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history worth $1,356,946 against Isildur1.
Antonius is the first player to go up against Tom "durrrr" Dwan in his "Million Dollar Challenge" on Full Tilt Poker (though not the first to accept the challenge). Dwan has challenged players to take him on in high-stakes games at Full Tilt, playing 4 tables at a time heads-up for a total of 50,000 hands. Dwan has put up $1.5 million to any opponent's $500,000; the player who is ahead after 50,000 hands will win the money put up by his opponent, plus any winnings from play in the challenge.
As of 2009, Antonius has 12 WSOP cashes and total live tournament winnings exceed $2,800,000. Antonius was mentored by Marcel Luske as a member of Luske's “Circle of Outlaws”. He is a member of "Team Full Tilt" and plays under his real name.
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HPG ADMIN on February 27, 2013