– General Information –
Known in the poker world as Tony G, Antanas Guoga is a man of many hats. Born in Kaunas, Lithuania on December 17, 1973, this Australian-Lithuanian poker star is also a businessman, politician, and philanthropist. In addition to being the Public CIO to the Mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius, he also served as a member of the European Parliament for the Liberal Movement between 2014 and 2019.
– Key Career Dates –
- 2002: He creates Pokernews.com.
- 2005: He finishes 1st in the £5,000 Main Event at the European Poker Championships in London for £260,000.
- 2006: He wins first place in the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II event against Mike Matusow.
- 2009: He founds the online poker and sportsbetting site TonyBet.
- 2011: He wins the World Lithuanian of the Year prize.
- 2019: He finishes 4th in the €250,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller event at WSOP Europe in Rozvadov for €799,045.
- 2021: He wins two Super High Roller Bowl Europe short deck events in Cyprus within days of each other. He finished first in the second one, the $100,000 No Limit Short Deck Hold’em event for $1.196 million. That is the biggest single live tournament cash of his career to date.
– Tony G’s Career –
→ Beginnings ←
Born and raised in Kaunas, Alytus district (Kalesninkai) in Lithuania, Guoga moved to Melbourne, Australia when he was 11. However, before the big move, he became the Rubik’s Cube champion of Lithuania. After graduating from secondary school, he had a variety of jobs, including repairing sewing machines and washing cars, before attending college. During these years, he also played chess and poker with his family.
At college, Guoga studied accounting and finance. After working as an assistant to Bill Buchanan, the chief of Australian Mortgage Brokers, Guoga went on to take a position with a Hong Kong investment bank managed by Citibank.
In 2002, Guoga created PokerNews.com and began winning his first cashes in live tournaments. He gained global attention when he started taking part in the WSOP in 2004.
→ World Series of Poker ←
Although he’s never won a WSOP bracelet or ring, Guoga has won a total of $1,886,714 by cashing in 20 WSOP events.
| CASHES | EARNINGS | |
|---|---|---|
| WSOP | 16 | $522,82 |
| EUROPE | 4 | $1,364,632 |
At the 40th Annual World Series of Poker in 2009, he finished 10th in the $40k 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em Event for a cash of $172,120, which is his largest ever cash in the summer WSOP in Las Vegas.
In October 2019, at WSOP Europe in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, he came in 4th in the €250,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller event for €799,045, which is his largest WSOP cash to date.
→ World Poker Tour ←
Tony G’s largest cash at the WPT is more than double the WSOP. He finished 2nd at the 2004 WPT Grand Prix de Paris for a cash prize of $411,315.
| WPT Career Highlights | Value | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Career Earnings | $551,998 | 403 |
| Cashes | 7 | 306 |
| Final Tables | 3 | 72 |
| Titles | 0 | 357 |
| Tournament | Season | Casino | Place | Points | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPT Alpha8 London | 2013-2014 | Palm Beach Casino Mayfair London | 5 | 0.00 | $0 |
| WPT Malta | 2012-2013 | Casino at Portomaso | 10 | 50.00 | $11,016 |
| WPT Malta | 2011-2012 | Casino at Portomaso | 25 | 50.00 | $8,401 |
| WPT Marrakech | 2009-2010 | Casino De Marrakech | 33 | 0.00 | $14,701 |
| WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic | 2004-2005 | Bellagio Resort & Casino | 42 | 0.00 | $21,781 |
| WPT Mirage Poker Showdown | 2004-2005 | The Mirage | 7 | 200.00 | $67,505 |
| WPT Grand Prix de Paris | 2004-2005 | Aviation Club de France | 2 | 700.00 | $411,315 |
| Euro Finals of Poker | 2002-2003 | Aviation Club de France | 5 | 400.00 | $17,279 |
| Total: | 1,400.00 | $551,998 | |||
→ Other Tournaments ←
Tony G’s most successful wins in other tournaments:
- August 2005: 1st place at the £5,000 + 50 Main Event – No Limit Hold’em, The European Poker Championships, London (England) for $456,822
- July 2006: 2nd place at the Grand Final of the Intercontinental Poker Championship, Las Vegas (USA) for $150,000
- November 2006: 1st place at the $4,800 + 200 Championship Event – No Limit Hold’em, Betfair Asian Poker Tour, Singapore for $451,700
- November 2007: 1st place at the $10,500 Moscow Millions Main Event – No Limit Hold’em (Russia) for $205,000
- November 2008: 2nd place at the $75,000 No Limit Hold’em – Final, PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker III, London (England) for $150,000
- May 2009: 3rd place at the €25,000 + 500 No Limit Hold’em – European High Roller Championship, EPT – 5 – Grand Final, Monte Carlo for $552,239
- January 2010: 5th place at the A$100,000 + 500 $100,000 Challenge
2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, Melbourne (Australia) for $92,296 - August 2010: 1st place at the $20,000 Episode 10, The Poker Lounge, Cardiff (Wales) for $120,000
- September 2010: 2nd place at the £15,000 No Limit Hold’em – High Rollers Event WPT London (England) for $131,479
- January 2012: 4th place at the A$100,000 + 500 No Limit Hold’em – $100,000 Challenge, 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, in Melbourne (Australia) for $249,133
- April 2012: 5th place at the No Limit Hold’em PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker V in Vienna (Austria) for $100,000
- May 2017: 1st place at the $24,000 + 1,000 No Limit Hold’em – Aria High Roller #59 in Las Vegas (U.S.A) for $353,280
- August 2017: 2nd place at the €25,000 No Limit Hold’em – GPC Super High Roller 8-Max in Rozvadov (Czech Rep.) for $353,682
- July 2018: 4th place at the €25,000 + 750 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller Championship in Velden (Austria) for $146,223
- August 2019: 1st place in the €25,500 partypoker LIVE Short Deck Hold’em event for €237,250
- August 2021: He triumphs in two Super High Roller Bowl Europe events in Cyprus in just a few days. He first takes down the $25,000 No Limit Short Deck Hold’em event for $382,500; then wins the $100,000 No Limit Short Deck Hold’em event for $1.196 million. The latter is his biggest live tournament score to date.
→ Live Cash Games ←
A regular on high-stakes televised cash games, some of Tony G’s most famous appearances include the following:
- 2007: PartyPoker’s “The Big Game” (including some nice play with Phil Hellmuth)
- 2009: Premier League Poker against Tom Dwan
- 2016: Celebrity Cash Games; all winnings donated to his foundation
- 2018: PartyPoker’s “The Big Game”, where he won $500k.
- 2019: €2,000/€4,000/€4,000 Triton cash game in Montenegro
→ Online Poker ←
Under the user name of “Poker Professor”, Tony G has shared videos of his online playing sessions on YouTube. However, that channel has been terminated due to multiple copyright infringements.
→ Sponsorship Deals ←
In 2010, Tony G became a sponsored pro with partypoker, who he represented at the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, and the PartyPoker Premier League. However, after building his own platform, TonyBet, he left partypoker to be a rep for his own company. Sadly, Tonybet shut down in July 2020.
→ Scandals ←
Poker trolling
Famous for his bad etiquette, including trolling his opponents at the table, Tony G once openly lied to Phil Hellmuth’s face about playing blind. After he admitted that he in fact did look at his cards, he simplyquipped, “Of course I lied. It’s poker“.
Representing Australia at the 2006 Intercontinental Poker Championships in 2006, he went up against Rick Perry, a Russian player, and essentially bullied him into poor play. Perry eventually went all-in with an unsuited King-Jack. Tony G’s taunts included “You’re a champion? I’ll send you back to Russia,” “Come on Russian, get out, it’s time to go,” “Is this how you play? You call with King-Jack? Which school have you been to?”. You can watch the full altercation here:
Paradise Papers
Guoga was included in the list of politicians named in the “Paradise Papers” allegations in November 2017, which was produced following an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism. He was also discovered to be the founder and former shareholder of iBus Media Ltd., which is the publisher of the biggest poker news site PokerNews.com on the Isle of Man.
Russian Ban
Guoga was banned from entering Russia in 2017, which he responded to on Facebook. Although Russian officials have not commented on the situation, Guoga believes he was banned because he’s been a vocal proponent of anti-Russian policies, even resorting to trolling a Russian diplomat during a European Parliament hearing.
In addition, he’s publically criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he is not a fan of, and he’s made public comments about Russian hacking and their attempts to influence elections around the world. Nevertheless, Guoga feels he has nothing to apologize for, and he does not seem to be bothered by the ban.
– Tony G’s Private Life –
→ Love Life ←
In 2014, Guoga married Aistė Šlapokaitė, a former psychology student who has worked as a photo model for brands such as Armani Jeans, Prada and Max Mara. Many big names from the poker world attended their wedding in Vilnius, including Guoga’s long-time friend Warren Lush.
The couple met at Šlapokaitė’s 30th birthday party at a Vilnius nightclub, and in addition to Guoga’s son and two daughters from previous relationships, he and Šlapokaitė have 2 sons. The first, Herkus, was born in Brussels in 2015, and the second, Tauras, was born in Vilnius in 2016.
→ Business ←
Guoga is also a successful businessman, and he is committed to investing in companies that create jobs for Lithuanians.
PokerNews and other Poker Media
Guoga founded PokerNews.com, buying the domain name for $6,000, hiring a couple of programmers to set up the site, and writing the content himself. In addition, he’s the primary owner of multiple popular poker sites, including Pokeraffiliateworld.com and Pokerworks.com.
The “Tony” Brands
Guoga began establishing the “Tony” brands with the founding of TonyBet in 2009. The international betting company now operates with UK and Estonian gaming licenses, which allows it to be open to the entire European market. On September 8, 2016, Swedish company Betsson acquired the TonyBet business in Lithuania for €6 million. Tonybet shut down operations in July 2020.
Blockchain Centre Vilnius
In 2017, Guoga initiated Blockchain Centre Vilnius, which features co-working spaces and an event space with the goal of providing technical, legal, and financial advisory services to help blockchain start-ups reach their business goals. On LinkedIn, it is described as “the first blockchain technology center connecting key stakeholders in Asia and Europe.“
Other Ventures
In addition to his other ventures, Guoga owns a life insurance company in Australia called Rate Detective and a trading business in London. He’s also heavily invested in real estate.
→ Net Worth ←
Because of his many other activities outside poker, his total worth is much larger than what his tournament and cash game winnings would suggest. In 2014, the Lithuania Tribune reported his worth to be over $36 million.
→ Hobbies & Personal Life ←
Guoga is heavily involved in promoting sports in Lithuania, particularly basketball, which he has loved since he played it as a child.
As a significant sponsor of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, he paid a major share of the national team’s €500,000 application fee to be a wild-card entry in the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. Although they had originally failed to qualify for the championship, they were eventually chosen through their wild card application, and they ended up taking the bronze medal.
They played in jerseys with TONYBET printed on them. In addition to sponsoring the national team for the championship, he was their manager from 2010-2012. He has served as the vice president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation and was the primary sponsor for the professional basketball club BC Prienai.
Beyond his involvement with basketball, he’s also the vice president of the Lithuanian Rowing Federation, a post he took up in 2014.
Guoga is well known for his philanthropic work. Richtopia compiles a list of the top 200 philanthropists and entrepreneurs in the world, and Guoga is the only Lithuanian or member of the European Parliament to make the list.
He’s played in many charity poker events, and he often contributes significant portions of his winnings to charity organizations and trusts. In 2016, Guoga played in Celebrity Cash Kings and donated all of his winnings (€109,000) to Vilnius University, as well as to Bėdų Turgus and Maisto Bankas, two of Lithuania’s best charity organizations. His own charity organization is the A. Guoga Foundation.
“I thought I would be a bit rusty, but the juices flowed, and I sent them on their bikes. I ended up winning over €100,000; my charity foundation is very happy,” he concluded.
– Tony G on Social Media –
Official Websites: http://www.tonygpoker.com/ and https://www.antanasguoga.lt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TonyGuoga
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonyguoga/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antanasguoga/
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