There are plenty of good players without a WSOP bracelet. Although with 50+ handed out every year, it sometimes seems like the small gold wrist decorators aren’t too hard to come by. In reality that’s far from the truth and for that reason, there are plenty of pros awarded the moniker: Best Player Never to Win a Bracelet. It’s mostly a title too easily bestowed, but few could argue that Ukranian/American professional Eugene Katchalov didn’t deserve it.
That was until a few days ago, when he officially unqualified himself from the running by winning Event #5 at the 2011 World Series of Poker. All it took was $1,500, a working knowledge of Seven-Card Stud, and a few grueling hours of poker played at the highest level. Katchalov’s reward for his success: $481,950 and career validation.
Not that he really needed that kind of endorsement. The experienced pro already has over $6.3 million in career tournament earnings and a WPT title from 2007. He began 2011 in lightning fashion, winning $1.5 million in the $100k Super High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and, as if that weren’t enough, his victory in Event #5 puts him at the summit of the BLUFF Player of the Year leaderboard.
Just like most of the non-hold’em events at the World Series, this $1.5k 7-Card Stud tournament was stacked with quality players. Katchalov had to battle his way past the likes of Shaun Deeb (15th), Andy Bloch (14th), Ylon Schwartz (11th), Ali Eslami (7th), and Eric Buchman (3rd) in the latter stages. Even his heads up opponent was no slouch. Alessio Isaia is also enjoying a great year, having recently won WPT Venice. More than half of his $1.8 million career tournament earnings have come in 2011.
Isaia went into heads-up as the firm favourite, holding a massive cheap lead over Katchalov. Eventually, however, the Ukranian raised in New York found his way back into the match and eventually ended it when a 7th street Ace paired his hand and put him just ahead of Alessio’s K-K.
“To sit here for three straight days and not break down is not easy. I put in a lot of work, and I am glad to see it pay off,” Eugene commented. “I can’t describe how happy I am to finally get that monkey off my back. To win a WSOP bracelet, especially in the beginning of the series, this will give me confidence. I am ready to go, ready to play.”
Full payouts for 2011 WSOP Event #5 are as follows:
1. Eugene Katchalov ($122,909)
2. Alessio Isaia ($75,911)
3. Eric Buchman ($48,961)
4. Jonathan Spinks ($35,476)
5. Dennis Parker ($26,083)
6. Kai Landry ($19,456)
7. Ali Eslami ($14,723)
8. Vasili Lazarou ($11,301)
9. Jeremy Ausmus ($8,800)
10. Andrew Blumen ($8,800)
11. Ylon Schwartz ($6,949)
12. Arash Ghaneian ($6,949)
13. Colby Pitt ($5,561)
14. Andy Bloch ($5,561)
15. Shaun Deeb ($4,511)
16. Doug Carli ($4,511)
17. Jorge Leon ($3,711)
18. Bryan Devonshire ($3,711)
19. Marc Fluss ($3,711)
20. Christopher George ($3,711)
21. Mark Provenzano ($3,711)
22. Stephen Weiss ($3,711)
23. Kevin Calenzo ($3,711)
24. Larry Stjean ($3,711)
25. Brett Jungblut ($3,113)
26. Anthony Mosholder ($3,113)
27. Alexander Wice ($3,113)
28. Fu Wong ($3,113)
29. Paul Fisher ($3,113)
30. Chad Brown ($3,113)
31. Yarron Bendor ($3,113)
32. Markus Lehner ($3,113)
33. Jim Paluszek ($2,612)
34. Lonnie Heimowitz ($2,612)
35. Ronald Maze ($2,612)
36. Scott Seiver ($2,612)
37. Frank Guida ($2,612)
38. Hani Awad ($2,612)
39. David Tighe ($2,612)
40. Sohail Afra ($2,612)