Igor Kurganov

Igor Kurganov is a professional high stakes poker player and a founder of Raising For Effective Giving, or REG. Find his poker biography & videos here.

Igor Kurganov is a Russian poker player and a founding member of Raising for Effective Giving.

Igor Kurganov was born in 1988 and has quickly risen to the top of the high roller world. Not much is known about his early life, although he says that his family moved to Germany when he was a child. Like many Russian and German pros, he seemingly came out of nowhere to take the poker world by storm. Despite his meteoric rise, he has been described as well-mannered, calm, and extremely intellectual. To make him even more mysterious, he plays high roller events almost exclusively, leaving behind the smaller buy in tournaments that many pros play in their everyday life.

He didn’t start out that way, even if his rise was relatively quick compared to most others of his generation. His first recorded tournament cash was in Macau at the 2009 $32k high roller on the Asian Poker Tour, where he took home just $13k. It wasn’t until 2011 that he captured a six figure cash. At EPT Madrid he came in second to Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier for a cash of $182k. Since then, it has been normal for him to make large cashes and has several seven figures to his resume. In 2012 he won the high roller event at EPT Monte Carlo and pocketed $1.4 million, his first million dollar cash. 2013 brought several large paychecks, including two at the Aussie Millions alone, where he took home $290k and $527k in two different $25k buy in tournaments.

He is first on Russia’s all time money list, due in large part to EPT events. In total, he has amassed nearly $10 million in tournament earnings, in addition to being a feared cash game opponent.

A large proponent of charitable giving, Kurganov is one of the founders of REG, or Raising for Effective Giving, a charity that partners with poker players to pledge a percentage of their income to finding efficient ways of helping solve global problems. He had a public disagreement with Dan Coleman in 2014 after Coleman refused to give interviews for the Big One For One Drop because of his perceived harmful effects of poker. Dan Coleman said he did not want to do anything that would promote the game of poker to people who might not otherwise have been playing. Kurganov argued that it is their poker playing that allows them to help other people, even though there are some people who become addicted. To him, the good that they do outweighs the chances that someone’s life will be harmed by poker.

He lives in London and can frequently be seen playing in the European Poker Tour alongside his long time girlfriend Liv Boeree, who is also a feared tournament player and a member of REG. He is also a fan of the Burning Man festival, and takes part in a camp that features many other high rolling pros.

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8 years ago3,934BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Aussie Millions 2013 $25k Challenge - Final Hand

Final hand of the Aussie Millions 2013 $25k Challenge between Igor Kurganov and Philipp Gruissem

8 years ago3,405BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Erik Seidel at Risk vs Igor Kurganov

Erik Seidel flops a huge hand against Igor Kurganov and puts himself at risk

8 years ago6,652BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Cash Kings - Igor Kuragnov Interview

Interview with Igor Kurganov during his stay at the King's Casino for the Celebrity edition of Cash Kings

8 years ago4,309BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Sam Trickett Running Good vs Igor Kurganov

Sam Trickett hits a huge hand against Igor Kurganov

8 years ago8,738BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT11 Grand Final SHR - Kurganov Flipping for His Tournament Life

Igor Kurganov at risk and flipping for his tournament life vs Urbanovich

8 years ago6,958BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT11 Grand Final SHR - Urbanovich Puts Kurganov to a Decision

Igor Kurganov put to a test by Dzmitry Urbanovich

8 years ago7,891BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT11 Grand Final SHR - Holz and Kurganov Tangling

Igor Kurganov and Fedor Holz playing an important pot at the final table

8 years ago2,784BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Aussie Millions HR - Kurganov vs Reinkemeier

Igor Kurganov and Tobias Reinkemeier battling

8 years ago7,034BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Cash Kings 41 - Live Cash Game (Part 2)

Live cash game action from the King's Casino with commentary in German; featuring Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov

9 years ago3,341BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Igor Kurganov Losing a Plot

Igor Kurganov loses a plot in two hands in a row

Are You Smart Enough To Solve Liv Boeree’s Birthday Cake Puzzle?

Couples that bracelet together, bake together. Or at least for each other.

Liv Boeree to Break Up with Igor Because Math Says So!?!

Liv Boeree begins her TED Talk with an anecdote only those who have dated a degenerate will find truly recognisable.

Is This Allowed? Genderswap at the WSOP

A female poker player is willing to risk disqualification and play the next year’s WSOP Main Event disguised as a man.

How Liv Boeree Reads Her Opponents' Bodies

One of the most prominent female poker players of the world, Liv Boeree appeared on the popular online educational show Big Think.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Christopher Kruk wins PCA 25K High Roller for $836,350

Christopher Kruk overcame Jonathan Jaffe in heads-up play to take down a field of 144 entries and pocket $836,350 for his efforts.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Jason Koon Wins PCA $25K Single Day For $421,080

Jason Koon won yet another High Roller title to add to his ever-growing collection, defeating Belarus' Mikalai Vaskaboinikau heads-up.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Albert Daher Wins PSC Prague €25,000 Single Day High Roller For €324,727

Prague in December has long been a hotbed of poker action and despite the cold weather it proved to be a happy-hunting ground for Lebanese pro Albert Daher.

Online Poker , 6 years ago

Fedor Holz Wins PokerStars High Roller $2,100 NLHE for $178,498

The German live ‘beast’ proved that he still has what it takes to crush online MTT’s as he took down the first prize of $178,498 under his ‘CrownUpGuy’ moniker.

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

DJ Zedd Wins $52K at PokerStars Championship Barcelona

Zedd finished 3rd among 226 entries for a payday of €44,000 ($51,823), falling two places short of the title and the first place prize of €92,700 ($109,181).

Live Poker Events, 6 years ago

Stephen Chidwick Wins €25,500 Single-Day High Roller For €690,400

Chidwick’s victory in Barcelona was by far the biggest single cash of his career – not bad for someone who started his poker career with a bankroll of… freerolls!