The professional poker player most commonly known as Tony G was born in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR on December 17, 1973 under the legal name of Antanas Guoga.  The name “Tony G” came from the poker matches.  When you saw his name up on the board for his place in finish and line-up, he was listed as Tony G and the name somewhat just sticked.

Tony G moved to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 11, but not before he won the champion title in Lithuanian of the Rubik’s Cube.

Tony G started playing poker at the age of 18, which imposed a problem since you must be 21 in order to enter the Las Vegas casinos where the big cash money awaited him in poker.  However, he did not let this stop him from achieving his goals and aspirations of being a poker player.

Tony G is known across the world for his aggressive and sometimes even outlandish table play and talk.  During the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris 2003, Tony G landed a fifth place finish where his handshake to Howard Lederer was turned down because of his aggressive table talk and play during the game.

During the 2004 WSOP in Seven-card stud and Pot Limit Texas Hold’ Em, Tony G finished in the money twice.  A few months later, Tony G landed a second place finish to an Englander, Surinder Sunar, which earned Tony G a $414,478 at the WPT Grand Prix de Paris 2004.

Tony G has thrown his table talk to several players that he has overcome during several of his attended tournaments including the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II event.

Tony G has been inspired by other poker players and has contributed his earnings towards those that are needy.  In 2006, he stated that he would be given half of his earnings of $471,500 to Australian and Asian charities that would be chosen by Betfair at the Betfair Asian Poker Tour.  The following year, February of 2007, Tony G was on the program, Poker After Dark, which appeared on NBC and achieved a third place finish.  He has stated in his blog that he turned over all of his earnings during that event to Russian orphanages.

Tony G is still a well-known professional player today and as of 2008, his earnings in live tournament events exceed $2,800,000.