Where Are They Now: Jon Aguiar Fondly Remembers Tilting Brandon Cantu
Five years ago, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar left the poker world behind to move to Boston and pursue a career with DraftKings.
His retirement announcement, which he made on Twitter, came as a surprise to many poker fans considering he was coming off a great 2012 in which he won his first bracelet in the World Series of Poker Europe €10,000 Mixed-Max event for €258,047 ($336,661).
“I left poker back in 2012 to take a position at DraftKings when it was still a relatively new company,” Aguiar recently told PokerNews. “For anyone who has been following along it's been quite a wild ride to say the least. I grew up outside of Boston where it's based so I'm closer to my family which is nice.”
Aguiar: “I'm positive on online poker getting a second wind in the US in the coming years but negative on playing poker ever being anywhere as popular as it was during the boom."
Aguiar’s last tournament cash came in 2015 when he finished 111th in the WSOP Event #55: $1,500 NLH DraftKings 50/50 for $1,880. All told, Aguiar won more than $1.6 million as a poker professional.
“I just don't have the time for poker tournaments anymore,” he explained. “It's really hard to give up your vacation time or weekends from your job to do your old job. I play in an occasional home game with coworkers here and there but since the 2017 WSOP Main Event I've only played one tournament, which was at this year’s WPT Berlin and that was only because DraftKings sponsored it and I was out there with all of the DFS satellite winners.”
Reflecting on his Time in Poker
Now that he’s been removed from poker for half a decade, we couldn’t help but ask if Aguiar’s perspective on the game has changed.
“I'm positive on online poker getting a second wind in the US in the coming years but negative on playing poker ever being anywhere as popular as it was during the boom,” he said. “Something I've noticed over the last 5-6 years as I've been a more casual/recreational player is that everyone I play with seems miserable at the table. I think part of that is that a lot of people have been playing for over a decade now and are getting bored playing because they have to, not because they want to. In my opinion, it's just not nearly as fun or social of an environment as it used to be.”
"In my opinion, it's just not nearly as fun or social of an environment as it used to be.”
He continued: “I'll probably be a recreational fish someday. I have no plans to ever play poker seriously again, though. I think after 5+ years away from the game the bug would have hit me by now if I was going to.
"If I do play somewhere, it'll be the destination and people that get me to go. I was extremely jealous of all the social media out of EPT Barcelona this summer but it had nothing to do with the poker.”
While being a full-time poker pro is in the rearview mirror for Aguiar, he has fond memories from his day at the felt. Among the highlights were all of the European stops he visited with friends, and of course his well-publicized run-in with Brandon Cantu.
“Being responsible for sending Brandon Cantu on enough tilt to punt off his third bracelet and produce his rant,” Aguiar said when asked about a specific highlight.
On the flip side, he does have one major regret.
“I just would have grinded harder when games were amazing,” he said. “You used to be able to make $50K-$100K a month playing $3-$6 and $5-$10 back in the partypoker days.”
Poker fans may catch a glimpse of Aguiar in a poker tournament every now and then, but in the meantime, you can follow him at @JonAguiar on Twitter for bad sports, stock market tips, and political takes.
In this Series
- 1 Where Are They Now?: The 2003 WSOP Main Event Final Table
- 2 Where Are They Now?: The 1989 WSOP Main Event Final Table
- 3 Where Are They Now?: The 2002 WSOP Main Event Final Table
- 4 Where Are They Now: 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Tablist, Phillip Hilm
- 5 Where Are They Now: 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Tablist, Rhett Butler
- 6 Where Are They Now: 2003 WSOP Main Event Final Tablist, Tomer Benvenisti
- 7 Where Are They Now: 2005 WSOP Main Event Final Tablist, Steve Dannenmann
- 8 Where Are They Now: 2009 WSOP Main Event Final Tablist, Kevin Schaffel
- 9 Where Are They Now: 2006 WSOP Main Event Final Tablist, Dan Nassif
- 10 Where Are They Now: 2005 WSOP Main Event Final Tablist, Aaron Kanter
- 11 Where Are They Now: 2007 PCA Champion, Ryan Daut
- 12 Where Are They Now: 2003 Aussie Millions Champion Peter Costa
- 13 Where Are They Now: 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Tablist, Raymond Rahme
- 14 Where Are They Now: Eric Crain
- 15 Where Are They Now: WPT Season 1 Stars Ron Rose & Chris Bigler
- 16 Where Are They Now: WPT Season V Borgata Poker Open Champ Mark Newhouse
- 17 Where Are They Now: WPT Season II Borgata Poker Open Champ Noli Francisco
- 18 Where Are They Now: WPT Season IX Foxwoods Poker Finals Champion Jeff Forrest
- 19 Where Are They Now: Adam Friedman
- 20 Off The Felt With Nadya Magnus: Where Are They Now?
- 21 Where Are They Now: Don Zewin, the Man Who Finished Third to Hellmuth & Chan in 1989
- 22 Where Are They Now: 1981 World Series of Poker Main Event Runner-Up Perry Green
- 23 Where Are They Now: 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Finalist Lee Childs
- 24 Where Are They Now: 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Bad Beat Victim Paul Snead
- 25 Where Are They Now: 2007 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Tom Schneider
- 26 Where Are They Now? Harrah's New Orleans Poker Dealer Darrell Guillory
- 27 Where Are They Now: Former Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin
- 28 Where Are They Now: 2007 WSOP Main Event Fifth-Place Finisher Jon Kalmar
- 29 Where Are They Now: The Nine Past EPT Barcelona Champions
- 30 Where Are They Now: EPT Season 1 Barcelona Champ Alexander Stevic
- 31 Where Are They Now: 2006 WSOP Main Event 12th-Place Finisher John Magill
- 32 Where Are They Now: The Past Nine EPT London Champions
- 33 Where Are They Now: EPT6 London Champ Aaron Gustavson
- 34 Where Are They Now: EPT4 Baden Champ Julian Thew
- 35 Where Are They Now: Past EPT Prague Champions
- 36 Where Are They Now: 2011 WSOP Main Event Champ Pius Heinz
- 37 Where Are They Now: 2007 World Series of Poker Runner-Up Tuan Lam
- 38 Where Are They Now: Stan Schrier Reflects on Historic 2001 WSOP Final Table
- 39 Where Are They Now: Bracelet Winner Matt Hawrilenko Temporarily Comes Out of "Retirement"
- 40 Where Are They Now: Battling Multiple Sclerosis, Paul Darden Returns to WSOP Felt
- 41 Where Are They Now? Mike Gracz Returns To Poker After Three Years To Lead Event #31
- 42 Where Are They Now: 2004 Poker Boom Breakout Gabriel Thaler
- 43 Where Are They Now: "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan Pretty Much Out of Poker
- 44 Where Are They Now: Poker's Good Guy, a Survivor, and a Rogue
- 45 Where Are They Now: 2006 WSOP Stud Dmitri Nobles
- 46 Where Are They Now: Esther Rossi’s 7-Card Stud Journey
- 47 Where Are They Now: 2007 WSOP & WPT Champ Bill Edler
- 48 Where Are They Now: Fabian Quoss Announces His Exit from Poker
- 49 Where Are They Now: Jon Aguiar Fondly Remembers Tilting Brandon Cantu
- 50 Where Are They Now: Family & Business First for Adrienne “TalonChick” Rowsome
- 51 Where Are They Now: Xuan Liu Swaps Poker Passion for eSports
- 52 Where Are They Now: Alan Boston Offended to Return to WSOP After Long Hiatus
- 53 Where Are They Now: An 'The Boss' Tran Fighting Curse from Selling Bracelet
- 54 Where Are They Now: 1996 WSOP Chinese Poker Bracelet Winner Gregg Grivas
- 55 Where Are They Now: Ali Eslami Returns to WSOP After Five-Year Hiatus
- 56 Where Are They Now: Former EPT Champ Sander Lylloff Competing in Biggest Backgammon Duel in History
- 57 Where Are They Now: Dustin Woolf Back in Poker But Not as Player
