Patrik Antonius
Born and raised in Finland, Antonius’ first dream was to become a professional tennis player. Patrik Antonius in Finnish was very athletic and played hockey, soccer and tennis -- but mostly tennis. After graduating from Helsinki Business College, he served in the Finnish Army for six months.
The living conditions of the army was a far cry form the Bellagio standards. But he tough it out and the privilege he got from being part of the Army Sport Division really helped a lot. After serving the army, he was ready to start on his tennis career, but a back injury shot his dreams out and put his tennis aspirations to sleep.
Luckily for him, he discovered his love for poker at an early age of 11. Playing with his friends for 50 cents and splurging all their winnings at a candy store. Little did he know that his early knowledge of the game would be his life’s calling. Tennis all morning and poker all afternoon – yeah, he was living his dream.
From backyard poker to the Tennis Club and back to their houses. At the age of fifteen, he still continued to play but the stakes are getting bigger and bigger. It even got to the point when the poker was forced to move back to their houses because their stake was getting too big for the Tennis Club. They played poker at their friend’s houses until morning until parents would come downstairs to leave for work.
When he was 17, his friend Mikko Pipsala discovered the rules to the online Pot Limit Omaha and they were hooked to online poker from that day on. At 18, he discovered casino poker. He won his very first poker tournament and went home with $275. The Casino Helsinki only has a $2-$2 PLO game. He was a beginner to casino poker so was still feeling his way for the first two years. He was winning a lot of cash from his friends but he would lose everything in casino. He was flat broke from losing all his wiinings.
But he eventually catches on to the game and understood their language. All his training was attained at the poker table. He never read a how-to book on poker nor does he have someone to give him lessons. He was playing regularly with his buddies and playing regularly at the casino. By 2002, he was consistently winning home game poker and in the casino. His bankroll was slowly increasing and he was starting to take poker game seriously.
His sort-of poker career at that time was cut off for three months. He went off to Italy for an internship and wasn’t able to play any poker. But he did manage to enjoy Italy with all his winnings. In January of 2003, he made his first initial deposit of $200 for online poker and in just two months, his account has $20,000. This was when he really saw that poker can be a career, and the game being online means that he can play poker anytime and can play with more than one table at a time.
He took a break from his school and decided to focus on poker. He played more aggressively and more consistently in poker tournaments online. He wanted to play with the best to learn from the best. He went to the United States to have a new experiences and adventures, he stayed in Virginia for about six months and then he met Las Vegas. It was love at first sight and the rest was history.
In 2005, he had three notable cashes in one year. He won third place in the EPT Barcelona and took home $145,000; first place in EPT Baden and won $343,000; and by the end of the year, he finished second in the WPT Bellagio and added $1,045,000 in his total winnings.
In 2008, Full Tilt Poker signed Antonius as their newest team member. He is now a part of a very exclusive group, with 13 other professionals. To date, he has a lot of winnings in his name and is still active in online poker rooms and in the casino. Some screen names he uses are i_knockout_u, azziv, Patman, Tryharderfish, luigi66369, and Patrik Antonius on Full Tilt. Whatever name he used, the Antonius is still the same skilful heads-up specialist he is known to be.
Common Misspellings: Patrick Antonius, Patrik Antonious, Patrick Antunius
Learn more about Patrik Antonius at Full Tilt Poker.
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