Antanas Guoga

Antanas Guoga was born on December 17, 1973, in Lithuania. He moved to Australia just before his teenage years and began playing poker a few years later. His nickname "Tony G" originated from a friend's mispronunciation of his first name. He later became known for his charismatic personality both on and off the felt.

Tony G's first recorded live cashes came in Austria in 2002, and his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) cash followed in 2004, with cashes in seven-card stud and pot-limit hold'em. In 2004, he finished second to Howard Lederer in the €10,000 Grand Prix de Paris World Poker Tour event, earning €339,930. The next year, he won the European Poker Championships in London for £260,000. These early successes established him as a rising force in European poker.

Throughout the 2000s, Tony G became a regular on televised poker shows, including the partypoker Premier League Poker. He accumulated over $11.3 million in live earnings, with 88 recorded cashes. His largest cash to date is $1,389,436. He has 20 WSOP cashes, four WSOP final tables, seven WPT cashes, and three WPT final tables, though he has never won a WSOP bracelet. Key results include:

• 2005 European Poker Championship (London): 1st place for £260,000.
• 2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Europe Triton Short Deck: 1st place for €237,250.
• 2019 WSOP Europe Super High Roller: 4th place for €799,045.
• 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe Short Deck: 1st place for $1,169,000.
• 2022 Triton Series Madrid Short Deck: 2nd place for $1,370,250.
• 2022 Triton Mediterranean Invitational: 10th place for $485,000.
• 2022 Mediterranean Poker Party $10,400 NLH: 1st place for $257,500.

He also finished second in EPT Barcelona main events twice, though those results are not detailed in the available materials.

Tony G employs a hyper-aggressive strategy, frequently raising and re-raising to pressure opponents. He is a master of psychological warfare, using trash talk, slow rolls, and mind games to provoke mistakes. His style often leads to large swings, as he may overplay marginal hands. Despite the volatility, he has faced many of the game's best and remains a feared opponent, especially in short-deck hold'em.

In 2005, Tony G founded PokerNews, one of the largest poker news sites. He later became a partypoker ambassador in 2010, before moving to TonyBet.com in 2013. In 2014, he entered politics and was elected to the European Parliament as a member of Lithuania's Liberal party. He served until 2019, when he sought re-election but was unsuccessful. He then quit the Lithuanian Parliament in 2021 to return to poker.

After a hiatus from live poker during his political career (with zero recorded cashes from 2014 to 2017), Tony G returned strongly. In 2021, he claimed the Super High Roller Bowl Europe short deck title. In 2022, he continued to high-roller events, including a second-place finish in the Triton Series Madrid short-deck event for over $1.37 million and a win at the Mediterranean Poker Party. In November 2025, news emerged that a horse he owned won $4.5 million in a race, adding to his diverse interests. On the poker side, he claimed in April 2024 that he made $100 million in the past year, though that figure includes his broader business and investments.

Tony G has a long history of on-table confrontations, most notably with Phil Hellmuth. In a 2024 appearance on the PokerNews podcast, he issued a heads-up challenge to Hellmuth, claiming the "Poker Brat" is afraid to play him again. He has also clashed with other top pros, using his aggressive trash-talking style to provoke opponents. These feuds have become a hallmark of his televised appearances.

In April 2024, Tony G was a guest on PokerNews' "Life Outside Poker" podcast, where he discussed his upbringing, his founding of PokerNews, his political career, and his favorite poker moments. In August 2024, a video surfaced of Tony G being coolered for $1.4 million in a cash game, which went viral. Later that year, he participated in a wild Pot-Limit Omaha game on CoinPoker alongside the player "VeniVidi1993". These appearances continue to keep him in the spotlight beyond live tournaments.