Poker News

On Wednesday, PokerStars added yet another member to its ever-growing Pro Team. Joining the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and Vanessa Rousso is community favorite Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov.

The 29-year-old Ukraine native who now resides in New York has had great success in both the online and live poker realms. Although he won nearly $400,000 on the live tournament circuit from 2004 to 2007, he officially put his name on the map in December 2007, winning the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, pocketing almost $2.5 million.

From there, he took off, cashing at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) a combined 11 times in 2008 and 2009. Also in 2009, Katchalov placed third in the High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) London stop, cashing for over $300,000. In 2010, he reached three WSOP final tables, all of which featured $10,000 buy-ins or higher. All three also featured different games – HORSE, Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em, and Omaha Hi/Lo – showing off Katchalov’s well-rounded poker skills.

This year, he almost pulled a High Roller daily double at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, winning the $100,000 Super High Roller event for $1.5 million and finishing as the runner-up in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max High Roller event for $131,920.

All told, Katchalov has won $6.1 million in live tournaments in his career, good for 38th on the all-time money list according to the Hendon Mob.

Online, he won an event during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) in 2009 for $140,000 and has cashed for over half-million dollars in tournaments on PokerStars alone.

The man is human, though. In mid-February, Katchalov took on the famed Team PokerStars Pro Viktor “Isildur1” Blom in the Superstar Showdown. The two played the required 2,500 hands across four $50/$100 No Limit Hold’em tables on PokerStars. Katchalov held the lead for a short time, but in the end, Blom won $111,750 from his soon-to-be teammate.

In a press release sent by PokerStars, Negreanu commented on the team’s new addition: “Eugene has always flown under the radar, but among his peers, his game is well respected and he is considered one of the best in the world, both in tournaments and cash games. I’m thrilled to see Eugene as part of the team. He’s a great guy and an excellent poker ambassador.”

Shane “shaniac” Schleger, one of the new members of Team PokerStars Online, wrote on TwoPlusTwo, “Wow! Longtime Eugene Katchalov fan. This is awesome, congratulations!” His sentiments are shared by everybody who has commented so far, something that’s very rare in the online poker community and a testament to the respect Katchalov has earned over the years both as a player and as a person.

In an interview on the PokerStars Blog, Katchalov described what being a member of Team PokerStars Pro means to him: “It means being a part of what I believe to be a great team of players and a very professional and serious poker site that opens up many opportunities to its players and pros. I also have a sense of achievement since I am given the opportunity to represent the largest and most successful poker site around. This also gives me the opportunity to grow even further as a worldwide player.”

Despite being known as “MyRabbiFoo” online, Katchalov will now go by the simple moniker “E. Katchalov” on PokerStars. He will begin representing the world’s largest online poker site at the Russian Poker Series Kiev event, which starts this weekend.

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