Tournament Trail Q and A -- Alexander KravchenkoKravchenko Talks About Russian Poker |
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It has been a summer of highs and lows for the world of Russian poker.
Things were looking good for the state of poker in the large country early in the summer. A successful Russian Poker Tour stop in Moscow that was won by Vitaly Lunkin led PokerStars to announce that Moscow would be the initial stop for season six of the European Poker Tour. Then Lunkin stormed into the 40th-annual World Series of Poker and won the $40,000 no-limit hold’em event. He followed that up by making the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, where he finished in fourth place.
Then the bad news came, the Russian government shut down all state-run casinos on July 1, and then poker was declassified as a sport by the Russian government in late July and PokerStars decided to move the Moscow event to Kiev, Ukraine.
Card Player caught up with Russian poker professional Alexander Kravchenko at Bellagio, where he cashed in 19th place at the Bellagio Cup V. Kravchenko shared his thoughts about the future possibilities for poker in Russia, and he also showed support for the success of his countryman Lunkin. Kravchenko is no stranger to success at the WSOP; he was the first Russian poker player to make a big splash at the Rio when he won a gold bracelet and then made the final table of the main event at the 2007 Series.
Ryan Lucchesi: How does it feel to be one of the initial Russian players to find success in the poker community?
Alexander Kravchenko: It feels great. I like to play poker and travel all over the world. I like this life and I like to play. It feels good to be one of the well-known Russian poker players.
RL: How did it feel to watch your fellow countryman Vitaly Lunkin step in and have a large amount of success at the 2009 World Series of Poker like you did in 2007?
AK: Vitaly had unbelievable results in this past World Series. He’s a great no-limit hold’em player, and he is also quite good at pot-limit Omaha, so I wasn’t too surprised by his results. He won the Russian Poker Tour event in Moscow at the beginning of May, as well. His results are unbelievable, so it comes as no surprise that he is in first place in the Player of the Year race. This is not luck; I’ve known him for a lot of years, and he is a very good no-limit hold’em player.
RL: What is the aggression level of the average Russian player?
AK: I think it depends on the age of the player, more than anything. The young online players are much more aggressive than the older players who play poker live. Any player who learned online is, of course, going to play much more aggressive poker.
RL: What is the popularity of mixed games in Russia?
AK: The two main games are no-limit and pot-limit hold’em followed by pot-limit Omaha. The mixed games are played only sometimes, and only in big games.
RL: The Russian government decided to close down all of the state-run casinos and move them into targeted areas to spur economic growth in those areas, and then poker was declassified as a sport. This is what led to the cancellation of the EPT Moscow event. What does this mean to poker in Russia in the future? Does this set things back?
AK: All of the casinos have been closed since July. Poker will not be a sport. They will treat poker like a casino game, a game of gambling … they will treat it that way. If they chose to treat poker like a sport, then anyone could have opened a poker club. There is no government regulation in basketball, so if poker were a sport, there would be no regulation there, either. They want to regulate it. From my point of view, poker is not a sport. It is a game of skill, of course, but it’s not a sport. It’s a game of skill, like chess. I would like for them to open poker clubs in Moscow. If the government will regulate it, I think it will be even better. The game will be clean, and the service will be better. This will also limit the number of poker clubs. They don’t want poker tables on every corner, which would not be good, either. For a city like Moscow, 10 poker clubs is good, if it is 500, that is too much.
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