For several agonizing seconds, it looked as though Oleskii Kovalchuk’s first trip to a WSOP final table would be a brief one. With his set of fours floundering against Anthony Ruberto’s set of jacks, he sat quietly, awaiting his fate. But somehow, down to his final out, Kovalchuck drew the final four in the deck, giving him four of a kind to beat his opponent’s newly full house. With the momentum now in his court, the 21 year-old from the Ukraine began his march toward victory.

That was the story in the 26th event of this year’s World Series of Poker, a $2,500 6-handed match of No Limit Hold’em. A total of 1,378 people dropped the necessary buy-in, bringing the total prize pool to $3,134,950. The top 126 players received a return on their investment, with a minimum payout of $5,235.

Prior to his win in Event 26, Kovalchuck had posted a pair of cashes in this year’s WSOP. The first came in Event 10 (NLHE, Six-Handed, $1,500) with a 99th place finish, followed by a 105th place berth in Event 22 (PL Omaha, $1,500). For his latest effort, the youngster netted $689,739.

All in all, the young man has collected a sizable haul in his first outing with the WSOP. But, as he told reporters, monetary value plays only a small roll in his desire to play:

“I feel very happy. I do not know what to say. I do not think about the money. The money is second to me. I wanted the gold bracelet and to win.”

Here’s the final table rundown on Event 26:

#1 – Oleksii Kovalchuk ($689,739)
#2 – Anton Ionel ($428,140)
#3 – Chris Moorman ($271,800)
#4 – Dan O’Brien ($179,162)
#5 – Mazin Khoury ($121,416)
#6 – Anthony Ruberto ($84,549)