Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Eugene Katchalov was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from New York University (NYU) with a business degree, but he has been playing poker professionally for the past four years.
One of Katchalov's biggest scores in a live tournament came in a $5,000 no-limit event during the 2007 Bellagio Cup III, where he earned $118,785. He also won the Sunday $750,000-guaranteed tournament on Full Tilt in November of 2007, but nothing compares to the more than $2.4 million that he snagged for winning the 2007 World Poker Tour Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. Katchalov entered the televised final table as the chip leader and rode it all the way to victory.