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 ago23,956BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

2016 American Poker Awards - Stapes Jokes Around with Boeree and Kurganov

Joe Stapleton jokes with GPL London Royals Team manager Liv Boeree and Team member Igor Kurganov at the 2016 American Poker Awards...

8 years ago3,933BestPokerVids,

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

9 years ago4,688BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

Aussie Millions 2015 - Igor Kurganov Interview

Chris from MBP catches up with Igor Kurganov for a short chat during his stay at the Aussie Millions 2015

8 years ago2,784BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Aussie Millions HR - Kurganov vs Reinkemeier

Igor Kurganov and Tobias Reinkemeier battling

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 ago7,033BestPokerVids,

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

7 years ago13,791BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Celebrity Cash Kings - Tony G Makes His Return

Poker player turned Politician Tony G makes his return to the felt in some high stakes from the Kings Casino in the Czech Republic...

10 years ago1,524PokerStars.com,

Published 10 years ago

EPT 10 Barcelona Day One: Featured hand no.1

Our first featured hand from Day 1 sees Sandor Demjan lock swords with Igor Kurganov in a pivotal pot for both players.

8 years ago77,627BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

EPT 11 Grand Final Main Event - Episode 1

EPT 11 Grand Final Main Event - Episode 1It's the €10,000 Pokerstars EPT Season 11 Grand Final Main Event and we join the remain...

9 years ago6,008PokerTube,

Published 9 years ago

EPT London Day 2: Igor Kurganov Interview

Igor Kurganov talks to Rikard about his life in London, poker players and charity involvement, working on his game and more

Live Poker Events, 4 years ago

Liv Boeree Busts to Boyfriend Igor Kurganov as 2019 Main Event Kicks Off in Spectacular Fashion

Defending champion John Cynn took centre stage to deliver a ‘shuffle up and deal!’

The Future of PokerStars Pros: What Are They Now Looking for?

Is PokerStars changing tack on their policies?

Crazy Prop Bets For the RunItOnce Crew

Prop bet season is well and truly open it seems

Liv Boeree Eyes Up Chess World Title

Is chess the new poker? Perhaps not, but the game of kings certainly caught the eye of Liv Boeree

Poker Power Couples Running Good

Just like the many game variants of poker itself, the cast of romantics in this story is very different

For Just $3000 the 2017 WSOP Marathon Bracelet Could be Yours!

2017 WSOP bracelet swapped for guns and now on sale for $3000

Partypoker’s Anatoly Filatov Flying High After Sochi Main Event Victory

PokerTube caught up with the live and online crusher

Live Poker Events, 5 years ago

partypoker MILLIONS UK Just Around the Corner

The 9-day poker extravaganza at the Dusk Till Dawn Casino in Nottingham

Top 5 Ladies of WSOP 2018

It’s worth celebrating some of the players who have made this year’s WSOP great

Liv Boeree’s Vegas House of Horrors

Checking into an Airbnb apartment is often an adventure in itself, but for Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov the Vegas version left them fearing the worst…