Jerry Yang raised under the gun and Alex Kravchenko leaned forward, placed both hands behind his chips and slid them forward.  As was his custom, Alex slowly stood up when he was all in.  While Jerry was sweating his decision, the monitors showed an HD closeup of Alex’ face, his sunglasses offering a clear reflection of the table.  The briefest of smiles crosses his lips but they quickly purse when Jerry announces, “I call.”

Alex Kravchenko 3s3c
Jerry Yang KsQh

The crowd stood to their feet and just as someone mutters, “Wow, he’s gottalotta outs,” the dealer ends all drama when he turns over 8c3h2s.  It’s tough to say “drawing dead” in poker—especially for Jerry Yang—but the turn and river cards were truly meaningless as there were no runner-runner possibilities.

Kavchenko’s impressive run continues.  He’s still on the short stack, but I have a feeling the disciplined Russian won’t be going anywhere anytime soon with his 18m stack.