Finland’s most interesting, Patrik Antonius, has been inducted into the Poker Corridor of Fame. Antonius pale competitors from poker legends like Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Ted Forrest, and Barny Boatman — all fellow nominees this 12 months — to win the one spot obtainable in 2024.
Patrik Antonius, above, was a part of a brand new wave of gamers who modified the best way the sport was performed within the mid-2000s. It’s loopy to assume that these gamers at the moment are hitting 40, subsequently qualifying as “legends.” (Picture: )
Antonius has booked nearly $23 million in gross dwell match wins, based on the Hendon Mob database. However the bulk of his winnings have absolutely come from on-line money video games, that are much less simply quantifiable.
“Within the trendy period of poker, few have been as daring and fearless as Patrik Antonius,” mentioned Ty Stewart, Government Director of the World Collection of Poker. “A power each on-line and dwell, we’re thrilled to see Patrik’s high-stakes profession acknowledged by legends who’ve added the primary worldwide participant to the Poker Corridor of Fame in quite a lot of years.”
New Wave
Antonius was a part of the primary wave of on-line gamers who demanded to be taken severely.
Chris Moneymaker received the World Collection in 2003 after qualifying by way of a web based satellite tv for pc. Subsequent fields had been swollen by on-line qualifiers who believed they might emulate Moneymaker’s feat.
This new injection of liquidity pumped the prize swimming pools to dizzying heights, which in flip attracted extra gamers, kickstarting the poker growth of the mid-2000s.
Nonetheless, “on-line participant” was nonetheless a grimy phrase among the many seasoned dwell professionals, who understood — rightly — that Moneymaker was a stroke of luck, and — wrongly — that web gamers had been a flash within the pan.
Web gamers like Antonius, Noah Boeken, Andrew Robl, David Benefield, Phil Galfond, Tom Dwan, and others, not solely made names for themselves, however started to alter the very dynamics of the dwell recreation, three-betting and four-betting with far higher regularity.
Antonius — a promising tennis participant till his profession was minimize brief by harm — was arguably the chief of the pack, and his nosebleed on-line cash-game battles with the likes of Phil Ivey, Dwan, Viktor “Isildur” Blom, and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies had been the stuff of legend within the late 2000s.
Antonius stays the winner of the biggest on-line pot of all time. He scooped $1,356,947 in a hand in opposition to Blom in 2009.
Life Begins at 40
It’s unbelievable to assume that this new wave of younger gamers are all now pushing 40. Antonius is 43. It’s a situation that Corridor of Fame nominees have to be over 40, so anticipate extra of their ilk to be inducted within the subsequent few years.
One other situation for potential inductees is that they will need to have stood the take a look at of time, repeatedly enjoying on the highest stage whereas sustaining the respect of their friends.
Antonius continues to be a dominant power in dwell high-roller tournaments and in high-stakes video games on-line.
“This can be a very huge honor to develop into a brand new Corridor of Famer,” Antonius mentioned in a press release. “The final 24-25 years with poker went fairly quick. I feel I’m going to stay round for a very long time.”
