Patrik Antonius was born in Helsinki, Finland and is a Finnish professional poker player. Young Patrik grew up in Vantaa, Finland with his sister. His parents were blue collar workers, his mother worked at a children’s daycare, and his father was a bread delivery man.
Poker fell into Antonius's lap via another talent. At a young age, Patrik was noticed by coaches to have a talent for the game of tennis. After being put on a tough training program, he suffered a bulging disc in his back, an injury that kept him out of action for a year and a half. As he recovered from injury, he still frequented the tennis club to play in local poker games with his friends. He had immediate success and slowly raised the stakes over the years, with the primary game being Pot Limit Omaha.
At age 18, Antonius was still focused on his career as a professional tennis player but began playing poker at Casino Helsinki. In his first tournament of Texas Hold'em - he had never played the game before and only knew Omaha – Patrik cashed for a few hundred dollars.
After graduating high school, Finnish males are required to serve in the military. Antonius served in the sports division in the Finnish Army, and practiced tennis frequently while serving. After serving his time in the army, he once again renewed his quest to be a professional tennis player. Unfortunately, he suffered a second back injury and was once again forced to leave tennis.
Over the next several years, Antonius tried his hand at a number of different professions. He was a male fashion model, salesmen and a waiter. He also served as a tennis coach. Not finding his passion, he kept playing poker with moderate success. He became a regular winner at the local casinos and online. Still searching for something to ignite his passion, he went to Italy for several months to train as a chef in several Italian restaurants.
He returned home to Helsinki in early 2003 still in search of his true passion. After depositing just a few hundred dollars into an online poker site, Antonius ran his original deposit up to $20,000 in just two months. Even though, he tried to pursue tennis once again at an American University, he dropped out after one semester and moved to Las Vegas.
While Antonius is an avid cash game player and a regular at the Big Game at the Bellagio, he has made most of his fortune online. A heads-up poker specialist and a former member of Team Full Tilt, Antonius has had great success playing in online cash games. He is responsible for winning the biggest pot in online poker history, a just over $1.3 million dollar pot against Viktor Blom who was playing under the Full Tilt avatar, "Isildur1". He is a regular on the live tournament circuit and has over $4.2 million in tournament earnings in his young career. His biggest live tournament cash was a 2nd place finish in the 2005 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas - $1,046,470.
At just over 30 years of age, there is a lot more to come from Patrik Antonius. He currently resides in his Helsinki with his wife Maya Geller and their two children.
