Things you might not know:
- Antonius' father worked as a bread delivery man and his mother worked at a day-care center to help make ends meet.
- Antonius was an aspiring youth tennis player who quit when a bulging disc interfered with his training and career.
- Antonius graduated from Helsinki Business College and was conscripted into the army for mandatory service.
- Antonius won his first ever live tournament at Casino Helsinki for $275.
- Antonius tried studying business, modeling, restaurant server, door-to-door sales and even coaching tennis before settling on poker as a vocation.
- Antonius applied for and won a year sports scholarship to the Averett University in Virginia, but after his academic year boarded a plane for Vegas and never looked back.
- Marcel Luske was Patrik Antonius' early mentor.
- Antonius has been involved in the largest ever pots on both GSN's High Stakes Poker and NBC's Poker After Dark. On HSP Patrik was involved with Sammy Farha in a $998,800 pot where they ran it four times with Patrik winning three of four to collect $749,100. On PAD, Antonius lost a nearly $600k pot to Tom Dwan when Tom turned his two outer higher set.
- In November 2009, Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history, $1,356,946 against Isildur1.
- Antonius is married to Maya Geller and they have one daughter.
- Antonius is a health nut who works out daily and takes lots of vitamins.
- Antonius once wore a bathrobe to a WPT event, after losing a bet with good friend Roland De Wolfe about whether the Bellagio's orange juice was fresh squeezed.
- Antonius is considered the youngest player ever asked to join the Big Game at the Bellagio.
- Antonius battle with Tom Dwan in the much hyped Durrrr Challenge has gone on for nearly two years of intermittent play and seems destined for a buyout, instead of a completion with Dwan and his sizable lead.
- Despite a jet setting lifestyle, Antonius has indicated he would like to travel less now and focus more on his family.
Patrik Antonius has taken his distinctive runway model looks, athletic prowess, keen intellect and competitiveness to tremendous success in the poker world. While he is not the most extroverted player or most eloquent in the English language, Antonius is much sought after by the media and greatly feared at both the highest stakes virtual and live poker tables around the world.
A couple of hands demonstrating Patrik Antonius master reading ability (one against Phil Ivey, one against Erick Lindgren):
Other famous poker player profiles:
Phil Ivey
Gus Hansen
Daniel Negreanu
Doyle Brunson
Phil Hellmuth
Scotty Nguyen
Johnny Chan
Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman-Traniello
Eric Seidel
Patrik Antonius
Viktor Blom
Chris Ferguson
Chris Moneymaker
Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier
Tom Dwan
Greg Raymer
Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin
John Juanda
Chau Giang
Kathy Liebert
Dan Harrington
Dario Minieri
Allen Cunningham
Phil Galfond
Carlos Mortensen
Annie Duke
Erick Lindgren
Mike Matusow
Michael Mizrachi
Howard Lederer
Antonio Esfandiari
J.C. Tran
David Pham
Annette Obrestad
Vanessa Selbst
Huck Seed
Men Nguyen
David Benyamine
Jason Mercier
Phil Laak
Layne Flack
Lex Veldhuis
Ted Forrest
Joe Hachem
Dan “jungleman12” Cates
