Patrik Antonius estimates he finished around $1.5 million up against Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom during their legendary Full Tilt Poker battles.
Speaking on the debut episode of Jean-Robert Bellande's Broke Living With JRB podcast, Antonius looked back on four-tabling Blom at $500/$1,000 and the extraordinary seven-figure swings that followed.
The matches between Blom, playing anonymously at the time as 'Isildur1', and various poker superstars – Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey among them – were like nothing else the poker community had seen. Blom's willingness to battle against the best at nosebleed stakes led to massive financial swings for all involved and cemented the time period as one of the most action-packed in the history of online poker.
Antonius was at the heart of that action. Now, more than 16 years later, he has put a figure on how those battles ultimately worked out.
'It was like watching TV'
It all started when the conversation shifted to memorable pots in the Finn's career. Bellande mentioned the then-record $1,356,947 pot he won against Blom in November 2009.
Following Antonius' recollection of the hand, Bellande spoke to what it felt like as a spectator watching from the virtual rail alongside so many others as the insanity played out.
"It was like watching TV," he said at one point.
"How many tables were you playing with him?" Bellande then asked.
"We played four. It was so crazy those days," Antonius replied. "$500/$1,000 and we were four-tabling, which wasn't great for me, but somehow I was able to do it. I'm not good at playing more than two tables."
With so much money spread across multiple tables, a bad run of hands could bring about seven-figure swings in a matter of minutes – but that didn't stop Antonius from putting it all on the line.
"This just shows how much I gambled back in the days," he said. "I knew I wasn't good at playing four tables heads-up."
And yet he did it anyway. Antonius went on to say that his days of multi-tabling heads-up at the nosebleeds are long gone – he has no plans for a return to that realm.
"I will never do that again. I like to mix things a lot and I lose all my creativity when I have to click four tables, trying to balance, and I have two tough decisions at the same time and I'm completely lost on the other tables," he said. "But I did it against 'Isildur' and I had good days.
"I ended up beating him for money. I won $3 million that day against 'Isildur' when I won that massive pot, but I did lose $2 million two days later – either the next day or two days later I lost $2 million back – but I probably beat him for $1.5 million overall."
Antonius: Blom and Ivey impressed me
While Antonius got the better of Blom during their clashes, he had high praise for his former opponent.
Antonius told Bellande that, throughout his career, he had closely studied the play of around 15 of his opponents. 'Isildur1' ranks as highly on his list as Ivey does.
"Ivey and 'Isildur' have impressed me," he said. "Every time I watch someone else, I'm like... not impressed."
It's hard to give praise higher than that, but Antonius went on.
"When he was on, on his game, he was so good," Antonius said of Blom. "He's one of the most talented players, to me, a natural."
Featured image courtesy of Triton Poker Series.
