Igor Kurganov - The James Bond of Poker

In true James Bond fashion, Igor Kurganov lives the life of a playboy. At a young age and with millions of dollars won, travelling the entire world from one poker game to another, very few people can say that they do not envy the life Igor leads. The young Russian professional has been on the circuit for about five years and has amassed over $8,000,000 in tournament poker winnings, making him the number one Russian tournament player in the world.

Other than being wealthy, Igor is also one of the more handsome players on the poker scene, according to certain females, and it seems he gets plenty of attention wherever he goes. Currently, Igor is dating one of the most well-known female poker players around,Liv Boeree, and the pair seem to be happily in love as they travel the world together playing poker, having insane fun and learning from each other. According to a CalvinAyre interview, Kurganov visited the Burning Man festival and spoke highly of it, describing it as a liberating experience.

Unlike at burning man, money is a significant part of life in the real world, and according to most reports, Igor has been using his smartly. The Russian pro is re-investing his poker millions into other poker players, staking some of the top players in big buy-in tournaments around the world. Unfortunately, Kurganov has decided to keep a veil of mystery over this aspect of his career and his results in the staking world remain fairly unknown.

Like a true James Bond of poker, beyond all the glamour, money, and ladies, Igor remains the Good Guy. In 2014, Kurganov, Liv Boeree, Phillip Gruissem and a number of others joined together in order to give something back to the world. They created REG (Raising for Effective Giving), a charity foundation whose primary goal is to give money to “smart” charities, meaning those who will do the most good with the money they can raise by using it in effective ways.