2011 WSOP Bracelet Winner Profile – Eugene Katchalov

Eugene Katchalov recently won Event #5 of the 2011 WSOP, the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Event. He bested a field of 357 players to win the title. He won $122,909 as well as his first WSOP bracelet. Katchalov defeated Italian poke pro Alessio Isaia heads up for the title. This latest win comes only five months after Katchalov took down the $100k Super High Roller Tournament at the PCA.

Eugene Katchalov - $1,500 Seven Card Stud bracelet winner.

Katchalov was born in the Ukraine and traveled to the United States at the age of ten with his mother. At the time of he and his mother’s departure from Kiev, the area was still in the throws of the Soviet regime and under cold war style authority. Katchalov remembers escaping at night and passing tanks that were patrolling the nighttime streets.

Katchalov and his mother moved to Brooklyn, NY. His father had already made his way to Brooklyn and they moved into his apartment. Katchalov was enrolled at a Russian-speaking school even though he was younger than the minimum age required for admittance. Soon after, his parents decided to move him to a public school to allow him to better learn English.

In high school Katchalov played sports, most notably basketball. He recalls that his family played cards, but there was no serious gambling. After high school he entered NYU Stern Business School. In 2003 he graduated from NYU with a degree in finance.

After graduation Katchalov went to work as a stock trader. Unlike many other poker pros his age, Katchalov had never played poker until after graduation. A friend of his introduced him to the game and he was hooked.

Katchalov’s first big win came at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. A friend of his suggested that he enter and staked Katchalov in the event. Katchalov ended up coming in 5th place for $ 47,868. After a few other big scores Katchalov quit his job and started his own hedge fund. Soon after starting his own fund Katchalov made the biggest poker score of his career. He took down the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $ 2,482,605.

Katchalov made it to heads up in WSOP event #5 with less than 1/5 the stack of his opponent. He had 250,000 in chips compared to Alessio Isaia’s 1.35 million. Katchalov was able to turn the tables by winning back-to-back huge pots, which included a full house and an ace high flush. The final hand saw Katchalov catching good on sixth and seventh street and making a better two pair. Katchalov took away $122,909 as well as the coveted bracelet.

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