Patrik Antonius

Name: Patrik Antonius

Winnings to Date: $3,263,242

Patrik Antonius is a poker player with both brains and good looks. He was born in Helsinki, Finland where his parents worked hard to make ends meet. His father was a bread delivery man and his mother worked in a daycare. Antonius grew up playing a variety of sports including soccer and tennis. His competitive nature led him to take up tennis full time practicing whenever possible. At 13 his coaches considered him to have Wimbledon potential. Antonius particularly enjoyed the days when he played tennis at the tennis club after school and then played poker for the rest of the day with his friends.

After graduation, Antonius was drafted into the army for mandatory service for six long months where he played tennis and poker at the base when he wasn’t busy camping in tents. After his service was done in the army, he pursued a career in tennis once again and nearly competed in his first professional tennis tournament. Unfortunately, a bulging disc in his back eventually led to him giving up tennis professionally for good. This contributed to his increased interest in poker.

At 18 years of age, Antonius tried out his poker skills at the local casino where he won the first tournament he entered. The tournament was a $25 No-Limit Hold’em event, which he had never played before that day. He realized that he had a knack for poker and soon began playing online. After a few years he had built up an impressive bankroll. Antonius took a short break attending a culinary internship in Italy where he was an apprentice at restaurants. When he returned to Scandinavia in January 2003, he made a deposit to play poker online and built his bankroll from $200 to $20,000 in just 2 months. He then realized that he had a lot of potential and quit school to focus on a poker career. “The idea of being able to play anytime and more than one table at a time was unbelievable. I was hooked,” said Antonius. “I started studying the game and my opponents even more and immersed myself in the game.”

From there on Patrik took poker very seriously and within nine months he built up his bankroll to $80,000. He played seven days a week and 12 hours a day quickly becoming a top European online poker player. After years of playing poker online, his back was feeling better and Antonius moved to the US to attend a tennis school with some old buddies. His bankroll steadily built up although he only played for about two hours a day playing $50/$100 heads-up and short-handed Hold’em games. By the time he finished the semester he had won over $250,000 in online games. He won an online satellite to the 2004 World Series of Poker and headed for Vegas. Although he didn’t cash in at the WSOP he left with a renewed spirit to better himself as a poker player. Soon after he doubled his online bankroll and entered the live poker tournament circuit with a new fierceness cashing in on many games. He placed well in many tournaments like the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the WSOP.

Then he took it up a notch as he won a string of events cashing in major money. He won the $70k at Ladbrokes Scandinavian Poker Championships in Stockholm, $145k in the EPT Barcelona and $343k in the EPT Baden even after being 5 hours late for the event. In 2005 he participated in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio where he placed second to Doyle Brunson. At that time he signed with MartinsPoker.com and joined Marcel Luske’s Circle of Outlaws. This is a team of poker prodigies. He met his Fiancée Maya around this time as well. He continued to do well in many national tournaments and also became a proud father to daughter, Mila in May 2007. Patrik and Maya have lived in Las Vegas, Monte Carlo and Monaco. Antonius enjoys working out, playing tennis and golf and spending time with his family. Antonius is now a member of Team Full Tilt and regularly plays at the Full Tilt online poker room.