Eugen Katchalov: “The main thing in life is to do what makes you happy”

In my interview, I decided to talk to a person whose lifestyle and way of thinking are radically different from mine. I thought for a long time about what qualities this person should have. And then, I realized: the main quality of my interviewee should be “not to worry about what is happening”. I think that I have a negative trait of worrying too much, exaggerating things and making a mountain out of a molehill. On the one hand, it seems, I achieved a lot of things, having spent an incredible amount of strength and energy. And on the other, the quality of my life has not improved much compared to 10 years earlier.

So, I began to create a portrait of a potential candidate. After considering several options, I concluded that my opponent would be a person who continually takes risks, treats life as a game, and just enjoys it. ?A professional poker player!? — it dawned on me!

I didn’t have to look for a professional poker player for a long time. As soon as I started asking my friends if there was anyone in their network, they immediately gave me a link to Eugen Katchalov's Facebook

Eugene Katchalov is “a motivated and disciplined player who succeeds thanks to perseverance and intelligence. Whatever task he faced, whether it was college graduation, trading in the securities market, or poker career, he proved that he could not only achieve his goals, but also surpass them. Since 2004, when Eugene announced the beginning of his professional career, he earns an average of $1 million a year”.

Eugene’s lifestyle turned out to be the exact opposite of mine, so I called without hesitation.

— Eugene, you moved to New York from Kiev in 1991 at the age of 10. Was it easy to adapt to new conditions at such a young age?

— The first two years were tough. We were poor, lived in Brooklyn, did not know the language. It was an absolutely different world for us. First, my parents sent me to a Russian school. There, my English progress was very slow, so in 2 years I started attending an English school. So, I gradually started learning a foreign language. Learning a language progressed much faster when I got English-speaking friends.

— Did you know who you want to be when you grow up, or was it unexpected for you?

— I never knew that. Even when I was entering university. Why did I go to university? Because everyone did. I thought that I would start studying, and then I’ll figure it out. I studied International Business and Finance at Stern Business School in New York. Although I studied investment, I liked trading more and began to work as a day trader. By the way, trading also happened by accident. I got a friend at the stock exchange, and thanks to him, I became interested in money transactions and started working in this sphere.

— What was interesting for you in trading?

— I liked to weigh risks and profits. There is an element of the game, and I always liked different games.

— Did you start playing poker at the university?

— No, the first time I sat at a table with my friends in 2003, when I had already graduated from university. That year, there was a poker boom in America, and it was impossible not to try to play.

— How did you become passionate about poker? Did you win then?

— You know, I lost (laughing). The loss was insignificant, about $ 6, but at that time, it was serious money for me. I just love to play. My father was a gambler; he played cards in parks or someone’s apartment because playing in the USSR was illegal. I began to play more often, and gradually it became the main thing that I did. After four years, I had to choose between poker and trading, and I chose poker.

— Why?

— I liked the lifestyle. I did not want to be attached to one place; I wanted to travel. When you trade, you are attached to the monitor and the time of the exchange. Unlike trading, poker is a game where you can meet and communicate with very unusual people that you will never meet in everyday life. At the same time, poker, like trading, also requires constantly weighing risks and thinking strategies out.

— Can you give an example of interesting people who you talked to at the table?

— I played with Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Chelsea Clinton, Guy Laliberte, who owns the Cirque du Soleil. Guy was one of 300 people who flew into space. He talked about the 6-month preparation and about two weeks in space. Where else could I hear such stories!?

— What did your parents think about your career?

— They were ok. Dad supported me, as I said, he was a gambler himself. My mother did not understand it at first, she supports a more stable source of income, but when she saw my first serious income, she took my side.

— What is your maximum win and loss?

— The official income excluding losses is about 9 million. In 2007, in Vegas, I won 2.5 million during the tournament. Of course, I had losses. The maximum loss was approximately 200-250 thousand.

— What did you feel when you lost?

— Losing, of course, is unpleasant. But if you are a professional player, then almost every day you lose or win about 50 thousand. Over time, you get used to this.

You need to understand that losses are inevitable. This is unpleasant, but such is life. If you understand how important it is to KNOW how to lose, then you can deal with unpleasant times.

In poker, every mistake a player makes in the present makes his future easier. Because the next time he encounters a problem, he will already understand how to solve it.

— How do you manage to control yourself? How do you fight doubts?

— To play poker professionally, you need to constantly work on yourself. You need harsh discipline, like in sports. By the way, sports helps a lot in the game, because it develops the necessary skills and psychological reactions. I will give an example. Imagine, we are playing against each other. We each have $ 100. After the first game, you lost $ 10. You immediately have a natural human reaction — to get even. You don’t think about the $ 90 that you have left; you don’t think about how to win, you want to get your $ 10 back. But getting even is not logical. Then the player begins to take more risks and act impulsively and emotionally. But if we immediately stop the game and meet in a few days, then you will already forget about your $ 10 and will have a fresh start. There will be a balance again because your attitude has changed.

So, when I lose and notice that I am not controlling my emotions, I stop playing for a day or a week to calm down and restore balance. Meditation helps.

— Do you believe in lucky charms? Do you have a lucky charm?

— No, I don’t believe in charms and magic, and I don’t have one. Poker is a job in which you always need to work on your skills. This is the only way to achieve high results. I believe in a gut feeling, which is backed up by experience and practice. For example, I have been in poker for more than ten years, and if I make a decision, but inside me, something is against it, then I change tactics.

— What is your motto?

— Think, plan, don’t make mistakes, and respect the game and the players.

— How does a poker player train? How does he prepare for the tournament?

— As in sports or any other game, to be a professional, you need to train consistently. It is easy to learn the rules in poker, but it is actually a very profound game. Nobody has yet succeeded in comprehending it to the end. You need to constantly work on a strategy, and know both psychological and mathematical approaches. This is a game against another person, so you should always try to find out what kind of method that person has. You need to observe, compare, determine behavioural patterns. And the other person also watches you and tries to determine patterns in your behaviour. Before a serious tournament, I always warm up in small games for training.

— What is the difference between a professional and an amateur?

— Everyone knows that to become a professional, you need to devote at least 10,000 hours to what you do. If an amateur has fun, then a professional makes money.

— What are your plans for the future?

— I stopped playing poker regularly 1.5 years ago. I had been doing it for 14 years, and I got tired of it a little. I wanted to create something because a game is just a game; you are not building or creating anything. Poker is always zero in the end: if I have won today, then someone has lost today. I switched to the cybersport. With a friend, we created a large startup — QLASH. Four years ago, we visited several computer games tournaments and were amazed at the number of people who came just to watch, and the level of energy in general. The energy was going through the roof. In ordinary sports games, the overall energy level is much lower. I decided to bring together communities of people who want to play and watch. So QLASH was born. QLASH works in three areas: competitions (they currently support seven professional teams in various games), a network of streamers creating content, and the organization of tournaments. We organize interesting, exciting tournaments; we have at our disposal the largest gaming platform in Europe in the Italian Treviso, where we conduct master classes, create content, and conduct competitions.

If we talk about future plans, then, first of all, it is the further innovative development of the startup.

—Is playing poker different from doing business?

— In poker and business, there are a lot of similar points. For example, when I participate in a poker tournament, I understand that my chances of winning first place are only 3%. The probability of losing is 97%, respectively. And it’s not only with me; it’s the same with any professional. About the same statistics is in the business world. You shouldn’t count on being first all the time, but this does not mean that you will be out of the game.

I always try to stay in the game as long as possible, even realizing that I definitely won’t become a champion. Ultimately, even a small difference in gain will be essential. In business, the same principles work. When you start your own business, it is crucial not to give up on the first failure, but to try to hold on as long as possible and make every effort to save money.

In the game, there is some luck, but most often, everything is decided by skill and experience. The same is in business. It depends on you how you will conduct business, make decisions, negotiate, etc. Of course, you cannot control everything, but it is essential to focus not on what is beyond your control, but on what you can control. This is the key to success. Practice and experience are very important. For example, in poker, a beginner can read all the books, watch all the videos and take lessons from the best professionals without ever sitting at the table. But a person will only succeed and reach heights when he starts playing. I can say the same thing about business.

— What is the most important thing for you in life?

— To do what makes me happy. After all, work takes about 8 hours, that is, a third of one’s life. Another 8 hours you sleep. So, if you do what you do not like, you are unhappy for at least 50% of your active time. Why be unhappy? What’s the point?

Our interview was over. As always, I had a hundred questions for myself. How often am I happy? What do I need to do to make a difference? Am I ready to leave my 32 years of experience behind and start life from scratch? And then what should I write on this blank sheet?

Questions piled up like a snowball. I did not give in to emotions, but started freewriting. Freewriting always helps me when I need to think things through. I decided not to jump into it straight away, because this reaction is no different from the desire to get even. As in poker, I need to calm down and think about a strategy, carefully review my life, take lessons, and work on my mistakes. And often ask myself: “What do I like? What would I like to do at the moment?” After all, you can start with simple things, like allowing yourself to dance in your pyjamas before breakfast, or go for a walk and then work later. And then you can look for a new hobby. Why not try poker today, dance tomorrow, and then ride a horse the day after tomorrow? Who knows, maybe a small hobby will lead to a multi-million business.