Patrik Antonius Forced To Quit Hold’em and PLO Online

Patrik Antonius may be online poker’s most successful player, but the Finnish pro has hardly played a hand of Hold’em or PLO online since May 2011. That’s the month he dropped almost $1 million, according to highstakesdb. In January 2013, almost two years later, the 34 year-old apparently returned to the online arena once more, but only succeeded in shedding roughly another half a million dollars from his bankroll, bringing his one time peak of $12.77 million in profit to its present level of $11,315,548 in winnings. (He’s also won another $5,716,052 online under the name FinddaGrind).
Like other poker players, Antonius has experienced peaks and troughs before, which are all part of game. This time around, however, Antonius has been left in no doubt what has caused his downswing, and that is the prevalence of head-up displays (HUDs) and tracking software in the online game. As Antonius explained in an interview with pokerlistings.com recently:
“..I realized that I couldn’t beat the ring-games anymore and that was largely due to tracking software.. If you don’t use poker software it’s not a fair game anymore.”
That’s quite a statement from someone who raked in millions online in the three years between 2008 and 2011. These days, however, Antonius tends to stick to online Mixed Games, and other poker variants including Stud poker and heads-up 2-7 Triple Draw. He seems to be doing pretty well at them, too, having amassed $5,716,052 on Full Tilt under the screen name FinddaGrind. Nevertheless, it may be just a matter of time before reliable tracking software is designed for those games, too, and as Antonius explains:
“Well, I’m sure some smart people are already working on it and that there will be programs for Stud poker or heads-up 2-7 Triple Draw. As much as I know Limit Hold’em is now basically solved. I actually had to quit Hold’em and PLO online.”
In total, Antonius has won $17,013,601 online, just less than the $19,242,744 Phil Ivey won at Full Tilt before Black-Friday. Phil Ivey used to be online’s biggest winner, but he, too, has been struggling online since 2012 and has lost a further -$6,317,217 playing under the screen name Polarizing, and -$931,404 as RaiseOnce. As a result, Ivey now has a total of $11,994,123 in winnings online across PokerStars and Full Tilt.