Patrik Antonius has been at the highest peak of poker for more than 20 years. He has seen everything, won everything, and beaten everyone on an unstoppable march to the Poker Hall of Fame and poker greatness.
But perhaps the toughest opponent of his entire career sat opposite him today in the Salle des Etoile, Monte Carlo, behind a long white beard and a rookie’s devil-may-care attitude. Antonius had to dig deeply into his vast reserves of grit to outlast Estonian newcomer Vladimir Korzinin and take down the $200,000 Triton Invitational for $5.13 million.
That is the single biggest prize of Antonius’ incredible career, and he was made to work for it by a man who only took up poker a few months ago. At 69, Korzinin is on a personal mission of dream fulfilment and learning, turning to poker to sate his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and experience.
He found the Triton Series, he entered this massive tournament, and then there he was in the final two of a 102-entry field, staring across at one of the all time greats.
Antonius was impeccable, of course, and had no room for sentimentality. He was all in and under threat a couple of times, but he rode it out and allowed himself a good deal of satisfaction.
“Obviously it feels really special at home,” Antonius, a Monaco resident, said. “A bit surreal.”
As to whether he found himself ever carried away with the situation, Antonius said: “I just came to play. As long as I’m rested, I play hand by hand. I’m aware that it’s never easy. You never win straight away all the hands. I’m kind of happy the way I focused.”
He paid tribute to all his opponents. “It was not easy today,” he said, but added that he remains passionate about poker even as he enters his third decade in the game. “I love it. I’m still getting started. I’m planning on a long time playing…Without the passion, I wouldn’t be playing so much.”
It was a wholly fitting end to the Invitational tournament, which pits specially invited players against elite pros. Antonius accepted his invitation from Finnish gambling tycoon Ossi Ketola, and immediately paid back the faith. Korzinin was from the other side of the draw, the very definition of a recreational poker enthusiast, and there was a great dynamic at the end as the pro gradually turned the screw, despite the amateur’s spirited competition.
By that point, pros Espen Jorstad, Roman Hrabec and Mikita Badziakouski had already departed, with invitees Morten Klein, Konstantin Maslak, Tan Xuan and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau also on the rail.
But this was all about Antonius in the end. He had a chip lead for longer than anybody, and eventually closed it out after three days of dominance.
“Triton is just the best poker experience you can have as a player,” he said. “We know how well things are taken care of. You can see how good the vibe is with the players. Everyone is in such a good mood here. We all know what Triton has done for poker.”
Antonius has done his fair share as well, and this was a marvellous way for him to hit a new high.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
The unique invitational format is well known now to players and Triton fans, and it provides the perfect representation of the tour’s ethos. This is the event in which the enthusiastic recreationals, all successes in various lines of business, get to do battle with the best poker pros on the most level playing field.
Through the first two days, with a field split into two camps on the first, and then a more conventional race to the bubble on Day 2, spirits had been high and competition fierce. A $320,000 bubble gradually bobbed into view, which would burst when 17 players were left.
Players went on a tournament break late on Friday night and returned to 19 seats. That was two eliminations from the money and the smallest stack was still 10 big blinds. It could have been a tortuous passage of play as the bubble neared.
But it wasn’t. It was the absolute opposite. Four pros got involved in two hands, both all-in pre-flop. Isaac Haxton smashed 
into Roman Hrabec’s pocket kings. They were in the two blinds and got involved in a game of pre-flop chicken, where neither backed down.
That put Haxton on the rail while, at a neighbouring table, Patrik Antonius and Aleks Ponakovs were butting heads. Antonius had pocket nines and Ponakovs had 
and though Antonius flopped a set, two clubs on the board gave Ponakovs hope. But turn and river bricked and Ponakovs perished.
Just like that, the remaining 17 were all in the money. Those short stacks rejoiced.
The remainder of Day 2 was all about securing a spot at the final table, and Antonius was on a tear. He stood tall at the top of the counts as all around him fell short, eventually taking them down to nine at around 1am local time. That was when Sinan Unlu became Antonius’ last victim of the night, losing with 
against 
.
The following nine bagged up and prepared to return for the final:
Patrick Antonius – 9.66m (121 BBs)
Roman Hrabec – 5.36m (67 BBs)
Vladimir Korzinin – 4.155m (51 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski – 2.975m (37 BBs)
Tan Xuan – 2.5m (31 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 2.155m (27 BBs)
Konstantin Maslak – 1.725m (22 BBs)
Espen Jorstad – 1.38m (17 BBs)
Morten Klein – 735,000 (9 BBs)
There was a buoyant sense of anticipation ahead of the last passage of play. With four players from the pro side of the draw and five invitees, the balance was just about perfect for a fascinating final day. Antonius, obviously, was in awesome form and had the chip stack to do the most damage. But with wildcards throughout the field, anything was possible.
It did not take long to lose our first player, and with Morten Klein’s departure, any short-stack-rising-from-the-dead story halted before it began. Antonius did the damage, raising from the button with 
and then calling after Klein jammed from the small blind with 
.
A deuce on the river was all Antonius needed to condemn Klein to a ninth-place finish. It was, however, another brilliant performance by the investor from Oslo. He has cashed three times here this week and added another $510,000 to his bankroll.
No one ever expected Tan Xuan to sit around, obey ICM and wait to ladder up. That’s just not the way this dynamic player approaches poker. With eight players left, Xuan found pocket jacks and made an opening raise from under the gun. Action folded to Antonius, who looked down at 
on the button and put in a three-bet.
Xuan pushed for his last 20 blinds and Antonius had both the stack and the cards to make a call, which meant they were flipping for Xuan’s tournament life. As can so often be the case, the poker gods waited all the way until the river before ruining Xuan’s day. That’s when the won it in Antonius’ favour.
Xuan banked $684,000 but his hunt for a third Triton title must go on.
So two invitees had hit the rail in the opening exchanges, and Antonius wasn’t done yet. He is a player who doesn’t even need good cards to profit from even the toughest fields, but when he’s getting hit by the deck as well, it essentially impossible to beat. Antonius soon found pocket jacks and stuck in a raise. Konstantin Maslak looked down at and got his final 16 blinds in the middle.
After Antonius called again, they were again flipping. And again Antonius came out on top. There was neither an ace nor a king on flop, turn or river, and that meant Antonius’ poker pair remained best. Maslak, a property investor and sports bettor, found a great spot to get his chips in, but it wasn’t to be this time.
Maslak won $908,000 for seventh, his biggest career cash to date.
The pro:invitee ratio was now 4:2, with Antonius single-handedly responsible for that. It was time for Vladimir Korzinin to fight back, and he won the kind of pot that underlines why everyone loves playing these invitationals so much.
Korzinin found 
and opened from mid-position. Mikita Badziakouski called in the big blind with , and the flop was great for Badziakouski. It came 
.
Badziakouski checked his two pair and Korzinin obliged with a bet, sitting with an inside straight draw. Badziakouski raised. Korzinin jammed and Badziakouski called, prompting a quick discussion about the equity each player now had in the hand. Badziakouski of course had the mathematics nailed perfectly, but Korzinin put his faith in what he could sense was about to happen.
Sure enough, the 
fell on the turn, which was gin for Korzinin. Badziakouski missed his full house outs on the river and was banished to the rail in sixth. He won $1,188,000, the first seven-figure payout from this tournament.
Things finally slowed down a touch with five players left. Espen Jorstad made a few moves to get himself up the counts and above Roman Hrabec and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau. But Korzinin and Antonius remained at the very top. However, when the next elimination did roll around, it was Hrabec who knocked out Vaskaboinikau, which put the Czech player back in contention again.
This was a pretty standard coup, with Hrabec open-jamming from the button holding pocket fours and Vaskaboinikau picking up in the big blind and calling for his tournament life.
The cards were on their backs and the dealer made things interesting with a flop of 
. But the 
turn and river weren’t what Vaskaboinikau was looking for. He fell in fifth for $1,506,000, continuing a sensational 2024 for him.
Four-handed play began with an average stack of 38 big blinds but only Antonius sitting with more than that. Hrabec had built up to 30 blinds thanks to the hand against Vaskaboinikau, Korzinin had 27 and Jorstad 22. Despite a couple of multi-way deals in earlier Monte Carlo tournaments in similar situations, there was no such talk this time. On they went with that $5 million carrot still dangling for all of them.
Korzinin was looking at elimination, all-in pre-flop against Antonius with an inferior kicker, but survived with a chop after a double-paired board. Then Jorstad was flipping for his tournament life, but doubled with 
against Hrabec’s pocket sevens.
That left Hrabec in desperate shape and when the blinds went up he was left with only four of them.
Hrabec did very well to rebuild his stack back to around 13 bigs, but ended up on the wrong end of a cooler against Antonius.
Antonius raised his button with 
and Hrabec called in the big blind with 
. Viewers watching the stream knew that a jack now would be disastrous, and that’s exactly what arrived on the flop, nestled between the 
and the . Hrabec checked, Antonius bet, Hrabec raised, Antonius three-bet jammed and all the chips were then in the middle.
Both turn and river were blanks, and Hrabec’s tournament came to an end. He took $1,867,000 for fourth.
Jorstad had taken a back seat since doubling up through Hrabec, but he was now the man most in danger. And he was then the next man knocked out. This time it was Korzinin who did the damage. The Estonian opened from the small blind with and Jorstad called in the big with 
. The flop brought immediate action. It came . Korzinin led with his top pair, Jorstad jammed his flush draw and Korzinin called.
Two blanks on turn and river kept Korzinin ahead and Jorstad perished in third. It came with a $2,255,000 consolation prize.
So here they were, the 69-year-old rookie against the 43-year-old veteran. An amateur on an incredible journey versus the cold, hard reality of one of poker’s best ever players. Could Korzinin really pull this one off? He had the chip advantage — 61 big blinds to Antonius’ 41 — and he’d proved he had the moves.
But a heads-up battle against Patrik Antonius has melted the resolve of many hundreds of prior players. Would the newbie have a chance?
It certainly seemed possible. Although the first run of small pots went to Antonius, Korzinin was more than happy to play big pots, which paid dividends when he made big hands. In one, Korzinin’s 
turned a straight while Antonius’ 
rivered trips. There was betting on every street, a shove and a call on the end, and a massive double for Korzinin.
The next time the stacks were in the middle, Antonius was under threat, but his 
remained strong against Korzinin’s 
. Antonius nosed ahead once more.
But back came Korzinin. He won a succession of pots to pull ahead again, leaving Antonius in danger the next time all the chips went in. But this time, again, Antonius doubled with a set of fives and opened up a significant lead of his own.
That proved crucial. There was time only for one more all-in: this time on a raggedy board of 
, Korzinin bet with a pair of fours and Antonius moved all in. He also had a four, but a better kicker, and after Kozinin called, Antonius successfully faded three outs to win.
Korzinin’s resistance was broken, and Antonius was the champion.
“I’m living my dream life,” Antonius said. “And I want to keep living like this.”
EVENT 8: $200K – TRITON INVITATIONAL
Dates: November 7-9, 2024
Entries: 102 (inc. 22 re-entries)
Prize pool: $20,400,000
1 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $5,130,000
2 – Vladimir Korzinin, Estonia – $3,470,000
3 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $2,255,000
4 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $1,867,000
5 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $1,506,000
6 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,188,000
7 – Konstantin Maslak, Russia – $908,000
8 – Tan Xuan, China – $684,000
9 – Morten Klein, Norway – $510,000
10 – Sinan Unlu, Turkey – $418,000
11 – Saya Ono, USA – $418,000
12 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $367,000
13 – Chris Brewer, USA – $367,000
14 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $336,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $336,000
16 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $320,000
17 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $320,000