About Alexander Kravchenko
| Name | Alexander Kravchenko |
|---|---|
| Current Residence | Hull, UK Moscow Russia |
| Birth Place | Arhangelsk, RU |
Kirill Gerasimov eat your heart out. At the 2007 World Series of Poker Alex Kravchenko proved there was more than one talented poker player in Russia when he took home a gold bracelet from the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo championship and made the Main Event final table.
Though he is still a relative unknown in North America, the Moscow, Russia, man has been playing poker for eight years and has a string of notable European final table results and a couple WSOP cashes to his credit.
But those all pale to the newest distinction held by Kravchenko: the first Russian citizen to win a WSOP event.
The record and the gold bracelet failed to faze the Russian, as he told PokerListings.com shortly after his event win.
"I can say that I wanted to win it, but I wanted to win any big tournament," Kravchenko said. "It was my dream."
Though Omaha Hi-Lo isn't his best game - Kravchenko favors Stud and plays a lot of Hold'em - he managed to outplay 689 entrants to win the $228,446 first prize.
Kravchenko took another shot at greatness in the Main Event as well, making it all the way to the final table and finishing in fourth place. For that he earned his spot in the WSOP millionaires club, taking home more than $1.8 million.
It might have been his largest cash to date, but his results in Europe are also impressive. Apart from final tabling many tournaments, Kravchenko has wins at the Austrian Masters, the Winter Tournament in St. Petersburg, the Helsinki Freezeout, and the Pacific Poker Open in the U.K.
At the 2006 World Series, Kravchenko cashed more than $10,000 in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em and the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha events, then followed up his 2007 bracelet win with a $16,000 cash for 27th place in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em championship.
The self-described semi-pro has no plans of racking up his air miles on the tournament circuit any time soon though; he will continue living in Russia, where he works in business.
