Tony G

Biography

Born Antanas Guoga in 1973 in Lithuania, “Tony G” is one of the most well known players in the poker community. He moved to Australia just before his teenage years and began playing poker a few years after that. His reputation at the poker table is that of an aggressive player that loves to banter back and forth with his opponents. But despite his antics at the table, Tony G is one of the most easygoing, genuine, and likeable poker players.

Tony G was able to rack up a good amount of smaller cashes through the years and build his bankroll before his got his big shot to show the world what he could do on television. In February of 2003, he placed fifth in the Euro Finals of Poker WPT event. Although the prize score wasn’t anything to get over excited about, Guoga landed some very valuable time on air. The fans and producers seemed to be drawn to his antics and table talk and soon enough, Tony G was getting invites all over the world to play in televised events.

At the 2004 Grand Prix de Paris WPT event, Tony G placed second and earned himself over $400,000. If anyone remembers the coverage of the event, you’ll remember that Howard Lederer refused to shake Tony’s hand because of the way Tony berated players at the table.

In 2005, he won over $450,000 at The European Poker Championships in London after winnings the Main Event there. In 2006, he cashed in four WSOP events and also took second at the Intercontinental Poker Championship for $150,000 during the summer. A few months later, he won the Betfair Asian Poker Tour in Singapore for over $450,000.

Three more cashes in the WSOP followed in 2007, with another one coming at the WSOP Europe where he finished third in an event of pot-limit omaha for $190,056. At the Moscow Millions, he took down the $10,500 Main Event for $205,000 to finish off his year.

Another $470,000 plus rolled in during 2008. The bulk of that came from a sixth-place finish in the $5,000 No-Limit Deuce-Seven Lowball event at the WSOP and a second-place finish at the PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker III Final. In 2009, Tony G took third in the High Roller Championship at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, earning over $550,000.

In total, Tony G has amassed over $3.6 million in career tournament earnings. Outside of tournament poker, Tony G is a regular in some of the highest stake cash games in the world. In one of his more recent blog entries, he claimed to have won a pot worth over $5 million in a game of $5,000-10,000 pot-limit omaha. He is also the principal owner of numerous poker sites. The most popular of these sites is PokerNews.com, which serves as a poker news portal for several countries and multiple languages.