issue-18

AUSSIE MILLIONS 2013: PLAYERS to watCH
PATRIK ANTONIUS
A former professional tennis player and
coach the Finnish poker pro first popped up on
the radar back in 2005 with deep runs in three WPT
events, three cashes at the WSOP and a 3rd place
finish at the EPT Barcelona. Less than one month
later Antonius announced his presence on the
world stage taking down the EPT Baden Classic.
To date Antonius has earned US$5.3 million in career tournament earnings,
although aside from his EPT title has been unsuccessful in claiming either a
WPT title or a WSOP bracelet. However, this is probably because he prefers to
concentrate on high stakes cash games rather than a lack of skill. Antonius is the
second most successful online player ever winning over US$11.8 million in the
nosebleed high stakes cash games.
Antonius’ record at the Aussie Millions Main Event is impressive with a 13th
place finish in 2007, a 41st place finish in 2009 and a final table appearance in
2011 where he eventually finished 8th for over US$120,000. He topped that
off by finishing runner-up to Ivey in the 2012 AU$250,000 Challenge for a
monstrous US$1.23 million payday.
PHIL IVEY
Widely regarded as the world’s best poker
player Philip Dennis Ivey Jr., better known to the
poker world as Phil Ivey, is often referred to as the
“Tiger Woods of Poker” and when you see his results
it’s easy to see why.
In addition to being poker’s most successful
online cash game winner with total profits of over
US$19 million, Ivey currently sits 3rd in poker’s all-time money list with career
tournament earnings of over US$16.1 million.
With an impressive 42 WSOP cashes including 23 final tables, Ivey has
won eight WSOP bracelets across a wide range of poker variants including
pot limit omaha, 7-card stud, 7-card stud hi-lo, 2-7 draw and mixed games
like SHOE and HORSE.
Ivey has had several notable results in Australia, finishing 2nd at the 2010
Aussie Millions AU$100,000 Challenge for US$553,776 and coming 12th in
the Main Event in 2012. In addition to this Ivey took down the massive 2012
Aussie Millions AU$250,000 Challenge for over US$2 million. While he has yet
to make the final table of the Aussie Millions Main Event this may be because
the stakes aren’t big enough!
SAM TRICKETT
A regular on the UK circuit since 2007 this
fearless British pro has cemented his place in the
upper echelons of the poker world with some
superb results over the last 18 months.
Trickett defeated a star-studded field to take
down the 2011 Aussie Millions AU$100,000 event
for over US$1.5 million before going on to finish
runner-up to Erik Seidel in the AU$250,000 Super High Roller less than a week
later for over US$1.3 million.
He followed this up with a final table appearance at the WPT Diamond
Championship in Paris before taking down the Partouche Poker Tour Main
Event in Cannes for €1 million and bagging a 4th place finish in the WSOPE
€5,000 PLO event for over US$107,000.
This earned Trickett a monstrous US$4.59 million in tournament winnings
for 2011 bringing his total career tournament earnings to over US$6.3 million,
putting him in the number one spot on England’s all-time money list.
In addition to his tournament success Trickett is a regular in Macau’s “big
game” where he competes against high-caliber players such as Phil Ivey and
Tom Dwan and has booked wins of over US$1.5 million in a single session.
TOM DWAN
The New Jersey native first came to the poker
world’s attention as an online poker phenomenon
back in 2006 where he became renowned for playing
in the nosebleed high stakes games on Full Tilt.
Before Black Friday Dwan amassed US$2.4
million in online cash game winnings, though his
biggest high came in June 2009 when he was up
a sizable US$7.2 million. Since then Dwan has moved into the live arena and is
a regular in Macau’s “big game” where the stakes range from HK$5,000/10,000
to HK$20,000/40,000 and higher (about US$650/1,300 to US$2,600/5,200).
Probably one of the best poker players yet to win a WSOP bracelet Dwan
has come agonizingly close, losing out to New Zealand’s Simon Watt in a 2010
WSOP US$1,500 no limit event. Despite never winning a major title Dwan has
amassed over US$2.1 million in career tournament earnings, final tabling two
WPT events and cashing in an EPT.
The 2013 Aussie Millions might just be where Dwan finally gets the
tournament monkey off his back and he has already had some success finishing
2nd in the 2008 AU$3,000 PLO event.
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#18 WSOP 2012 SPECIAL ISSUE