Show Notes
Eugene Katchalov is a World Series of Poker winner and World Poker Tour champion with more than $9.2 million in career live tournament earnings. The Ukrainian-born and New York-raised pro won the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a massive $2.5 million and also the 2011 $1,500 stud event at the WSOP for his bracelet.
The 41-year-old has come close to earning the Triple Crown title on a few occasions, most notably taking third at EPT Barcelona and also finishing runner-up at EPT Deauville. He does have three EPT side events wins, including a $1.5 million payday in the $100,000 Super High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He's also played in some of the biggest cash games in the world, including the infamous Molly's Game.
Katchalov has spent the last few years focusing on Qlash, his esports company with fellow poker pro Luca Pagano, and moved back to Kiev with his wife. In February of this year, however, he was forced to flee his home following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Highlights from this interview include leaving the Soviet Union, having a professional gambler for a dad, the symbolic freedom of Coca Cola, speaking Russlish, NYU business school, day trading, watching Antonio Esfandiari get felted, running well at Bellagio, buying a place for his grandparents, a $400k pot with a record label exec, beating Daniel Negreanu for a sponsorship, Korea trips with ElkY, misreading his hand in a high roller, Robin Williams and Angelina Jolie, and onion phobias.
More from Poker Stories
Dylan Weisman spent the pandemic "in the lab," pouring over numbers that few had ever bothered to look at before when it came to the game of PLO. While solvers had been in use for years by high-stakes pros for no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha had been largely ignored, and Weisman saw an opportunity.
Scott Seiver called his shot in 2024, making it known that he intended to win World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors. After 17 cashes, nearly $1.5 million in earnings, and three bracelets, he accomplished his goal and will have a banner hanging at the Horseshoe/Paris for future generations of poker players to see.
Matt Savage was Tournament Director for the World Series of Poker during the poker boom, and has since spent more than a decade as the Executive Tour Director for the World Poker Tour. But the perennial Poker Hall of Fame nominee is also a co-founder of the Tournament Director's Association, which helped to standardize poker tournament rules.
Victoria Livschitz jumped head first into the shark-infested waters of the high roller scene in late 2021, having spent her pandemic lockdown studying all she could about the game. While others may have been intimidated by the talent at the very top of the pyramid, in an environment with very few women, Livschitz had already seen it all before, having found success with a number of different business ventures in male-dominated industries.
Barny Boatman spent much of his youth traveling the world, living in numerous countries and working a variety of jobs that included factory worker, bartender, journalist, English teacher, computer programmer, board game inventer, and even movie reviewer. But it was in the poker world that he found his true calling.