Rui Cao raised to 27,000 in the cutoff with the and Julian Thomas defended the in the big blind. On the flop, Thomas checked and subsequently check-raised from 18,000 to 55,000 with 152,000 behind. Cao just called and the fell on the turn.
Thomas bet 45,000 and Cao raised it up to 200,000, prompting Thomas to use his remaining time bank extensions before calling it off. The on the river was a blank and Thomas was out in 24th place.
Within quick succession, three players were eliminated, one of which ran out of chips on the feature table with the details to come.
On the outer tables, Wai Kin Yong and Koray Aldemir were ousted at almost the same time before table four broke. Aldemir faced the shove of Peter Jetten blind on blind and called it off out of the big blind for around 176,000.
Koray Aldemir:
Peter Jetten:
The board came and that was it for Aldemir, who has had a rough few days at the poker tables here in Montenegro.
The 63 entries included 41 unique players and 22 re-entries to make for one third of the field as multiple bullets. Koray Aldemir will have to finish in 4th place or better to make a profit in this event, while a few other players are in for at least three bullets.
Patrik Antonius, the most successful player in online history
Finnish poker superstar Patrik Antonius has returned to the live scene with a bang in 2018, following a few years of quiet time. Antonius is currently enjoying the best year of his professional career, and being as he has results dating back to 2003 on his poker resume, that is quite some achievement.
Finland’s most successful tournament player has already made five final tables this year, all of them coming in big buy-in events, and Antonius has won over $4.5 million in 2018 already, and it’s only May.
The former professional tennis player and coach is already the most successful player in the history of online poker, at least from a cash game perspective, up over $17-million in online cash games over 645,583 tracked hands (according to HighStakesDB). Antonius has over $6-million more than next closest rival Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene.
The Finn started the year like an Olympic sprinter coming out of the blocks, taking down the €25,500 PartyPoker Millions Super High Roller in Rozvadov in February, beating Brazil’s Joao Simao heads-up to win his eighth title and claim the $520,610 first prize.
Antonius followed that up with a final table finish in the HK$400,000 Super High Roller APPT Macau, coming in 6th for $204,378. Two days later Antonius made the majority of his 2018 profits with a runner-up finish in the HK$2-million Super High Roller Bowl, also in Macau, narrowly losing out to Justin Bonomo and taking home $3.15-million.
A third-place finish in the €51,000 Party Poker Millions Super High Roller Barcelona was good for a further $491,117 a little over two weeks later in early April, which Antonius followed up with another 6th place finish, this time on home turf in the €5,300 APT Monte Carlo Main Event for $168,280.
That brings Antonius’ total live tournament winnings up to over $11.3 million, which sees him reclaim the top spot on the Finland All Time Money List from Juha Helppi.
The Finn is making his Triton Super High Roller Series debut and will be looking to add to his already impressive tournament tally, but took some time to talk to PokerNews about his impressions of the Series, Short Deck Ante Only Poker and his plans for the upcoming WSOP.
“I would like to see more big events in Asia, that I would go and travel for it. Just for me, I would like to have a little bit bigger events, like a $10,000 buy-in is not big enough for me to travel that far, but I’m always happy to go to Macau or Manila or Korea or here [Montenegro] or just anywhere you know, for the big events. I enjoy traveling and playing in these events so I’m very happy and Triton is doing a good job from what I hear and from what I see,” said Antonius when asked about the Triton Series.
Antonius missed the opening Short Deck Ante Only Event that Phil Ivey took down for his first tournament cash since 2016, but is keen to try out this exciting new poker variant.
“Things are always changing, there’s always little adjustments to the rules and with the games,” said Antonius.
“No Limit Hold’em has been the dominating game, and it’s still my favorite tournament game, and I think that it’s going to stay there, but I think that this game is here to stay.”
I’ve never played one hand but I’ve watched on TV, it’s a very interesting game and I think that it has big potential. I would like to play this game more, and I want to start playing now so I’m looking forward [to playing].”
Patrik Antonius talks Short Deck Ante Only poker
Antonius has been as successful as he has because he still has a keen interest in the game, and learns quickly when it comes to new games and strategies.
“Well, there are always people who have been inventing new games, a lot of different versions of different games; limit games, all kinds of pot limit games and so on. I think that this game has the most potential because it’s like Hold’em, there are two cards and there’s a lot of bluffing,” said Antonius.
“I’m not a fan of those games where you can take it very far with just having a strong strategy. Like in certain limit games or draw games and so on you can only take it to certain levels… but this game there is going to be so many different boards and different variations.”
“You play based on the player, how they are playing, you know you’re going to be able to bluff with blockers no draws just to see a good opportunity to steal it.”
So keen is Antonius’ knowledge of this new variant, you’d never guess he has yet to play it.
“I haven’t studied the game too much, I only watched it one time on TV, but I already have my opinions on it. The hand values seem to be closer so Aces are not so big a deal as in a full deck, you can crack them easier with nine-ten suited, and maybe the top set is not going to be such a massive deal in this game. So far I like this game so we’ll see.”
With the Triton Super High Roller Series concluding with a HKD 1-million buy-in Short Deck Ante Only tournament scheduled to start on 17 May, just as the Main Event is winding down, the Finn will have his chance at testing his skills at some of the game’s best, quite a few of whom already have some experience at playing it.
Should it not work out for him, there’s always the upcoming World Series, where a man running as hot as he is this year must fancy his chances.
“So far I don’t have very big plans for the World Series, I’m a little bit busy in June when it comes to other work. I might play the Main Event, at least when it comes to tournaments, just don’t expect to see me in other events than the Main Event because I still have a little issue with taxes when it comes to the States. I don’t see it as so profitable in that sense so… but yeah, most likely I’ll go for a couple of week,” said Antonius when asked about his plans.
As the feature table’s shortest stack Patrik Antonius had some work to do if he wanted to add to his already impressive 2018 tournament earnings of $4.5-million. Unfortunately for the Finn, he won’t be doing it in this event and has departed at the hands of Rui Cao.
It was Antonius who was the initial aggressor, making it 25,000 to go from the hi-jack, only to see Rui Cao re-raise to 64,000 from the cutoff. With 212,000 behind Antonius took the most aggressive line and moved all-in and Cao made a quick call.
Patrik Antonios:
Rui Cao:
It did not look good for Antonius, with the Finn hoping the flop ran out a straight to chop the pot, but the turn dashed those hopes and the river saw him hit the rail, while Cao stacked up to 890,000.
In a battle of the blinds, Paul Phua raised to 40,000 and Steve O'Dwyer called from the big blind. The flop fell and Phua continued for 40,000, prompting O'Dwyer to move all in with the far superior stack.
Phua had another 200,000 behind and called it off.
Paul Phua:
Steve O'Dwyer:
When rolling over his straight draw, O'Dwyer had a dry smile on the face, The on the turn instantly improved O'Dwyer to a straight and Phua was drawing dead, making the river a mere formality.
After a raise by Stephen Chidwick in the hijack, Manig Loeser three-bet to 83,000 in the cutoff and the action folded back to Chidwick. The Brit four-bet all in for 238,000 and Loeser called.
Stephen Chidwick:
Manig Loeser:
The flop gave Loeser a sweat with the additional flush draw, but the turn and river were both blanks.
The goal of the day is to play down to the nine-handed unofficial final table and burst the money bubble, and among those to bust well before that were Lim Chin Wei and Jason Koon.
Koon was spotted leaving his seat and shrugged "queens to aces preflop" while the chips were shipped over to table neighbor Marius Torbergsen, who has become the latest addition to the chip millionaire club.
There were a total of 63 entries with Patrik Antonius as one of the last players to re-enter and the registration has officially closed. Just before the break, Andrew Robl doubled through Bryn Kenney and Phil Ivey did so after the break against Dominik Nitsche.
Ivey had shoved for 181,000 from early position and Dominik Nitsche reshoved from the small blind to isolate successfully.
Phil Ivey:
Dominik Nitsche:
The board came and Ivey turned a ten to double successfully.
and Julian Thomas defended the 
in the big blind. On the 
flop, Thomas checked and subsequently check-raised from 18,000 to 55,000 with 152,000 behind. Cao just called and the 
fell on the turn.
on the river was a blank and Thomas was out in 24th place.
and that was it for Aldemir, who has had a rough few days at the poker tables here in Montenegro.
turn dashed those hopes and the 
river saw him hit the rail, while Cao stacked up to 890,000.
and Phua continued for 40,000, prompting O'Dwyer to move all in with the far superior stack.
on the turn instantly improved O'Dwyer to a straight and Phua was drawing dead, making the 
