Tony G wins first prize at Moscow Millions
3rd December, 2007
Kind-hearted poker player Tony Guoga has donated his $205,000 (£99,000) winner's cheque from this weekend's Moscow Millions to needy children living in Russian orphanages.
The Lithuanian-born card player, known in poker circles as Tony G, shocked spectators and fellow poker players after handing over the winnings to tournament director Rhys Jones – telling him to hand it out accordingly.
Speaking after his big win, Guoga said of the two-day tournament: "The structure was better than the WSOP (World Series of Poker) main event.
"We had two dealers at the final table so that the next hand was shuffled and ready to go and we had tons of hands at the final table."
Tony G is no stranger to big wins, nor handing over his prize money to needy causes. In November 2006 he donated half of his $451,700 win at the Betfair Asian Poker Tour event in Singapore to Asian and Australian charities.
This weekend's Moscow Millions event saw the biggest ever prize pool for a single poker event in Russia at $500,000.
Russia itself is home to a number of top poker players including Kirill Gerasimov, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Alex Kravchenko and Rafael Perry.
