(Featured image: courtesy of Unibet Open)
Patrik Antonius is a professional poker player who hails from Finland. Before he focused on the felt, he was a model and a tennis coach. He was more into sports so the transition was quite unexpected. He was originally planning to become a pro tennis player but ended up as one of the most aggressive male poker players today.
However, the switch to a full-time poker career didn’t happen overnight. In fact, he has a little bit of history with cards when he was still young. As young as 12 years old, he already played this game with some of his friends, of course, all for fun. They made up the rules and adapted some standard rules as well.
Although he didn’t become a professional sportsman, the transition was well worth it, don’t you think? Being branded as one of the richest players in the world, that’s definitely something he must be proud of.
Full Name: Patrik Antonius | |
DOB: December 13, 1980 | |
Birthplace: Helsinki, Finland | |
Profession: Pro poker player | |
Wife: Maya Geller | |
WSOP Cashes: 26 | |
Net Worth & Career Earnings: $33+ Million |
Table of Contents
Patrik Antonius Bio
Pat is of Finnish descent (and so is Sara Chafak, the Miss Finland 2012).
He was born in Helsinki, but he grew up in a city known as Vantaa. Their family had a simple lifestyle. His mom worked at a kindergarten while his father delivered goods for the bakery. But since he is an only child, he lives rather comfortably despite that.
He is a lover of sports and was really quite athletic when he was younger. He made it into the tennis team in his school and aspired to become a pro one day. But, that changed when he had a back injury, which limited his physical activities.
(This is somewhat similar to Ali Imsirovic‘s story).
With his dream of becoming a professional tennis player shattered Pat ventured into modeling. He did various shoots in Vantaa for a while before finally transitioning to poker full-time.
Poker Career
When he was 18, Patrik started playing poker at a local casino in Helsinki. He started with a $25 bankroll and ended up going home with $260. That’s some poker skills right there.
But of course, as a young and amateur player, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows for him. At times, he went bankrupt and broke. Later on, he met his mentor Marcel Luske and he became part of the “Circle of Outlaws”. Under the mentorship of Luske, he just got better and better.
He then went on to build up his bankroll, managed his wins and losses well, and then he just played smart. Thanks to that, he was able to create momentum until his career’s turning point during the 2005 WSOP event. Despite getting only finishing three events, he was still recognized as a competitively aggressive player.
In 2005, Patrik also joined the WPT Bellagio event where he went against Doyle Brunson. At first, the young lad was leading, but later Doyle went all in and ultimately got the $4.8+ million pot.
In the same year, he was also able to achieve 2 finishes in the European Poker Tour’s final table. But, a few months after, he joined EPT’s main event and won third place which made him all the more popular.
He’s regularly played (on TV and not) with other poker stars like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Joe Hachem, Phil Hellmuth, Nick Cassavetes, Phil Ivey, and others.
His recent TV appearance was on PokerGo’s High Stakes Poker Show with Doyle Brunson, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Jennifer Tilly, and Garrett Adelstein.
In 2023, Antonius made headlines by winning the biggest pot in Triton Poker game history – cashing out $2.1M! And take note, he wasn’t even the champion for the said event, but rather a 3rd placer.
This year has been so good for him because apart from that major win, he has had a couple of other cashes that are decent enough to increase his net worth by approximately $3M+.
This includes a winning of $497,000 during the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Vietnam Event #6 and another $455,000 from an invitational event (Triton Poker) in London.
If you thought that 2023 was good for Pat’s career, then you clearly haven’t heard all about all the winnings he bagged this year (2024). He has amassed a total winning of around $5M+ just this year.
His biggest achievement this year is becoming the champ during the 2024 European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo at the €100,000 No-limit Holdem event. He cashed a total of $2,124,835 on the said game.
But not only that, he also managed to get 4th place during the 2024 Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju. He won $1,697,000 which has now become one of his top cashes so far.
WAIT! There’s more!
Patrik Antonius has been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame this year as well. And, he plans on playing poker for many years to come.
So, we can only imagine how much his net worth can grow in the next few months considering this track record.
Black Lotus: Personal Life
For famous stars like Pat, we would almost always think their personal lives are out in the open.
But on the contrary, he does a good job of keeping it private. All we know for sure is that he is happily married to Maya Geller and that they have two lovely daughters.
Though he did not explicitly say it, I’m guessing that their family is harmoniously living together because we never heard about cheating and break-up issues. In fact, during his free time, he bonds with them by doing outdoor activities like skiing.
Patrik Antonius Net Worth
Thanks to his winning streak since 2005, he was able to reach a staggering net worth of $33+ Million. Considering his humble beginnings, having this much is quite a feat.
Among his wins, here are his top three cashes ever recorded:
- 2nd place 2018 Super High Roller Bowl China – $3,151,734
- 1st place 2024 EPT Monte-Carlo €100,000 NLH – $2,124,835
- 3rd place 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Cyprus – $2,100,000
- 4th place 2024 Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju – $1,697,000
- 2nd place 2012 Aussie Millions Event 20 – $1,235,369
So, did we cover everything about Patrik Antonius? If you have any interesting facts about this poker superstar, please share them in the comments section below!