Alex Kravchenko doubled up when he moved in on the short stack with KJ through the pocket 33 of “Rain” Khan.  The doubleup gave the stoic Russian nearly 6m and left Khan with 7m.

Alex Kravchenko has a string of cashes dating back to 1999 on the Hendon Mob database. In this morning’s press conference, he described himself as a businessman who plays poker recreationally.  The 36-year old Russian came across poker in a casino almost ten years ago and his business instinct kicked in.  “I saw that the good players made money from bad players.  So I started playing.”

Alex was in the running for the WSOP player of the year after an impressive summer.  He cashed in five events, with two final tables.  However, it was the first cash that counted the most.  Alex pulled down $228,446 and the gold bracelet in the $1,500 Omaha 8OB tournament.