Poker Stories: Miikka Anttonen

Miikka Anttonen has been gambling since he was just 10 years old. He was originally drawn to sports betting and slot machines, but after moving from his native Finland to Australia, Anttonen discovered poker. Despite a few false starts, he stuck with the game, and eventually built a bankroll and turned pro.

During his nearly decade in poker, Anttonen won millions, including a title at his native Helsinki Freezeout main event in 2011. Although he was mainly an online specialist, his time on the live tournament circuit saw him travel to 70 different countries.

A few years ago, however, Anttonen took on a prop bet that saw him forced to end his poker career. In the years since, he has focused on his love of writing, and took a job in poker media working with Pokerisivut on the Last Call documentary series, now available on YouTube.

Highlights from this interview include being an 11-year-old sports bettor, a teenaged slot machine addiction, buying all the candy, dropping out and moving to Australia, from the cheese factory to picking mangos, the rainforest home game, losing all of his prawn money in minutes, sleeping on benches, Spice-Gossip Girl love, three days trapped in a New Zealand hostel, spinning it up from zero and six-figure swings, why live poker is the tax of online poker, a costly swap, playing with Vince Vaughn, lucky underwear, waking up in jail, and the bet that ended his poker career.