What Would Patrik Antonius Do?

I love poker on TV. I watch High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark and the World Series of Poker. Lots to be learned with careful observation and while I am not yet the poker player I want to be I am better than I was.

My current favorite is Patrik Antonius. He is a great player yet controls his emotions whether winning or losing a hand. Others give way to childish outbursts; Patrik is calm, cool and collected. No dark glasses, no hoodie. I watch him and will try to emulate his poker play going forward. We'll see how that works out for me.

Here's the Wikipedia article on Patrik:


"Patrik Antonius (born 13 December 1980 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo. Antonius was mentored by Marcel Lüske as a member of Luske's “Circle of Outlaws” and later advised by Jennifer Harman. Antonius is married to Maya Geller and has one child.


Antonius began making a name for himself on the poker tournament circuit with two finishes near the final table of a European Poker Tour (EPT) event and a World Poker Tour (WPT) event, 12th at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, then 15th at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event two months later, in early 2005. He went on to finish in the money in three events of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP). In September 2005 he made the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event final table, finishing 3rd in Barcelona. The next month, Antonius won the EPT event in Baden bei Wien, taking home the €288,180 first prize when in the final hand his 8♠ 4♥ beat Gunnar Østebrød's Q♥ 9♣ on a board of 4♠ 7♠ 8♥ 3♣ 7♣. In December 2005 he finished the year 2nd in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada, winning $1,046,470.



In July 2006 he placed 9th in World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, taking home $205,920, his biggest cash that year. In 2007 World Series of Poker, Antonius entered numerous tournaments but he only cashed in the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha event, placing third and winning $311,394, making that his ninth WSOP cash and increasing his WSOP earnings to a total of $569,964.

Antonius has been featured three times on NBC's Poker After Dark. In his first appearance he finished as runner up, losing out to fellow poker professional Jennifer Harman, but his next attempt saw him defeat Brad Booth in heads-up play to take the victory. In his third appearance he was runner up again, this time to Johnny Chan. As of 2010, Antonius' total live tournament winnings exceed $2,800,000. His 13 cashes at the WSOP account for $774,046 of those winnings…

Antonius was not able to enter the 2009 WSOP Main Event, as he was turned away when attempting to register along with hundreds of others due to a capacity field.

He also plays in some of the highest profile online tournaments, and in September 2008 he finished 2nd in the Full Tilt Poker $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up Pot Limit Omaha Championship, winning $320,000.

Antonius is a heads-up specialist. He is a regular high stakes player online and one of the most successful having won millions of dollars. He has played on Full Tilt Poker under several nicknames, including Luigi66369, CryMeRiver9 and Finddagrind, but having become a member of "Team Full Tilt" he now plays under his real name. During his early career he also used screen names e.g. I_knockout_U, try_hrdr_fish and -ANTONIUS- on various other poker networks…


He is equally prolific in live cash games, and is a regular in the Big Game, the high-stakes cash game at the Bellagio. Antonius appeared on the third, fourth and fifth seasons of GSN's High Stakes Poker. Patrik was involved, along with Sammy Farha, in the show's largest ever pot; it totaled $998,800. After a preflop raise and re-raise the flop came 6♦ 3♣ 9♦; Antonius held J♥ 9♥ for top pair and Farha held K♦ Q♦, giving him two over-cards and a flush draw. Sammy called Patrik's all-in raise instantly and the two agreed to run the turn and river four times. Though Sammy's hand was a slight favorite, Patrik won three of the four runs and collected $749,100.

In another sizable pot on High Stakes Poker, Patrik went up against Jamie Gold. Jamie had K♠ K♦ versus Patrik's A♠ J♦. Patrik raised to $4,000 preflop with Jamie reraising to $14,000, after declaring that his hole cards felt "like aces." The flop came out 3♠ Q♦ 10♥, giving Patrik an inside straight draw. Jamie bet $15,000 into a $30,800 pot, which Patrik called. The turn was the K♥, giving Patrik a straight and Jamie a set of kings. Patrik bet $45,000 into the pot, which Jamie reraised all in. As Jamie was raising, Gabe Kaplan commented that Patrik looked "like a lion." Patrik immediately called making the pot worth $743,800. The players agreed to run the river three times. Despite being a 77-23 favorite, Patrik won only the last of the three times, as Jamie hit a full house on the first two. Despite the bad beats, Patrik as always showed absolutely no emotion on his face. At the time, it was the largest pot ever on High Stakes Poker.

Antonius is the first player to go up against Tom Dwan in his "Million Dollar Challenge" on Full Tilt Poker (though not the first to accept the challenge). Dwan has challenged players to high-stakes no-limit hold 'em or pot-limit Omaha at Full Tilt, playing four tables at a time heads-up for a total of 50,000 hands. Dwan has put up $1.5 million to any opponent's $500,000; the player who is ahead after 50,000 hands will win the money put up by his opponent, plus any winnings from play in the challenge.

In November 2009, Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history, $1,356,946 against Isildur1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrik_Antonius

All In Can Be A Crap Shoot

I have been increasingly frustrated over bad beats in on-line tournaments. It's particularly irksome when my hand dominates and my opponent  catches a lucky card on the river to win.

After careful observation of the play of others and analysis of my own mistakes,  it appears going all in on-line tournaments should not be a frequent strategy.

In particular one should be careful in calling an all in. Initiating an all in with AA or KK for a pot that justifies it and also when one is in late position is one thing. Going all in to win a small pot early in the tournament is quite another.

Why risk going out for such small gains? I have seen overly aggressive players go all in repeatedly (apparently assuming if luck is with you any two cards will do) until they are eliminated when another player calls with an extremely strong hand.

Stupidest of all, in my opinion, is going all in after the flop with a small or medium pair. One cannot assume that no one else got a piece of the flop and the board pair that gave your two pair may well have given someone else a set.

Rather than going all in so often one is better served, I believe, to play smart poker.

In most circumstances, don't give opponents free cards to draw out on you if you have a decent hand. Checking doesn't tell you as much as a bet will and you may well pick up the pot. Waiting and letting your opponents have the chance to draw out doesn't appear to be good strategy. And if you flop two pair with potential straight or flush draw showing, then an all in may be justified.

And if an all in will take all your chips if you lose?

When in doubt, don't.

Is Online Poker Fair?

The Gambling Man has been plagued by bad beats

So the question arises, do the online software programs    come close to the results from "live" cards or is there a very different dynamic involved?

Is it possible online programs favor certain players or certain situations so that the results are not even close to the "live" card experience?

I am a novice but I invite more experienced players to comment on this. Inquiring minds want to know!