This summer, Patrik Antonius stood in front of a crowd at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and thanked them as he was inducted into the Poker hall of Fame. With more than two decades of playing the highest stakes on his resume, he was an easy choice for the living Hall of Fame members who cast votes this summer.

Could it be that Antonius is just getting started?

This weekend, Antonius won a career-best $5.13 million at the $210,000 buy-in Triton Super High Roller Invitational in Monaco, where he makes his home.

“I’m living my dream life,” Antonius said. “And I want to keep living like this.”

Special format attracts whales

The special invitational event brought in 80 players who put up the insanely-high buy-in that pitted the pros against what Triton organizers call VIPs — poker aficionados who also happen to be incredibly loaded.

In other words, whales.

And how do you get 40 of the richest amateur poker players to show up and face the best high-stakes tournament players in the world? You change the rules.

Triton invited 40 of mostly whales and asked them to invite one pro each (there was a poker player or two in that group). Think of it as a sort of Sadie Hopkins dance for investment gurus and billionaire patent-holders. Of course, Triton made sure that most of their regulars and champions like Chris Brewer, Jonathan Jaffee, and Stephen Chidwick got invites — and they all showed up.

To further entice the whales, the tournament was split into two a the start. For the first eight levels, the whales played against the whales, while the pros faced their own species before the field was combined in level nine.

The top 17 were paid at least $320,000, with the top six players cracking the million-dollar mark. The difference between fourth and first was whopping $3.5 million or so — and nearly ten-times the amount between ninth and the top spot.

While WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jostad (2022) made it to three handed, winning $2.255 million, the story of the final table revolved around Estonian newcomer Vladimir Korzinin, 69, who took up poker about a year ago. He looked every bit of eccentric billionaire or Lord of the Rings wizard, and he played like the love-child of both, giving Antonius a test heads-up.

This is Antonius’ seventh seven-figure tournament cash — and four of those were worth $2 million or more.

“I just came to play. As long as I’m rested, I play hand-by-hand. I’m aware that it’s never easy,” he told Triton reporters after. “You never win straight away all the hands. I’m kind of happy the way I focused. Obviously it feels really special at home. A bit surreal.”

Which isn’t a bad way to describe Antonius’ life.  

“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.”