Patrik Antonius, aka "I knockout u" or "Finddagrind", was born on December 13th, 1980, in Helsinki, Finland. He grew up with his sister in Vantaa, Finland, their father was a bread delivery man and their mother worked at a day-care center. As a child, Patrik Antonius learned to play card games with his friends.
But poker isn't the only gift fate blessed Patrik Antonius with. On age 13 he was singled out by his tennis coaches as Wimbledon material, a declaration that made him drop the rest of the sports fields and focus on his tennis skills. Patrik Antonius was under a training regime until a few years later he suffered a serious setback, as he was forced to quit his training for a year and a half due to a bulging disc in his back.
By that time, when Patrik Antonius suffered from his back injury, his friends began to play poker in the tennis club on a nearly-daily basis, and the stakes this time – unlike the poker stakes he made as a child – were not 50 cents worth, but more like $50 worth. Patrik Antonius, who has (as mentioned above) a great talent for poker, started building his bankroll from these winnings over his friends at the tennis club.
During high school Patrik Antonius and his friends discovered Pot Limit Omaha and started to play at night, raising the stakes a little more than ever before. The games lasted all night long and sometimes stopped only when one of the parents got up in the early hours of the morning.
Once he turned 18, Patrik Antonius started playing in Casino Helsinki that was the only legal casino in Finland back then. Knowing only Omaha, he played a tournament of Texas Hold'em and won $225 right in the beginning, without ever playing that game before.
After he graduated high school, Patrik Antonius was drafted to the army for a mandatory service and was accepted for the sports division in the Finnish army, and was allowed to practice tennis whenever he was in the base. After his release from the army Patrik Antonius was determined to develop a career as a tennis player, perhaps even make it to Wimbledon. Only that fate destined Patrik Antonius a different profession. And so, the young tennis player got a second back injury during his term of service, which made Patrik Antonius leave the tennis field once more.
With his back injuries and his broken dreams of a career in tennis, Patrik Antonius tried working in various fields: he modeled, served in restaurants, worked as a door-to-door salesman and as a tennis coach, but he didn't find interest in any of these jobs. As Patrik Antonius grew weary of looking for an interesting job, he dove deeper and deeper into the poker world and continued building his bankroll playing both at home and in casinos.
In fall 2002 Patrik Antonius decided to try something different still, and went to Italy for a 3-months culinary internship in several Italian restaurants. During that time he didn't play poker at all. In January 2003 he returned to Helsinki in order to continue his studies at the Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia and started playing poker online rather than in casinos. In two months time Patrik Antonius, who deposited a mere $200 sum, had already earned about $20,000. That's when he realized it was time for him to leave school and go totally pro. By December 2003 Patrik Antonius was considered one of the top online poker players in Europe.
Over the years, the back injury that disabled Patrik Antonius from playing Tennis had healed enough to get him to try, just once more, to get into an American college with a sports scholarship. He succeeded, of course, and was awarded a one-year scholarship to Averett University in Virginia. That was when Partik Antonius packed his bags and moved to the USA. Needless to say, it took him a single semester to realize that tennis was indeed great, poker was his true passion, and to take the first plane to Las Vegas.
The first WPT tournament Patrik Antonius won cash in was the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean adventure, where he took the 12th place along with $34,600. Ever since than he continued playing both online and in live tournaments, cashing and winning all over the place.
The greatest winning Patrik Antonius has ever managed to win so far was on December 16th, 2005. On that day he took the 2nd place in the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a WPT Season 4 event, in the No Limit Hold'em tournament. Patrik Antonius didn't make it to the 1st place, but he did take home $1,046,470. And that was yet another true success.
Patrik Antonius Quick Facts
Cashes: 33
Total Winnings: $2,831,822
First Place Finishes: 3
WSOP Bracelets: 0
