Eugene Katchalov has live tournament earnings of close to $10M, having collected numerous wins on the European Poker Tour, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker, among others.
In his first exclusive column for PokerOrg, Eugene reflects on the meditation retreat he attended prior to last month’s WPT World Championships, and the importance of finding space in one’s life to stop and think.
Last month I played the WPT World Championships at the Wynn. Of course, there were other events taking place around the world - in The Bahamas and Prague, specifically - but I was in the US and I really like Las Vegas, and I’d heard great things about the venue at the Wynn and how well organized those tourneys are.
Events like these were once part of my routine as a professional, but times have changed, and so I found myself in need of a way to get back into the right headspace. Poker is such a mental game, and thinking about it in the right way can be a hard thing to switch on and off if you’re out of practice. I realized that if I was going to give myself the best chance of success at the Wynn, I was going to need to find the time and space to sharpen my focus.
Where could I go that would give me the room to think clearly, and without distraction? I knew the answer; I’d been there before. A meditation retreat, nestled in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.
No talking, no eye-contact
I was part of a group of 290 people, each one of us there for our own reasons, each seeking something different in the silence we vowed to maintain for the week. In our individual bids to find what we each sought, we even agreed to avoid eye-contact.
Being alone with one’s thoughts is a rare experience in these days of constant connectivity, and the shift into solitude can be jarring and difficult. Just as a single session of meditation can prove to be beyond us if we’re not in the right frame of mind, giving up all distractions in this way is not something busy people can necessarily take to immediately. But as time went on, I found myself able to explore the inner parts of myself that I’d hoped to focus on.
When you are able to truly be alone with your thoughts, you can actually observe your own mind and thought processes in a manner that only stillness, silence and time can afford you.
Is there a spiritual dimension to this? For some people, definitely. In a way, what each of us was trying to do was to come to some kind of awakening or realization; to express the inexpressible. Many of the world’s major religions have this aspect at their core, but the expression of these ideas runs into beliefs, ideas and concepts, which can prove to be roadblocks on the path to - for want of a better word - ‘enlightenment’. I prefer to think of it simply as ‘the search for truth’, and the pursuit of this highlights the differences between contemplation, and thinking. It’s not necessarily an easy path to walk, but it is one that can be experienced by anyone who puts in the work.
A deep curiosity
What set me on this path originally - putting aside my need to find mental space to think clearly about poker once more - was a guided psychedelic experience I underwent several years ago. It made me realize that so much of what I perceived to be ‘true’, in terms of my thoughts and beliefs, was actually rooted in my own perspective and experience, and not necessarily ‘factual’.
That sparked a deep curiosity within me, and I’ve been fascinated with the subject ever since, reading and watching a ton of material over the past few years in a bid to improve my understanding.
For me, it’s more of a personal journey - and not one which I find religion a useful element to add to the mix. In fact, that was one of the primary things that drew me to this particular retreat: no one was there to convince me of anything. Yes, there were guides and teachers, but the role they played was to help us look at our own lived experiences, to find our own answers. If the ‘answers’ even exist.
Because the essence of ‘questions and answers’ doesn’t always fit with the process of self-inquiry. Our minds tell us stories about the world, and try to come up with neat answers to life’s questions. But is this always the best way to find truth?
When a question comes to mind - something as profound yet simple as ‘who am I?’, for example - the goal of self-inquiry is not to find an answer to that question, but instead to examine where the question comes from. Who or what lies at our core? To find that out - or to get a sense of what that truth is - requires stillness, silence, and time.
Have I had an awakening, or deep realization that has drawn back the veil to help me see things as they truly are? I wouldn’t go that far, but I’ve definitely had experiences - indescribable experiences - that have convinced me this path is real, and worth walking.
And, I hear you ask, what about the poker? Well, there’s an undeniable benefit to this process of meditation, in that it helps your mind to be able to think deeply, and clearly, about anything important in your life. Whether it’s a relationship, a career, or how to play a card game, finding some stillness to center yourself enables you to approach these puzzles with a fresh energy.
Poker players thrive when they make good decisions, and the foundation of this practice is to be able to think clearly. The lack of distraction at these retreats is truly something I’d recommend everyone find a way to experience in one way or another, poker player or not.
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Images courtesy of WPT/Wes Hicks/Unsplash/Eugene Katchalov
