Amid the maelstrom of media flowing through the Wynn Poker Room and ballrooms in Las Vegas, one player who is new to the surroundings stands out. He’s not only a veteran of many WPT victories, WSOP cashes and EPT heroics, but a poker legend of yesteryear. Eugene Katchalov still strikes a powerful and engaging personality. Our founder Robbie Strazynski had a lengthy conversation with Eugene as he discussed a return to poker and what life has really been like in the Ukraine these past few years.
Speaking with Eugene is a unique experience. There’s a hark to tournaments of old, but also a newness to him, an embracing of the present moment and a vision of what is to come. Here in Las Vegas at his first World Poker Tour festival in at least five years, Katchalov is determined to live every moment to its fullest, and the reasons for which are fascinating to discover.
Rediscovering the World Poker Tour
Like many players in recent years, Eugene has looked on as the WPT have prompted sky-high poker attendances in December. The WPT World Championships have changed the face of poker events, and having been mostly growing his business and living in war-torn Kyiv in recent years, this is his first taste of the festival. It’s fair to say he’s impressed.
“It’s cool walking through the hallways – I saw my picture [up] for winning in Season VI. It’s nice to see how far the organization has come. I didn’t play poker for a number of years, and I’ve been really impressed with the organization. Everything is automated for the players and it’s great to see.”
The WPT World Championships caught fire when they first arrived in 2022 and they are even bigger now in 2024 in the third iteration.
“I’d heard a lot of good things about the venue at The Wynn. I missed coming to Vegas, I came for the World Series two or three years ago but… its been a while,” Eugene says clearly emotionally fulfilled at coming back to the big tournament atmosphere.
Back in the Mix
“Everything else around poker felt like a grind before. It doesn’t anymore.”
While he’s in Vegas, Eugene has been playing a variety of events. He loves nothing more than to mix it up at the felt, the former Team PokerStars Pro having conquered many formats in the live arena.
“I’ll play in the Championship event. I played the Prime, it was mind-boggling, the amount of players. I can’t wait to jump in. I might play another couple of side events, maybe the mixed games too, which I know you like.”
Anyone who knows us knows that mixed games are the heart and soul of poker for Cardplayer Lifestyle. We’d hardly have just enjoyed our latest Mixed Games Festival if they weren’t. Eugene has no major poker ambitions behind his return, which comes from a place of love and fondness instead.
“I’m here because I missed playing poker and wanted to check out the WPT and to show my face – to see people I haven’t seen in a long time,” he says. “To reconnect with people is great. When I used to play professionally, it would get tiring, but being back now from a more recreational angle it’s very different. It is much more enjoyable somehow; it doesn’t feel like a grind or a job. I can’t say I wasn’t looking forward to it before. But everything else around poker felt like a grind before. It doesn’t anymore.”
Robbie Strazynski (left) catches up with poker legend Eugene Katchalov in Las Vegas.
A Life on High Alert
“I have really clear memories of that day – you could see panic in people’s eyes.”
Years now after the outbreak of war and his infamous escape from the Ukraine when Kyiv was under heavy bombardment, Eugene has returned to the country to continue living there with his wife of 10 years, Anna. With her business in the country and his mother safely ensconced in Miami, life in Kyiv has taken on a new form, after years of the war with Russia having altered surroundings on more of a long-term basis that the initial shock of displacement.
“It’s normal-ish. Life goes on, people adapt. The biggest difference is that there are electricity problems and blackouts. They’re more organized and we have a battery in our apartment that still provides electricity for around five hours. We still have to drive over borders, though, there are no planes. Every flight has to be insured in commercial aviation, why would anyone insure a flight out?”
Eugene’s dual nationality – he is American-Ukrainian – means that he is fortunate in the sense that he is allowed to leave. No Ukrainian men are.
“You’re like a prisoner in some ways,” he told Robbie. “It’s rough because of the way the war is going. No-one wants to fight, everyone is in hiding somehow. Everybody walks their dogs, kids are in the playground, businesses are opening up. People from far away think its like a pure warzone but its not, but you feel it crossing in and out.”
Eugene still has vivid memories of his initial escape from Kyiv and the subsequent journey he and his family had to endure when war broke out.
“When I first entered into Hungary it felt like – I have really clear memories of that day – you could see panic in people’s eyes. Then, in Budapest, people were just walking around, holding hands; you can appreciate how different it is.”
That’s a feeling Robbie knows all too well. Travelling to Las Vegas from Israel means taking off from a near-desolate airport where barely any flights are departing/arriving to the bustling Harry Reid International Airport. It’s a different world and the way people interact is starkly dissimilar.
“I’m an American even though I’m living in the Ukraine,” says Eugene. “It’s a weird situation even though we have everything in Ukraine. Two hours ago, there was a siren and I went on the app.”
In 2024, there are comparable cell phone apps for checking local air raids, for when the latest siren went off back home, whether in Israel or Ukraine. That itself is a vivid reminder of just how fragile life is.
Robbie’s (left) and Eugene’s (right) phones, displaying their respective rocket alert apps
What Comes Next for Eugene Katchalov
“In poker, you have to win your flips, but in business you can influence your success a little more.”
While technology and displacement might be immediate pressures on the human psyche living in such a country at this time, Eugene believes that the corruption and disparity within his home citizens’ lives could be a greater challenge to overcome.
“It’s a large country and what’s become obvious is that only the poor are fighting,” he says. “The corruption is extraordinary. When the war first broke up there was a lot of passion. The vibe has shifted in a dramatic way from those times. A lot of people are making money from this war in Ukraine. You see new cars appearing on the street. There are two different worlds, people who are fighting for the country, and people who are making money from it.”
Eugene is refreshingly happy to share his experiences of the latest new dawn in his life. It’s one of many, from the eras he has traversed in poker to a global pandemic and the outbreak of war in the country where he and his family reside.
“Living in a country at war has its challenges, but life goes on,” says Eugene. “Even if the war stops, things will get tougher. Right now, there’s one enemy – Russia or Putin – and all the focus is there. Once there’s no enemy there, we’re going to look for the enemy within and all the problems exiting in the country. [I worry] people will start blaming each other – you can only look at Russia for so long. The people are really nice in Ukraine, the food, the culture, I love it.”
Eugene is, in some ways, a man without somewhere he truly calls home. He admits to not having ‘a particular pull to one place’ and the life he leads is, in some ways, living the dream. But it’s not all easy and swapping poker for the business world has taught him some valuable lessons.
“Life is full of ups and downs. In poker, you have to win your flips, but in business you can influence your success a little more. Things never go as planned in business, so you’re forced to made adjustments. You could have the greatest idea in the world but if you have a bad team it won’t work. If you have a mediocre idea but a great team, they’ll find a way to make that idea work or stumble across a good idea along the way. There is more value to the team than the idea.
In a world full of bright ideas and connections that so often finds it hard to truly bring people together, the Wynn Las Vegas hallways of a bustling World Poker Tour World Championship festival enjoyed in peace by so many throws a light on how easy life can be. Eugene Katchalov is a name from poker’s past whose life experiences could guide the future of the game in a positive way too.
After all, as Eugene knows all too well, there is always a new dawn.
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