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News / $1,800,000 - per week |  |
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$1,800,000 - per weekSeptember 5, 2007 10:19 Russian poker player Alexander KRAVCHENKO won at the World Championship in Las Vegas
Vladimir KOZIN - 09/05/2007
Alexander Kravchenko will turn 37 in April next year. For a card game, he is a man in his prime. Recently, he was the first Russian (for which he was included in the Book of Records) to win the Gold Bracelet of the World Series of Poker Tournaments - a badge of honor for a great player. Participated in several world championships. At the last world championship in Las Vegas, just recently, he came fourth and received a prize of 1 million 800 thousand dollars. In total, he earned almost 2.5 million in prize money during his professional career.
(If you want to learn more about Alexander Kravchenko and the game of poker, you can check out his personal website alexkpoker.ru)
- Alexander, how would you introduce yourself to the reader?
- Professional poker player. Good player. Experience - more than 10 years.
- When did you first become acquainted with cards?
- In Arkhangelsk, where I was born. As a child, from the age of six, we first played trick-or-treating with our friends. It seems to me that by the age of twelve I had mastered all existing card games.
- Were you playing for fun? Have many of your friends been in debt?
- No. They didn't play in debt. It was somehow not customary in our midst to fight with money. Well, maybe in childhood on clicks. He started playing for money at the age of twenty-five. In a casino poker club.
- Why did you choose poker? After all, there are a lot of card games - bridge, preference, and belot.
- Why do some become football players, while others become gymnasts? This game fascinated me more than others. I think it has an advantage over other species. And then one day I suddenly understood, comprehended the very essence of the game, its depth. But don't ask me to tell you what it means.
- Alexander, who is your teacher?
- I'm self-taught. I achieved everything myself. Learned from my mistakes. But then I never repeated them.
- At one time, Komsomolskaya Pravda held international tournaments in whitewashing. Anatoly Karpov, who was an indispensable participant in the competition, said that the main thing for a player is skill, intuition and luck. Anything to add?
- Actually, there are many aspects. In poker, this means knowledge of mathematics and probability theory, knowledge of psychology, plus your own psychological stability.
- Is luck an important component?
- Over a long period, in a large multi-hour, multi-day tournament, it means nothing. You might get lucky in the short term. I didn’t say, mind you: fools are lucky, smart people always win.
- Nowadays poker tournaments are broadcast on television. Why do many players at the table wear glasses or hats pulled down deeply over their eyes?
- We call this “reducing the field of the face.” The game is on nerves, emotions overwhelm, nerves give out. By eye movement you can determine a lot, understand whether your opponent is bluffing or not.
- How many tournaments do you have?
- Large ones - about forty. The last one is the World Championship in Las Vegas.
- Who takes part in these tournaments? Is there a rating, like, for example, for tennis players?
- There is no special rating. The systems for calculating rating points are still imperfect. And anyone can participate. Pay a fee of 10 thousand dollars and collect combinations.
More than six thousand people took part in the main final in Las Vegas (preliminary qualifying games were held a month before the start of the tournament, in which about three hundred thousand players took part). Paid the fee and received chips. Ten people sit at a table. If you lose the chips, you're out. If you win, you move on.
- What are the biggest winnings?
- Two years ago, Australian Joe Khachin won $10 million. This year he was surpassed by an American with the telling surname Gold (“Gold.” - Ed.). He won a prize of 12 million.
- Which of the greats of this world did you play with?
- Politicians, financiers and big businessmen all play. But there are different levels. And, let’s say, not many people participate in large games. There is a certain code. This is called “no trespassing.”
- Have you played with Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who literally moved from tennis to poker professionals?
- Ask him that. It is not customary for us to talk about this.
- How fashionable is poker in Russia?
- If a sports federation for poker has been created, it means it is already fashionable and in demand. There are many poker clubs around the country. Players gather at the casino, pay their table and dealer fees, and off they go.
- Will this game be the game of millions?
- Will. More likely. I think it will be dominant throughout the world. Because everything is simple and accessible.
- Psychologically (and physically) sitting at a card table for many hours is a terrible test. How do you relax and recover?
- The main thing is deep and restful sleep. Training is a must. Sports exercises according to your own recipe.
- I know, chess players of the old guard told me, that some people take it before the game to tone up. Now cognac has been equated to doping, even in small doses.
- We do not have doping control yet. Probably, some people allow themselves to do so. For courage, to relieve stress.
- And you yourself?
- Never! ALIEN'S POCKET Who else hit the big jackpot?*
WELL WELL!
Chess vs poker
Harvard professors are proposing to introduce poker into the curriculum of universities around the world. This game, scientists believe, simultaneously contains a universal means of developing mental abilities, a treasury of life experience and a source of moral virtues. One of the most respected educational institutions in the United States, the Harvard Law School, has developed a project to introduce poker into the curriculum. Harvard experts see poker as a solution to many of society's pressing problems, from juvenile delinquency to diplomatic crises. But in Russia, where poker is not yet so popular, they decided to focus on another game. This is what Anatoly Karpov said yesterday at the Russian Chess Championship in Krasnoyarsk: - I will strive to have chess included in the compulsory school curriculum in Russia. This proposal is already viewed positively in the State Duma. When such a law is adopted, it will be necessary to ensure that more chess teachers begin to be trained. |
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