Vlad Zguba

After years of working hard as a lawyer and an economist in his native Ukraine, poker pro Vlad Zguba decided that he wanted to change career and try professional poker for a living. He’d been playing for a few years and has since managed to successfully make the switch.

Turning pro has meant that Vlad now plays the biggest events in Europe, and he’s been clocking up some decent results on the circuit along the way. The biggest cash of his career so far came when he just missed out on winning his first major title at the Black Sea Poker Festival in 2008. He eventually finished as runner-up, walking away with $22,087. This was followed in 2009 with a top-50 finish at the San Remo leg of the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Season 5. In what turned out to be one of the largest fields ever seen in a live poker tournament outside of the US, Vlad played a solid game and walked away with a cash of $20,168. He also made a big impact on Ukrainian national television when he won Season 2 of the Star of Poker show - a result that locks up his reputation as one of the best players to emerge from his country.

Away from poker, Vlad likes to keep in shape with visits to the gym, and also enjoys travelling, as well as reading classic works of literature by the likes of Dostoyevsky and Dante. Vlad plays online at PokerStars under the screen name ‘Vlad Zguba’.

Career Highlights