Antanas Guoga (born 17 December 1973), more commonly known as Tony G, is a
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
n-
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n businessman,
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
player, politician and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. In November 2020, Antanas was elected to the 2020–2024 legislative period of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in the Labour Party group.
During 2014–2019 he was a
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
for the
Liberal Movement, and from 2016 European Peoples Party. In May 2016, Guoga was the temporary leader of the Liberal Movement following the bribery scandal that prompted
Eligijus Masiulis
Eligijus Masiulis (born 15 October 1974) is a former Lithuanian politician. He has represented Liberal Movement party from 2008 to 2016. From 2008 to 2012 he was Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania.
In May 2016 Liberal Movemen ...
to step down after potentially corrupt activities.
Biography
Guoga spent his childhood in Kaunas and in the
Alytus district (Kalesninkai) in Lithuania. When he was 11 years old, he moved to Australia. Guoga lived in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
where he graduated from school, and had various jobs, including repairing sewing machines and washing cars.
Politics
In November 2020 he was elected to the Labour Party Group in the Lithuanian national parliament: the Seimas,
*Member, Labour Party Political Group
*Deputy Chair, Committee on Foreign Affairs
*Head, Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the People's Republic of China, Australia and Oceania and the United Arab Emirates
Main areas of engagement: Legislation and parliamentary scrutiny
Activities: Law-making, including consideration of draft legal acts, assessment of legislative proposals and submission of conclusions to the Seimas, drawing of conclusions regarding international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania and other foreign policy matters considered by the Seimas;
Contribution to shaping of international trade and development cooperation policy;
Debates on representation of the Seimas at international organisations, submission of recommendations concerning the activities of the Seimas delegations, co-ordination of activities of the groups for inter-parliamentary relations; parliamentary scrutiny of the ministries and other governmental agencies implementing foreign policy, submission of proposals and recommendations on the improvement of their activities; Cultivation and development of relations, in co-operation with governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Guoga was a member of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats group in the European Parliament until 4 October 2016. He became a member of the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
which is the biggest party in the Parliament. He worked on a range of digital policies in the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO). Guoga was actively involved in a number of
Digital Single Market
On 6 May 2015, the European Commission, led at the time by Jean-Claude Juncker, communicated the Digital Single Market strategy which intends to remove virtual borders, boost digital connectivity, and make it easier for consumers to access cross ...
topics. Being an entrepreneur himself, Guoga worked for better conditions for European businesses, especially in the technology sector. These conditions include smarter regulations, less red tape, and policies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.
In 2015 Guoga was chosen as the Lithuanian representative in the POLITICO 28 list. The European affairs weekly newspaper chose one person from each of the European Union's 28 member-states who is "shaping, shaking and stirring Europe."
Guoga was elected as the vice-chairman of the European Parliament delegation to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, appointed as a member of the
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly
The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ...
, a substitute member of the delegation for relations with Switzerland and Norway in the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and in the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee. He was also a substitute member in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL).
Guoga is Coder Dojo and entrepreneurship education ambassador in Lithuania. In 2016, he launched Coder Dojo movement in Lithuania and was one of the organisers of programming clubs for 7–17 years old youth in the country.
For four years in a row, 2015, 2016 and 2017 he organized the biggest ICT and entrepreneurship event in the Baltics #SWITCH!
This event in 4 years has grown by 60% from 6000 participants in 2015 to 15000 in 2018. About 200 speakers from 16 countries already participated in the event. Among them was Vice-President of the European Commission for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip, Vytenis Andriukaits, EC Commissioner and representatives of tech leaders such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber, Allegro, Dash, Dell, Oath, Nasdaq, Mastercard, Tele2
In 2016–2017, Guoga was Chief Investment Officer to the Mayor of Vilnius,
Remigijus Šimašius
Remigijus Šimašius (born 12 January 1974) is a Lithuanian lawyer and politician, member of Seimas (2012–2015), Minister of Justice (2008–2012), Mayor of Vilnius since 2015.
Education
In 1997 Šimašius graduated from the Faculty of ...
.
Guoga was nominated as a candidate for the European parliamentary elections at the summer congress of the
Liberal Movement in the last week of June 2013.
Guoga was second in the list of the Lithuanian Liberal Movement in the elections to the European Parliament 2014, and was elected as the MEP with 97,907 votes ending on top of the list.
After the corruption allegations of
Eligijus Masiulis
Eligijus Masiulis (born 15 October 1974) is a former Lithuanian politician. He has represented Liberal Movement party from 2008 to 2016. From 2008 to 2012 he was Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania.
In May 2016 Liberal Movemen ...
, Guoga became a temporary chairman of the Liberal Movement. After public criticism by the party members, Guoga left the party on 17 May 2016.
On 9 March 2019 Guoga announced that he would seek re-election to the European Parliament with the
Lithuanian Centre Party
The People and Justice Union (centrists, nationalists) ( lt, Tautos ir teisingumo sąjunga (centristai, tautininkai)), formerly known as the Lithuanian Centre Party ( lt, Lietuvos Centro partija) is an agrarian-centrist political party in Lithuan ...
. The party received 5.13% of the national vote and did not receive any representatives in the European Parliament.
Poker
As a child, Guoga was the
Rubik's Cube
The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...
champion of Lithuania before moving to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, at the age of 11. He has played poker since the age of 18, and is known for his outlandish table talk and frequent attempts at intimidation of his opponents. He had a fifth-place finish in the
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...
Grand Prix de Paris 2003. He finished in the money twice at the
2004 World Series of Poker
The 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe after Harrah's Entertainment purchased the casino and the rights to the tournament in January. Harrah's announced that future WSOP tournaments will be held in a moving circuit of ...
in
Seven-card stud
Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States, a ...
and
Pot Limit
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, ...
Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...
tournaments and three months later earned his then biggest tournament money finish in the WPT Grand Prix de Paris 2004, where his second-place finish to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
's Surinder Sunar earned him $414,478. He finished on the bubble later in the same month at the WPT 2004 Mirage Poker Showdown. On 7 August 2005 he won the £5,000 no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event of the European Poker Championships, earning £260,000 ($456,822). Later in 2005, he made the final table of the World Speed Poker Open.
In 2006, he won the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II event when his outdrew
Mike Matusow
Michael Matusow (born April 30, 1968) is an American professional poker player residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow's nickname of "The Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table.
Matusow began playing poker seriously ...
's on a board of . He wore a
kimono
The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...
throughout the event to promote poker in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Also in 2006, he finished second to
Yosh Nakano
Yoshio (Yosh) Nakano is a professional poker player and entrepreneur who resides in Long Beach, California.
He has played professionally for over 20 years and is a long-time regular at high-stakes poker tables at the Bicycle Casino in Los Ang ...
while representing Australia in the inaugural
Intercontinental Poker Championship The Intercontinental Poker Championship was a poker tournament featuring professional poker players representing various nations. 21 players competed in the inaugural event, which was taped at Palms Hotel and Casino April 14-16, 2006, and aired on ...
, taking down $150,000. True to his reputation, Tony G launched many verbal assaults against his opponents, most notably when he eliminated
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
Ralph Perry in fourth place. Tony G started to provoke Perry when he was deciding how to play his hand before the flop. When Perry called Tony G's all-in with a worse hand, Tony G proceeded to ridicule and lecture him. Tony's comments were so scathing that it prompted commentator
Gabe Kaplan
Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commenta ...
to quip "I think Tony G is
speaking more like a Lithuanian than an Australian" and "Tony G could singlehandedly reignite the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
". Guoga was more respectful of some other players, such as
Doyle Brunson
Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...
, calling Doyle his idol after eliminating him.
In November 2006, he won the
Asian Poker Tour event held in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, walking away with $451,700, half of which he indicated he will give to
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
n and Australian charities to be nominated by Betfair. In February 2007, he appeared on the NBC television program ''
Poker After Dark
''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007. '', coming in third place behind winner
Phil Ivey
Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numerou ...
. In November of the same year, he won a tournament in Moscow, earning $205,000. Often telling his opponents that he has a "big heart", Guoga claims that he left all of his prize money with the officials to give to Russian
orphanage
An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...
s, having been inspired to do so by
Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his p ...
's habit of donating all his poker tournament winnings to charity. In January 2008, Guoga received the
Shining World Leadership Award
Shining, The Shining or Shinin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''The Shining'' (novel), a 1977 novel by Stephen King
** ''The Shining'' (film), a 1980 film by Stanley Kubrick starring Jack Nicholson
** ''The Shining'' (TV miniseries), a 199 ...
in Melbourne Australia. As of 2011, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,000,000. His 15 cashes at the WSOP account for $429,897 of those winnings. Guoga is also the principal owner of a network of high-traffic poker information sites, including
Pokernews.com
PokerNews is a website dedicated to providing poker industry news, live tournament coverage, strategy, player interviews and videos, podcasts, and information on bonuses and freeroll tournaments available at online poker rooms. It is run by iBus ...
, Pokeraffiliateworld.com and Pokerworks.com.
In 2009, Guoga was a founding inductee into the
Australian Poker Hall of Fame
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Au ...
.
On 23 February 2010, in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
, Guoga established the Lithuanian Poker Federation.
In 2014, Guoga confirmed that he will not be returning to professional poker.
Tony G occasionally plays high-stakes cash game poker. In 2018, he took part in the PartyPoker "The Big Game" High Stake PLO cash game alongside poker pros like
Isildur1
Viktor Blom (born 26 September 1990) is a Swedish high-stakes online poker player, best known by the online poker name Isildur1. His rise to fame drew considerable attention around the poker world in late 2009, when he took part in all ten of th ...
,
Sam Trickett
Sam Trickett (born 2 July 1986 in East Retford, Nottinghamshire, England) is an English professional poker player. He is best known for finishing second, losing heads-up to Antonio Esfandiari in the Big One for One Drop - winning over $10 millio ...
and casino owner,
Rob Yong.
Other sports
![Antanas Guoga by Augustas Didzgalvis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Antanas_Guoga_by_Augustas_Didzgalvis.jpg)
Guoga is currently a major sponsor of the
Lithuanian Basketball Federation
The Lithuanian Basketball Federation ( lt, Lietuvos krepšinio federacija), also known as LKF, is a national governing body of basketball in Lithuania. It was founded in 1936, but due to Soviet occupation, the federation disappeared from FIBA. It ...
. When the country's
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
failed to directly qualify for the
2010 FIBA World Championship
The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...
in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and had to apply for a wild-card entry, he paid a large share of the application fee of €500,000. The team was chosen for the tournament, and won the bronze medal with TONYBET printed on their jerseys.
He was the national basketball team's manager from 2010 until 2012 and served as the vice-president of the
Lithuanian Basketball Federation
The Lithuanian Basketball Federation ( lt, Lietuvos krepšinio federacija), also known as LKF, is a national governing body of basketball in Lithuania. It was founded in 1936, but due to Soviet occupation, the federation disappeared from FIBA. It ...
. He was also the main sponsor of
BC Prienai, a professional basketball club.
In 2014, Guoga became the vice-president of the Lithuanian Rowing Federation.
Business
Guoga is director and CEO of Cypherpunk Holdings. On September 30, 2021 Tony Guoga announced that Cypherpunk Holdings has acquired two million shares of
Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands (Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd) is a Hong Kong-based game software company and venture capital company founded in 2014 by Yat Siu.
It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from 23 January 2015 to 9 March 2020.
Nota ...
for approximately $2.055 million Canadian dollars.
Controversy
Paradise Papers
In November 2017 an investigation conducted by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalism
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with ...
cited his name in
the list of politicians named in "
Paradise Papers
The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsch ...
" allegations.
Achievements
* 2004 WPT – Grand Prix de Paris – 2nd place
* 2005 European Poker Championships – 1st place
* 2006 Intercontinental Poker Championship – Grand Final – 2nd place
* 2006 Betfair Asian Poker Tour – 1st place
* 2007 World Series Of Poker – Europe, London – 3rd place
* 2007 Moscow Millions, Main Event – 1st place
* 2008 Shining World Leadership Award
* 2008 PartyPoker Premier League Poker III – 2nd place
* 2009 40th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2009, Anniversary Event – 10th place
* 2009 EPT – Grand Final (Monte Carlo), High Roller Championship – 3rd place
* 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, A$100k Challenge – 5th place
* 2010 The Poker Lounge, Episode 10-1 place
* 2010 WPT London High Roller – 2nd place
* 2011 delfi.lt readers recognized him as the Lithuanian of the World
* 2011 ''Verslo švyturys'' Award
* 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, A$100k Challenge – 4th place
* 2012 PartyPoker Premier League Poker V – 5th place
* 2015 POLITICO 28 list (28 people from the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
’s 28 member states who are transforming European politics)
* 2016 A. Guoga was included in the POLITICO 40 list as one of the most influential MEPs.
* 2017 MEP Antanas Guoga, the only member of the European Parliament and Lithuanian to be included in the TOP 200 list of Philanthropists and Social Entrepreneurs, compiled by the positive content portal Richtopia.
Personal life
Since 2014, Guoga has been married to Aistė Šlapokaitė, a former psychology student and a photo model for clothing brands like
Armani Jeans,
Prada
Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding t ...
and
Max Mara
Max Mara (Italian aks 'ma:ra is an Italian fashion business. It markets up-market ready-to-wear clothing. It was established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti (7 January 1927 – 12 January 2005). In March 2008, the company had 2,2 ...
. Guoga and Šlapokaitė met during her 30th birthday celebrations in a Vilnius
night club
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
. Together they have two sons (Herkus, born in 2015 in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and Tauras, born in 2016 in Vilnius). Guoga also has a son and three daughters from previous relationships.
References
External links
*
Tony G. Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guoga, Antanas
1973 births
Living people
Lithuanian poker players
World Poker Tour winners
Gambling writers
Poker players from Melbourne
MEPs for Lithuania 2014–2019
Liberal Movement (Lithuania) politicians
Lithuanian Centre Party politicians
Labour Party (Lithuania) politicians
Businesspeople from Kaunas
Businesspeople from Vilnius
People named in the Paradise Papers