27 September 2008

Poker News Strategy

We have gone live. This has been an exciting project for me and I have put a lot of time and energy into making it the best I can. I hope everyone enjoys it and finds the videos educational. Making the videos has been an interesting process and I feel that I have learned more talking aloud and paying closer attention to what I am doing and why.

You can check it out at http://www.pokernews.com/strategy-videos/

This blog will be moving to my www.PatrikAntonius.com webpage so check there for new blogs. I have been very ill for the past 10 days, so I apologize for the lack of updates. I am in London for the WSOPE and a cash game on TV, and will report all the details soon.

-Patrik-

06 September 2008

$25,000 Heads-Up PLO Championships

I apologize for the long delay in posting. I have been on a much needed vacation in Finland and now in South Africa. I promise to write a long blog in the next few days. As for now, I have to get some rest and get ready to win the $25,000 Heads Up tournament tomorrow. I won 4 matches tonight, since I am in South Africa, I played my matches when I would usually be sleeping.

My opponent in the semifinals is "Urindanger." He is one of the best online players, and we have also battled in a few big pots in Bobbys Room. I am sure he is going to be ready for the challenge and try to get some revenge for his brother, whom I beat in the quarterfinals.

Wish me luck

-Patrik-

05 August 2008

Back to Europe

I am just about to leave for the airport with Maya and Mila and go to Finland for the first time in a few years. It has been a fun time back in Las Vegas, although I could easily forget this last week, but thats a whole 'nother story.

I have been playing a lot of poker this week as well. I played in Bobby's Room with Tom Dwan, David B, Bobby Baldwin, Sammy F and a few others a few times in the past few days. We were playing mostly NL and PLO with no cap and of course props and Chinese every once in a while. The games on Full Tilt are going strong as well. I have been battling in Omaha 8 and HORSE with Lolina especially the past few days.

Here is a recap of some bets I made the past few weeks.

Brandon Adams and I played our 18 hole stroke play golf match at TPC Summerlin and I played very well and won by a few shots. Easy $100,000!! We decided instead of playing a tennis match, we would play a $100,000 NL HU Freezeout on Full Tilt. I decided this was the best strategy for me, because I had so many big golf bets coming up, it was not worth the risk of getting injured. Only a few hands into the match and we both flopped trips and he turned a full house and he won back his $100,000. Easy come easy go.

My good friend Mikko finally made it to town for our highly anticipated golf adventure. The first two days were a 36 hole 2 man team total stroke play. My partner Nick and I were up 15 shots after day 1 and they conceded after 9 holes on day 2. That was $200,000 in our pockets. The next day we decided to play 36 holes, 18 hole scramble match and 18 hole best ball. We won the scramble, I was a putting machine and we won another $50,000. The best ball did not go as planned, we might have been a little cocky going into the match, and quickly found ourselves down a few shots. Jani who was quite stuck going into the match wanted to play my partner Nick in a separate match of total score, and he wanted us to lay hm 8-1. I let him bet $20,000 and looking back, it only gave Jani more reason to focus and play his best. Nick birdied 3 of the last 6 holes and made an amazing up and down on 18 to win by 1 shot and save me $160,000.

We lost $50,000 in the best ball match, but felt like a winner when Nick made his last putt. I was so concerned following their match I forgot to focus on my own game. Anyway, it was a fun, adventurous, and quite profitable 3 days with these guys. But better then winning the money, was the look on poor Mikkos face at the end of the scramble match, he came to Vegas 110% certain he was going to win all the money and go back a rich man. He looked like a kid who found coal in his stockings on Christmas.

Full of confidence after this little match, it was time for bigger and better golf games. No one better to play then Daniel and the misfits, as he likes to call them. Daniel and his little group fly around TPC every afternoon and you cannot miss them. They are usually teeing it up from the ladies tees with no shame, because I have never seen any ladies playing in their group. My coach Jimmy joined our team and we played a scramble against Daniels team. We won the first day and then got crushed the 2nd and 3rd day. We are all very good putters, but the 2nd day it was like there was a lid on top of the hole, we were hitting great shots close to the hole, but could never convert. Meanwhile Daniels team would be across the green 30-50 feet away, and sink the putt every time. Naturally this was as frustrating as it gets, but they won fair and square and I paid Daniel his money.

So when it was all said and done, Daniel is currently 83rd on the PGA money list for 2008, right behind Freddy Couples.

I am excited about this vacation and seeing my family in Finland. I will be checking Full Tilt and playing if the games are good. I also want to thank all the nice railbirds who say hi to me when I am playing online, I wish I had enough time to write back to everyone, but I always appreciate the kind words.

On a final note, the 2025 Wimbledon Champion Mila Antonius has taken her first few steps, and has started walking all on her own. It was a very exciting time for Maya and I, and its hard to believe how fast she is growing.

Good luck at the tables
-Patrik-

11 July 2008

Heads Up Freezeout vs Brandon Adams

In a few minutes I will be playing my friend Brandon Adams in a $100,000 No Limit Heads Up match with blinds of $300-600. We agreed to cancel our big tennis match on Monday, and instead, play this poker match tonight.

Brandon is a very good no limit player and it should be a great match. I am happy that I have been playing some No Limit lately against some very good players on Full Tilt, so my game is sharp.

We will be playing on Full Tilt naturally and the official start time is 11:30 pm Las Vegas time.

I will write about the match tomorrow, wish me luck!!

08 July 2008

WSOP Main Event

I will start with a little recap of my first day at the 2008 WSOP Main Event. I made it through day one for the second straight year which is good. It was a long day and everything was going great until the last hand of the night. I was close to the chiplead most of the day and was getting ready to bag my chips up and go home, but the last hand got me good. I had J6 on a J J 5 flop and got it all in on the flop, my opponent was leading with AJ and had me drawing dead on the turn when an Ace fell. It was the last hand of the night and instead of going home with around 110,000 I am going to start day 2 with 64,125. 64k is still a good stack and I will enjoy a few days off before day 2. Maya played Day 1a and she has around 70k in chips. We will both be playing tomorrow in Day 2a and hopefully we both survive to day 3.

I have taken a few days off tennis because I hurt my neck last week. It was so bad that I could only chip and putt at the golf course. Yesterday I finally could start hitting some woods and long irons and played some golf with Jani and Nick. Jani has hired a new caddie James, and unfortunately for us, he is helping Jani so much. Most people would call it a day after spending an afternoon golfing at TPC, well Jani and I needed a little more excitement. We bought the nicest seats available at the Forest Griffin vs Rampage Jackson UFC fight. Jani and I had a small bet on the fight and I had Griffin and he pulled off the upset. It was getting late, but whats a day without some poker. I headed over to the Bellagio and sat down in a nice little $4000-$8000 game with David, Eli, Rafi, and Mynh. While we were playing I was thinking to myself, I am living the dream, I golfed, went to a UFC fight, played in Bobby's Room, and the Wimbledon final will be on TV in a few minutes. 2 TV's in Bobbys Room started showing the Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal Wimbledon final. I kept playing in the poker game, but was really watching the tennis. It turned out to be one of the greatest matches in Wimbledon history and was a pleasure to watch two of the greatest players battling to the end. I decided my day was complete and time to go home. I had booked a nice win and was halfway home when my phone rang. My agent, called and said I could meet Forest Griffin and Chuck Liddell over at the RIO if I wanted to. I am a huge MMA fan, and rushed over to the RIO to congragulate Forest and chat with the two before they played in the Main Event. It was a long day, but I could not have dreamed up a better day. I love Las Vegas, there is no other city in the world that can match it.

Brandon Adams and I had agreed to play our match at the Wynn Golf Course. I was allowed to pick three courses, and he would select the final one. I chose TPC Summerlin, Bears Best, and the Wynn. TPC is my home course, but it is also very tough. Bears Best is my least favorite, because it has very tough rough and I have a lot of difficulty chipping out of it. The Wynn is my favorite, and last time we played there, Brandon stormed off the course after 9 holes with me up around $70,000.

Well we had to make a change today, due to some unusual circumstances. We had a practice round today at the Wynn. Brandon, Jani, Nick, my agent Chris, and myself. We paid a small fortune to play, greens fees were over $2000 when it was all said and done. The troubles started before we teed off the first tee, the assistant golf pro Greg said we could not have our own caddies. We all have personal caddies we pay to come wherever we golf to help us and caddie.

The Wynn provides their own caddies, which is fine, we just told him to stay out of the way and let us do our thing. We were all playing for big money and everyone brought their own caddie. The assistant pro drove around the course spying on us seeing if our personal caddies were staying in the cart like they were told. Well I pay Jimmy and felt that he should be able to help me read greens, clean my clubs, and do normal caddie duties. On about the 5th hole they threw our caddies off the course. I could not believe what I was seeing. The Wynn staff treated us so poorly no one could believe it. You can bet every penny you have that the next time I lose 1 million dollars at the craps table, it will not be at the Wynn.

So Brandon and I decided to play our match at TPC, my home course. Because I have a little edge there, if Brandon wins, he gets $110,000 and if I win, I get $100,000. Brandon is starting to play better so I am the underdog.

We will be playing our tennis match the day after the golf, around the 14th of July. It should be a fun two days and hopefully I can win both of them and make a nice little profit.

I should have a new video blog coming out soon as well, so check www.rawvegas.com for that as well.

12 June 2008

WSOP and Golf Update

I have had a very busy and great start to the WSOP. As many of you have probably heard, I signed a deal with Full Tilt. I am very proud to be a member of Team Full Tilt and be on such an exclusive and elite team. In the first event this year, the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Hold Em, I reached the final table and finished 7th for a nice payday of $124, 080. It was a very strong final table with Kathy Liebert, Phil Laak, Chris Bell, Mike Sexton, Andy Bloch, Mike Sowers, Amit Makhija, and Nenad Medic . Nenad played very well and eventually went on the take down the tournament.

In event #4 the $5000 Mixed No limit and limit tournament I had a very good stack deep on day two, but ran into a few big hands, but still had my second cash, as I finished in 27th place. Erick Lindgren went on to win this event and his first bracelet, Erick is one of the nicest guys in poker and happy to see him win his bracelet, hopefully my first one is coming sooner then later.

With so much poker the first few days, I was missing my favorite thing to do, golf. It did not take long either for a very interesting bet to happen either. My assistant was texting Daniel about a possible team match between us and Daniel and his caddie / coach. We decided to play $20,000 for low team total on every hole and $20,000 for individual low score on each hole. There were going to be a lot of ties, but it would still be possible for one team to win or lose $300,000. It was a very dramatic match, we started out hot, and were up around $140,000, but Daniel went on a tear and played his best round ever and was phenomenal on the back nine. He was a wizard with his chipping and putting, and they beat us for $20,000 when it was all said and done. We are definitely getting a rematch next week, so will be sure to keep you posted on how that goes. Raw Vegas was there to film it, and I think will be airing it in a High Stakes Golf series in the next few days.

I would like to issue a little challenge to a few online players who have been very successful at the biggest games online the past few months. All they do is hide behind their computer screens, scared to play anyone that they think is any good. I have not played Heads Up No Limit on Full Tilt for a long time and have hardly any experience playing it compared to these guys, yet, they refuse to play me and are dodging me in all games.

Durrr, OMGClayAiken, trex313, Urindanger, I am looking for action and I want a chance to play against the best. I will play any of you in any game on Full Tilt, I will be waiting, hopefully your up for the challenge.

03 June 2008

Video Blog #2

I have been playing a lot of poker the past few days, which is a very good thing, because it means I am doing well in my tournaments. I finished 7th in the $10,000 PLH which was disappointing, but there was nothing I could have done.

I survived Day 1 today of the $5000 Mix No Limit / Limit tournament and have a little above average stack. Hopefully I can continue to play well on Day 2 and make my second final table.

Raw Vegas Video