Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Howard Lederer. Just a few of poker’s rich and famous who have their own Twitter accounts. Over 2,500 people believed that high-stakes cash player Patrick Antonius had also embraced the social-media zeitgeist, but like so many famous people before him Patrick had an impostor. What makes the reclusive Finn’s predicament more interesting is the eerie accuracy with which the impostor reported his activities.
Such was the veracity of @patrick_antonius’s reporting that scores of poker fans were convinced it was a legitimate account. Patrick, however, has recently come out to deny any connection to the updates. “Someone has registered a Twitter account using my name and now he’s posting stuff like it’s written by me,” he said. He also confirmed that whoever was behind the phantom postings had been tailing him. “He’s been following me pretty closely and knows what I’ve been doing.”
Patrick was forced to publicly denounce his twitter impersonator after poker legend Doyle Brunson took offence to comments posted by the fake account. The pair had been playing in a high stakes cash game together and after the event @patrick_antonius sent the following message to Doyle: “@TexDolly i bluffed you all night doyle. how would you know what it is and i have no idea?” The Bobby’s Room game was a private affair, confirming that someone very close to Patrick must have been behind the account.
Doyle was understandably upset at the lack of tact displayed by the usually upstanding Antonius. “Supposedly I had written that Doyle is becoming senile and he’s no match to me anymore.” Steps have obviously been taken to resolve the issue and, although it is not clear if Patrick divined the real culprit, but the account was recently closed.
This episode forms only a small blip in what has been an otherwise very successful week for Patrick. On the way to booking a $700k net profit he eroded the $750,000 deficit against Tom Dwan in the durrrr challenge. With the challenge nearly halfway complete, Antonius now holds a slender $76,104 lead.
He was also recently confirmed as a member of the Caesar’s Cup Europe squad. This team-based contest pits Europe against the U.S. and is set to take place at the upcoming WSOP Europe. He joins captain Annette Obrestad, Dario Minieri, ElkY, Peter Eastgate, and Ziigmund to face off against U.S. supremo Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Doyle Brunson, and Jennifer Harman.
The likelihood of fans gaining a direct insight into Antonius’s world remains remote. “I don’t have a Twitter account and I have never posted a single word there,” said the Finn. “I have no interest in posting updates about my comings or goings. I’m a private person and I want to keep my private life to myself. I would never want to post entries telling everybody where I am and what I’m doing right now.”