Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Yevgeniy Timoshenko was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1988. At the age of 8, he moved with his family to Mukilteo, Washington, and later settled in Seattle, where he currently resides. Like many players of the post-2003 poker boom, he discovered the game in high school, playing small-stakes games with friends. He began his poker journey online without ever making a deposit, building a bankroll from freerolls under the screen names "Jovial Gent" on PokerStars and "bballer88" on Full Tilt.

Timoshenko first made headlines in 2008 with a victory on the Asian Poker Tour in Macau, winning HK$3,812,200 (approximately $500,000). Later that year, he recorded his first World Series of Poker cash, finishing 3rd in Event #1 in London. His breakout year came in 2009 when he achieved two monumental titles within months of each other.

In April 2009, at just 21 years old, Timoshenko won the Season 7 World Poker Tour Championship – the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic $25,000 buy-in event at the Bellagio. He outlasted a world-class field to take home $2,149,960, his largest live cash to date. Later that year, he won the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event on PokerStars, topping a 2,144-player field to earn $1,715,200. Remarkably, on the same night he also won the Full Tilt Poker $1,000 No Limit Hold’em weekly event for an additional $75,000. This dual victory made him one of the few players to hold both a live WPT title and an online WCOOP title simultaneously.

Timoshenko’s biggest live score after his WPT win came at the 2014 Aussie Millions. He won the $100,000 Challenge (Super High Roller), defeating a field of elite professionals to earn AU$2,000,000 (approximately $1,791,248). This victory remains his second-largest live cash.

In the World Series of Poker, his deepest run remains the 2013 WSOP Main Event, where he finished 22nd for $285,408. He has three WSOP final tables, the most notable being a runner-up finish in the 2011 $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship, earning $525,980. That same year, he finished 4th in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event for $206,348, a final table that also included eventual 2011 WSOP Main Event champion Pius Heinz.

Beyond his titles, Timoshenko has consistently cashed on the World Poker Tour. His WPT results include a 5th-place finish in the 2015–2016 Borgata Winter Poker Open for $206,160, 8th in the 2015–2016 Monster WPT Tournament of Champions for $38,160, and 10th in the 2016–2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale for $59,079. He also cashed in the 2019 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, finishing 25th for $51,005. Overall, his WPT earnings exceed $2.6 million.

On the European Poker Tour, he has one money finish. Timoshenko also finished 4th in the 2018–2019 ClubWPT Challenge the Champs event (no cash prize for that placement).

Timoshenko is known for a methodical and disciplined approach, relying on deep analytical thinking and extensive hand-history review. He emphasizes constant self-analysis, often reviewing his own sessions to identify weaknesses and develop unique strategies rather than copying others. This technical focus has allowed him to excel in both high-stakes cash games and the most challenging super high roller tournaments. At the table, he is described as extremely composed, rarely showing emotion even in multi-million dollar pots. He is a specialist in ICM and tournament end-game scenarios, leveraging his online experience to navigate live final tables effectively.

Timoshenko continues to play major events, with recent cashes at the 2025 and 2026 WSOP in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championships. He finished 16th in the 2025 edition for $28,900 and 36th in 2026 for $21,200. As of 2025, his live tournament earnings exceed $7.8 million, placing him 3rd on the Ukraine all-time money list. His online success, including over $4.7 million in tracked cashes (as of 2011), further solidifies his status as a pioneering online player. Timoshenko remains a respected figure in the poker community, known for his skill, humility, and unwavering representation of his Ukrainian heritage.