Finnish poker pro Patrik Antonius has what many may consider “the good life”: he lives in Monte Carlo with his beautiful wife, he travels the world playing a card game, and he is recognized as one of the top performers on the no-limit hold’em tournament circuit. Some observers would believe that life could not get any better for this former male model. Those observers, if they saw him playing the high-stakes online poker games at Full Tilt Poker, would be wrong.
Antonius recently won the two biggest pots in the short history of online poker cash games, including the first million-dollar pot ever recorded. Earlier this week, Antonius played another online high roller, known only by his screen name “isildur1”, in a heads-up pot-limit Omaha match. “isildur1” was on the button during the big hand, where the blinds at this table were the highest available at the site: US$500/1000.
Before the flop, the two combatants raised and re-raised the maximum until each player had over US$81,000 in the pot. The flop came as a nondescript two, four and five with three different suits. Antonius led out for US$91,000 into the US$162,000 pot. His opponent considered the bet, just over half the pot, then raised the full amount, US$435,000. The bet left “isildur1” with only US$162,000 in his stack, thus committing the rest of his chips to the hand.
Antonius’ next bet forced his opponent all-in, which was called. Antonius showed (Ah, Kd, Ks, 3s) for a five-high straight on the flop. His opponent showed (9s, 8h, 7d, 6d) for a potentially higher straight draw. A three would give “isildur1” a seven-high straight, while a six would give him an eight-high straight, giving him a forty-five percent chance to win with two cards to come.
The odds tilted in Antonius’ favor after the turn card showed (5h), making him nearly a three-to-one favorite. The river was the (9c), giving Antonius the hand and over US$1.3 million, the largest cash-game pot in online poker history. This hand surpassed the record that the two players set last week, when Antonius hit a gutshot straight on the river to take down a pot worth almost US$880,000.
