Event #9
Omaha High-Low
Buy-In: $1,500
Number of Entries: 690
Total Prize Money: $941,850
Date of Tournament: June 5-7, 2007
The winner was Alex Kravchenko, from Moscow, Russia. He is a 36-year-old businessman originally from Archangel, USSR. He has been playing poker for about eight years.
Kravchenko is the first Russian citizen in history to win a WSOP gold bracelet. Russian immigrants have won previously at the WSOP, including Ralph Perry last year. But Kravchenko’s victory is clearly a milestone.
Through Event #9, this year’s WSOP has crowned champions born in four different countries
Russia, South Korea, Ireland, and the United States.
Kravechenko has an impressive history of tournament wins in Europe. He won the Austrian Masters Pot-Limit Championship in 2001. He also won the Russian Pot-Limit Championship that same year. His most recent win before this was a Limit Hold’em title at the Helsinki Frezeout in 2002.
This was Kravchenko’s third time to cash at the WSOP (twice last year). He won $228,446 for first place.
This was the largest Omaha High-Low turnout in WSOP history. The event attracted 690 entrants. The previous best was 670 for last year’s OHL8. However, the 2006 event had a larger total prize pool since the buy-in was $2,000 instead of $1,500.
Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Dr. Max Stern cashed in 56th place. He now has 24 lifetime cashes and over $750,000 in WSOP tournament winnings.
