Patrik Antonius

Aggressiveness:  9
Looseness:  9
Short-handed:  9
Limit:  7
No-limit:  8
Tournaments:  7
Side games:  8
Steam control:  5
Against weak players:  7
Against strong players:  7

Best game:  Any shorthanded game, but especially hold’em and PLO
Weakness:  Still needs to show more patience in full games

Patrik is one of the biggest winners in the history of online poker.  I played with Patrik when he was learning to play mixed games.  He barely knew how to play anything but hold’em or PLO, but amazingly had enough betting and reading skills to win at his bad games.   His technical deficiencies showed more in a full game, but Patrik realized this and was usually careful to stick to shorthanded play.

Patrik is only the second player I have seen who was able to win in mixed games at the highest levels with hardly ever having played a few of the games.  Phil Ivey is the other.

Amusing anecdote

I was heading to the Las Vegas airport to fly back to Los Angeles a few days after I had met Patrik and his friend Roland de Wolfe.  Roland told me they were taking a limo to LA and asked if I would join them.  They wanted to talk about the upcoming Professional Poker League as well as other poker topics.

I felt like it would be a nice gesture on my part to travel with them, since I assumed this was their first trip to the West Coast.   A limo to LA costs around $700, but it is free if you are a high limit casino player.  They had arranged to take a Bellagio limo with a very pleasant driver who was a seven-card stud player.

Half way to LA, the driver stopped at a Greek restaurant and Patrik gave him his tip for the trip.  Patrik handed the driver a wad of money, and although he didn’t ask me to pay my share, I insisted.  Patrik told me he had given the driver $1900, which seemed like an absurd tip, but I gave Patrik $700 for my share.  I assumed Patrik was unfamiliar with American money and tipping amounts, which I had seen before with foreigners.

Being helpful, I told them that $1900 was a lot to give the limo driver.  Roland told me that the limo cost $1700 and they had only tipped $200.  I could have gotten the limo comped if they had told me. I now realized that the driver had been undertipped, so I gave him $300 more when we got to my house.

Patrik is actually a big tipper, but he was also surprised that Roland hadn’t checked with him so he could get the limo comped.

Title:  Superman
Artist:  Five for Fighting
Year: 2006

Reason for this song choice

Stories about Patrik’s superhuman poker ability lead one to believe he is from another planet.