7 Russian poker players who have forever etched their names into the history of the game

Russian players traditionally hold the status of some of the strongest in the world community. For years they have ranked among the elite of high-stakes online cash games, and at the biggest live series from Las Vegas to Cyprus they regularly compete for prestigious titles. In this article, we have gathered the best Russian poker players.

Ivan Demidov — the man who launched the poker boom in the CIS

For Russian poker, Ivan Demidov became what Chris Moneymaker was for the world game. In 2008, a professional StarCraft and Warcraft esports player made a historic breakthrough that remains an unbeaten record for Russian players to this day. Ivan finished second in the WSOP Main Event, earning $5.8 million. That same year he made the final table of the WSOPE Main Event in London and finished third. Demidov became the first poker player in history to reach the top 3 of both of the world's major finals within a single calendar year. Over his entire live tournament career, he has racked up $6.8 million in prize money.

Timofey Kuznetsov — the strongest all-rounder of the high stakes era

One of the most mysterious and technically accomplished players of the modern era. A mathematical genius and graduate of the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, he burst onto the most expensive online limits in the early 2010s. For four years he maintained complete anonymity under the nickname Trueteller, earning more than 5 million dollars on PokerStars and Full Tilt alone. Kuznetsov revealed his identity only in 2015, when he sat down to play a high-stakes tournament at the WSOP in Las Vegas.

Although Timofey specializes exclusively in private cash games, he regularly shows strong results in live tournaments too, where his total official cashes exceed 8.6 million dollars. His key offline results include fourth place in the 2015 Super High Roller Bowl, which brought in 2,150,000 dollars, as well as a win in a short-deck poker event at the Triton Poker series in Jeju, where he earned 1,724,185 dollars.

The world poker community recognizes Kuznetsov as an all-rounder capable of adapting to any conditions. Popular American professional Doug Polk once noted that if an entirely new form of poker were invented tomorrow, the last person he would want to meet at the table would be Trueteller himself. The Russian's authority offline was also confirmed by Gus Hansen, who in his report from the private Bobby's Room at the Bellagio included Timofey among the tight-knit circle of old-school American elite alongside Doyle Brunson.

Artur Martirosyan — leader of the new wave

Artur Martirosyan tops the official ranking of the most successful players in the history of Russian poker. The Voronezh-born professional, known online under the nickname mararthur1, has staged one of the most meteoric rises in the industry. In just a few years he went from micro stakes to regularly competing in high roller tournaments with buy-ins of up to 250,000 dollars.

As of today, Martirosyan's total live tournament winnings exceed 35.2 million dollars. In the summer of 2026, at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Artur won his fourth career gold bracelet, taking down a No-Limit Hold'em high roller event in a 6-max format. That win brought him 1,286,285 dollars in prize money. The largest single payout of Martirosyan's career remains the 3,271,666 dollars he received for finishing second in a super high roller event at the 2023 WSOP. He simultaneously ranks among the strongest players on the planet both on the live circuit — at Triton Poker and EPT series — and at the virtual tables, where his online winnings exceed 26 million dollars.

Igor Kurganov — high roller and philanthropist

Igor Kurganov held the title of leader in total live tournament earnings among Russian players for many years. Igor was born in St. Petersburg but spent most of his life in Germany and the UK. Over the course of his career, Kurganov has banked more than $18.7 million. The key achievement of his career was winning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 2017, when he and his partner Liv Boeree won the Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em event. The largest payout of Igor's career remains $1,425,874 for third place in the super high roller event at the EPT Monte Carlo series.

Kurganov's significance in world poker lies in his public and charitable work. Together with Liv Boeree and German high-roller Philipp Gruissem, he founded the international fund Raising for Effective Giving. This organisation brought together professional poker players who committed to regularly donating a fixed percentage of their tournament winnings to effective global charity projects.

Igor's mathematical approach to charity led him to collaborate with Elon Musk. Between 2021 and 2022, the head of Tesla and SpaceX entrusted the Russian poker player with managing the charitable arm of his fund. Kurganov was responsible for auditing and distributing grants totalling up to $5.7 billion.

Anatoly Filatov — the face of media poker

Anatoly showed the entire CIS community how to successfully combine professional play with a public profile. He was a pioneer of Russian-language poker streaming, hosted vlogs from live series that drew hundreds of thousands of views, and actively engaged with his audience. At the same time, his media presence didn't stop him from delivering high, consistent results. Over the course of his live tournament career, Anatoly has earned more than $11.3 million, making him one of the most successful Russian poker players in history.

In the autumn of 2021, playing under his well-known nickname NL_Profit, he finished second in the WSOP Online Main Event, earning $3,281,859 in prize money. Just a month later, Anatoly built on that success by winning his first official World Series gold bracelet in the Bounty Championship high-roller event, which brought him another $1,192,238.

Alexander Kostritsyn — a legend of mixed games

In 2008, Alexander wrote his name into poker history by becoming the Aussie Millions Main Event champion in Australia, beating none other than Erik Seidel heads-up. But joiso's true element isn't hold'em tournaments — it's high-stakes cash games across every existing discipline, including limit games, stud, and triple draw. Online, he was one of the few Russian-speaking players willing to sit down at mixed-game tables against Phil Ivey and Viktor Blom.

In the summer of 2026, at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Alexander won the first gold bracelet of his career in an H.O.R.S.E. event, taking home $872,052 in prize money.

Vladimir Troyanovsky — the leading veteran of Russian high stakes

Vladimir Troyanovsky is rightfully considered a key figure and the leading veteran of the domestic high-roller industry. Unlike most modern professionals, Vladimir represents the old school of players who honed their skills offline back at the turn of the nineties and two-thousands. Over the course of his long live tournament career, Troyanovsky has amassed more than $8.1 million in prize money, which has allowed him to hold the fourth spot in the all-time ranking of Russia's most profitable poker players for many years.

Vladimir gained worldwide recognition in 2013. At the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure festival, he finished second in the $100,000 Super High Roller tournament, earning $792,180 in prize money. Just a few days later, Troyanovsky backed up this success at the same series, finishing seventh in the $25,000 High Roller tournament, adding a further $257,580 to his bankroll. These results brought him a combined total of over a million dollars in just one week and prompted the international community to start talking about the emergence of a formidable Russian opponent, known online to everyone under the nickname vovtroy.

The stories of these players prove that the path to the top of high stakes is open to everyone, and with discipline, perseverance and quality work on mindset, any goal becomes achievable. To turn theory into the ability to win, systematise your basic knowledge and put it into practice, start the free training on the interactive FF Start course.