Alexander Kravchenko (Alex) was born in Arkhangelsk Soviet Russia (USSR), on April 21st, 1971. He is a 37 year old businessman who lives and works in Russia, married with two children, and started playing poker in 1997.
Although he is still relatively anonymous in the American poker scene, Alexander Kravchenko is one of the most famous professional poker players in Russia and all over Europe. Even though the first WPT event he took part in was in WPT Season 3 (2004) and the first WSOP event he participated took place in 2006, Alexander Kravchenko was well-known for a few years in the Eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Western side of the Pacific.
It all began in the year 2000. The first live professional poker tournament in which Alexander Kravchenko made it to the cash was the Limit 7 Card Stud tournament of the International Poker Festival 2000, an event that took place in Leningradskaya Hotel in Moscow, Russia. In this tournament, that was played on October 13th, 2000, Alexander Kravchenko took the 5th place and won $875. Two days later, on October 15th, he already won 3rd place and $2,699 in the Pot Limit Omaha tournament of the same event. Now he wanted more.
Over the next year, 2001, Alexander Kravchenko participated in over 20 professional poker tournaments, playing various games – No Limit and Pot Limit Omaha and Hold'em. Whether the tournament took place in Russia, Austria, Finland or France, Alexander Kravchenko was there to play, to win. During that year he made over $50,000 playing those national and international tournaments, and won the 1st place in three tournaments: The first one was the Pot Limit Omaha of the Austrian Masters and World Heads Up Championship, where Alexander Kravchenko took home $14,327. On the second tournament he won, the $500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament of the Russian Poker Championship in Moscow, he got $11,914; and on the third tournament, the $200 Pot Limit Hold'em of the Winter Tournament in Moscow, Russia, Alexander Kravchenko brought home $12,040. During that year the name Alexander Kravchenko became familiar in the Russian and European poker scene.
By then anyone who was worth anything in the European professional poker world knew the name Alexander Kravchenko. But that wasn't nearly enough for him. He aimed for the states, the big apple, in order to prove himself a worthy opponent to his American colleagues. And so, Alexander Kravchenko waited a few more years before participating in WSOP events, and started in the European WPT Season 3 events in 2004. In 2006 he finally arrived to the US in 2004, straight to the 37th Annual WSOP Pot Limit Omaha tournament on July 17th. He only took the 36th place and $2,508, and the 20th place along with $10,660 in another Pot Limit Event a few days later, but it never stopped Alexander Kravchanko before.
On June 5th, 2007, Alexander Kravchenko proved that the Russians have more than a single successful professional poker player to offer, as he won the 1st place in the 38th Annual WSOP Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament, along with $228,446 and a shiny new WSOP bracelet. By this he also became the first Russian citizen ever to win a WSOP bracelet. Twelve days and five tournaments later Alexander Kravchenko managed to take the 4th place in the WSOP No Limit Hold'em Championship, and won $1,852,721 – the largest amount of money he has made ever, so far. Thanks to these winnings, Alexander Kravchenko passed Kirill Gerasimov and became the all-time leading Russian player.
Alexander Kravchenko Quick Facts
Cashes: 64
Total Winnings: $2,611,088
First Place Finishes: 6
WSOP Bracelets: 1