Card Player – Poker player Antanas Guoga, a.k.a. Tony G, announced Monday on Facebook that he will be running for a seat in the European Parliament next year via the country of Lithuania.
In his more than decade-long poker career, Guoga has racked up $3,648,645 in lifetime tournament earnings. His largest score was in the 2005 European Poker Championship for about $450,000.
In addition to his poker play, the 39-year-old has been an active businessman in Lithuania. Guoga is the owner of PokerNews and was once involved with PartyPoker.
“I have packed up the bike and I am going to EU parliament in Brussels to change Lithuania,” he said. “I made second in the list as a candidate for the Liberal Party and am really happy. This result leaves me well positioned for next year. The Liberal Party has set a goal during the European parliamentary election to fight hard for two seats. Currently, the Liberal Movement in the European Parliament has one representative so there is a lot of hard work ahead of me.
I think that Lithuanian politics needs new people and new blood and I want to change policy. I have been fortunate enough myself to be reasonably successful in my life and I have new ideas and hope to inspire others to come into politics too. I think I can bring a lot to the table with my experience in life and business.”
As a child, Guoga reportedly was the Rubik’s Cube champion of Lithuania before moving to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 11. He is now one of the most prominent people in the former.
Lithuania is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It has around three million people.
Guoga isn’t all business, however. He has been in the middle of some of poker’s craziest, and perhaps most offensive, confrontations on the felt.
