Igor Kurganov (born 5 May 1988) is a Russian born German professional poker player, angel investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of

Raising for Effective Giving Raising for Effective Giving (REG) is a charity fundraising nonprofit. Its members consist mostly of professional poker players and financial investors who pledge to donate a percentage of their income to selected charities. Philosophy REG was ...

, a philanthropic organisation that promotes a rational approach to philanthropy often referred to as effective altruism, and provides advice on choosing charities based on certain criteria.

Poker career

Kurganov's first tournament was the 2010

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was an annual televised poker tournament. The event was first held in 2004 and was originally co-sponsored by PokerStars and the World Poker Tour. In 2008, the event moved from the WPT to the European Poker Tour. ...

where he finished 119th cashing for $20,000. In April 2012, he won the EPT High Roller in Monte Carlo for $1,425,874. He made three final tables in the 2013

Aussie Millions The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a ...

cashing for over $1,000,000. Kurganov finished 6th in GuangDong Asia Millions cashing for over $1,000,000 and later in the year played his first

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

event winning an additional $70,000. Kurganov plays online under the nickname ''lechuckpoker''. In April 2016, he teamed with the London Royals in the Global Poker League. As of 2020, Kurganov's live tournament winnings exceed $18,500,000. In November 2019, Igor Kurganov announced on Twitter, that he has left Team Pokerstars.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Personal life

Kurganov was born in St. Petersburg and immigrated with his family to Germany at an early age. Kurganov has been dating British poker player

Liv Boeree Olivia "Liv" Boeree (born 18 July 1984) is a British science communicator, television presenter and former professional poker player. She is a World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour champion, and is the only female player in history to w ...

since 2014. Together they founded the charity project

, an organization that educates poker players about

effective altruism Effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, c ...

, and fundraises for specifically selected highly effective charities. As of July 2020,

has raised over $14,000,000 for its supported charities. Kurganov himself expressed particular interest in supporting organizations that work on

existential risk A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical future event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, even endangering or destroying modern civilization. An event that could cause human extinction or permanen ...

research. Kurganov lived for a time in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and then

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and most recently was reported to have moved to Austin, Texas.

Association with Elon Musk

A Wall Street Journal article in July 2022 details some of Kurganov's connection to

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

. Kurganov did charity coordination work with Musk for a period in 2021–2022.

References

External links

Igor Kurganov Hendon Mob profile

Igor Kurganov Interview (video + transcript)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurganov, Igor Living people 1988 births Russian poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg