Ukraine-born poker pro Eugene Katchalov had a successful run at the tables. He racked up over $9.2 million in live-tournament action before slowly fading out of the limelight. He has still participated in tournaments, but not as often as before. His last cash at a tournament was in the WSOPE NLHE High Roller for One Drop last November, where he made it to 13th place before being eliminated. He now showed up in Vegas for the WSOP Crazy Eights tournament, but struck out before making it to the money. His departure from the felt hasn’t come from boredom, but, rather, an interest in another competitive activity – eSports.

The WSOP bracelet winner and WPT champion has taken a vested interest in eSports, an industry he sees as the future for online competitors. In a Twitter post, he promoted a blog about his activity, saying, “I wrote a short blog about my Poker career and what I’m up to today. Thanks for checking it out!” He also posted a link to the blog, which was published on Twitter and can be found here.

Katchalov, who has always been a fan of video games, talked to PokerNews after being sent to the rail in the Crazy Eights tournament and shared some of his insight. He said that he started to take eSports more seriously about four years ago after becoming good friends with fellow poker pro and eGamer Luca Pagano. Katchalov sees a lot of similarities between eGames and poker, stating, “Especially in terms of competitions and psychology, you can see it on how the kids approach the game in terms of being a poker pro.”

The two competitors began attending more eSports events, including one in Vegas that centered around the game League of Legends. Katchalov said of the event, “There was just so many people and energy in the crowd, even more than what you see in regular sports.”