Patrik Antonius has been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. The 2024 inductee becomes the 62nd player to enter the Hall of Fame, following Brian Rast in 2023. The WSOP announced the news ahead of Event 95 at the 2024 WSOP, the $1,979 Hall of Fame Bounty. Antonius delivered the ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’ before taking his seat.
“In the modern era of poker, few have been as bold and fearless as Patrik Antonius,” said Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the WSOP. “A force both online and live, we’re thrilled to see Patrik’s high-stakes career acknowledged by legends who have added the first international player to the Poker Hall of Fame in a number of years.”
Two decades of high-stakes play
Antonius is one of the most recognized names and faces in the game. His first two tournament cashes came in 2003 and 2004, in low-stakes PLO events. From that point, he catapulted straight into main events and high rollers. He came 12th in the 2005 PCA and 15th in the $10K WPT Shooting Star the same year before winning his first live tournament, the 2005 Scandinavian Poker Championships.
He’s now playing the very highest stakes against the best in the world in elite series such as Triton, and he’s accumulated over $22M in career earnings in live events. His single biggest cash was $3,153,551 in the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl Macau.
These results put him 37th on the all-time money list. But Antonius didn’t make his name in the live arena or by playing tournaments. The former tennis player and model was one of the most feared high-stakes cash players online in the glory days of Full Tilt Poker.
He was one of the central players in the huge Isildur1 drama in late 2009 that saw him win the biggest online pot in history when he flopped the wheel in a $1,346,946 hand against Viktor Blom.
Antonius: Stood the test of time
Take a look at the conditions for entry into the Poker Hall of Fame and you’ll see that Antonius ticks all the boxes.
- A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
- Be a minimum of 40 years old at time of nomination
- Played for high stakes
- Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
- Stood the test of time
Antonius has definitely stood the test of time. He’s played regularly on High Stakes Poker (from the third series in 2007) and Poker After Dark. He won the (then) biggest televised pot on a live stream against Eric Persson on No Future No Gamble in 2023.
He also won the Super High Roller at EPT Monte Carlo earlier this year for his second biggest live tournament score of $2,107,933.
Close again for Scheinberg
And he’s personally stood the test of time, too. Incredibly, he looks pretty much the same as he did when he burst onto the scene 20 years ago. Somewhere in a dusty attic there’s a very old and haggard portrait.
The one thing Antonius hasn’t done is win a WSOP bracelet. He came closest in 2007 when he placed third in the $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Omaha event. He’ll get a chance to fix that when he sits down to play the $1,979 event today with a bounty on his head.
The WSOP said that Antonius “edged” out ‘Miami’ John Cernuto and Isai Scheinberg in the voting to secure his 2024 nomination. There had been whispers this summer that it would be Scheinberg’s year. The PokerStars founder has been nominated for the past five years now. His time will surely come.
Antonius, from Finland and now residing in Monte Carlo, becomes the first player to be admitted into the Poker Hall of Fame outside of North America since 2017, when David 'Devilfish' Ulliott was posthumously inducted.
The full shortlist for 2024 was as follows:
- Patrik Antonius (inducted)
- Josh Arieh
- Barny Boatman
- 'Miami' John Cernuto
- Ted Forrest
- Kathy Liebert
- Mike Matusow
- Matt Savage
- Isai Scheinberg
- Bill Smith
