Poker Player - Alex Kravchenko
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Poker players from all over the world look forward to the World Series of Poker, held every summer for the last 38 years. The tournament started June 1 and finished in a celebratory party for Jerry Lang, who won the Big Event. Harrah’s Entertainment hosted the tournament, which it has been doing since 2004. Before that the event was held in the Binion Horseshoe Casino. It was only after Harrah’s Entertainment acquired the casino that changes were made.
Alex Kravchenko is a professional poker layer bases in Moscow, Russian who started playing poker in 1971. He distinguished himself in the World Wide Poker Series in 2007 by cashing in six times, winning the $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo even and becoming the first Russian citizen to ever get a WSOP bracelet. He passed Kirill Gerasimov in money winning as a result of the money earned at the WSOP event. He was very proud he says to win the bracelet for Russia. His winnings to date total more than $2,400,000.
Las Vegas wasn’t his first win of course. In the Austrian Masters Pot-Limit Championship in 2001, Kravchenko earned first place. Also in 2001, Kravchenko won the Russian Pot-Limit Championship. He has cashed in more than 30 times and seems to be developing an illustrious poker career.
When he was asked what his strategy was at the WSOP he basically believes it’s quite simple. When playing short stacks the game is simple. The more chips you have the more complex the game becomes.
He has wanted to have that bracelet for the last eight years, he acknowledges. The cash is also quite helpful. His advice is: if you’re playing against aggressive players you yourself must become even more aggressive than your fellow players.
Kravchenko earned his first gold bracelet playing Omaha Hi/Low Poker. This variation is the second most popular game in the world. Omaha Hi/Low differs from Texas hold’em in that initially you are deal four hole cards to play; not two. The player starts with four down cards and share five community cards dealt face up. The best high hand automatically wins half the pot on the low side you have to qualify. That is, you must have a five-card hand with no card higher than an eight and neither of those cards paired.
The 36-year-old business is originally from Archangel, USSR. Married and father of two children, Alex Kravchenko has been playing poker for about eight years. Be earned his first bracelet in the $1,500 buy-in High – Low championship. Not only was the event a milestone for Kravchenko career wise, but the Omaha High-Low championship boasted the greatest amount of participants in its history. Not only did he win the Omaha High-Low championship but he won over more people than have played that game during the prestigious event.
Kravchenko has become more mature and laid back in the way that he handles defeats and victories.. He was much more emotional when he was a young man playing the poker tourneys. When he lost he would go crazy. Looking back it was all just a waste of time and energy. It is much better to remember that when you lose one day you may win another day. It is important to keep a balance between winning and losing. The same with poker and the family. I am a father and provider and husband. Each takes a different skill, just like playing different kinds of poker. Nothing is given to you always you must earn it. Tough thinking from a man who has lived long enough to appreciate his wins.
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