In the spotlight: Patrik Antonius

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Patrik Antonius (born December 13, 1980 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo. He was mentored by Marcel Lüske as a member of Luske’s “Circle of Outlaws” and later advised by Jennifer Harman.

Antonius began making a name for himself on the poker tournament circuit with two finishes near the final table of World Poker Tour (WPT) event, 12th at the WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, then 15th at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event two months later, in early 2005. He went on to finish in the money in three events of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

In September 2005 he made the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event final table, finishing 3rd in Barcelona. The next month, Antonius won the EPT event in Baden bei Wien, taking home the €288,180 first prize when in the final hand beat Gunnar Østebrød.

In December 2005 he finished the year 2nd in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada, winning $1,046,470.

In July 2006 he placed 9th in World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, taking home $205,920, his biggest cash that year.

In 2007 World Series of Poker, Antonius entered numerous tournaments but he only cashed in the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha 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’s Poker After Dark. In his first appearance he finished as runner up, losing out to fellow poker professional Jennifer Harman, 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.

As of 2008, Antonius’ total live tournament winnings exceed $2,800,000.He also plays in some of the highest profile online tournaments, and in September 2008 he finished 2nd in the Full Tilt Poker $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up Pot Limit Omaha Championship, winning $320,000.

Antonius has been referred to as a heads-up specialist.He is a regular high stakes player online. He has played on Full Tilt Poker 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.

Antonius appeared on the third and fourth seasons of GSN’s High Stakes Poker. Patrik was involved, along with Sammy Farha, in the show’s largest ever pot; it totaled $998,800. After a preflop raise and re-raise the flop came 6? 3? 9?; Antonius held J? 9? for top pair and Farha held K? Q?, 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.

Tags: Professional Players, World Series of Poker