Online Poker

What is wrong with Patrik Antonius and Isildur1? Are they trying to destroy one another? Days after setting the new record for largest pot in online poker history, they've done it again. On Saturday night, Antonius won a $1,356,946 pot against Isildur1, beating their previous record of $878,958.50. This is not only the biggest ever online poker pot, but also the first to surpass the $1 million mark.

It all happened in a three-table game of $500/1,000 pot-limit Omaha at Full Tilt Poker. The pots had already reached close to the previous record, getting as high as $815,000 before the $1.3 million hand. With such ruinous numbers being thrown around, how could these two do anything other than to break the $1 million for a single hand in online poker? I really do wonder if getting so close might have made these guys push their bets a little higher than usual.

The big pot started with $3,000 from Isildur1 with 9 Spades/8 Hearts/7 Diamonds/6 Diamonds and Antonius responding with a $9,000 bet while holding a hand of Ace Hearts/King Hearts/King Spades/3 Spades. It continued back and forth until the pot had reached $162,000 before the flop.

5 Clubs/4 Spades/2 Hearts came down, and Antonius added another $91,000 to the pot. Isildur1 then considered his chances before driving the now $253,000 pot up to $435,000. Antonius raised again to $773,000, and Isildur1 clearly saw no option other than to go all-in, leaving the remaining cards to fall and decide the $1,356,946 pot.

The turn was a 5 Hearts, followed by a river of 9 Clubs. Patrik Antonius once again became the winner the biggest online poker pot in history, as well as the first to win a $1 million+ pot on a single hand. While the honor of biggest pot will eventually go to someone else, that first online $1 million pot win cannot be taken from him.

Antonius won around $2.1 million in total from Isildur1 that night. Isildur1 also took on Phil Ivey, and dropped another $1.2 million to him. This was after a loss of $900,000 to Ivey in the previous week. While many were impressed with Isildur1's recent performances against Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, all the gains from those games have now been lost to Antonius and Ivey. If this continues, it's hard to see any way this ends well for Isildur1.

What do you think about the size of the pots that Isildur1 and Antonius are playing? Incredibly exciting or incredibly foolhardy? Or both? Please tell us in the comments.

- Shad