“It is fantastic to be invited and I'm very happy to be competing in this tournament against the world’s best,” said Timoshenko, who joins an elite list of competing players that includes 2008 winner J.C. Tran and PartyPoker spokesperson Mike Sexton.

“He has completely taken the poker world by storm,” Sexton said of the Washington State resident who won the WPT Championship in Season 7. “I think he is an excellent addition to the Premier League line-up.”

The chance for one PartyPoker qualifier to join Timoshenko at the $1.5 million event in Las Vegas this February still exists, with PartyPoker moving its final main $450+$30 online qualifier ahead one week to this Sunday Jan. 10 at 3:20 ET.

A total of 16 qualifiers will all fly out to Las Vegas to play in a Premier League Poker play-off to see which one of the 16 will join the line-up of 11 pros at Premier League Poker IV.

One of those players will also be chosen by PartyPoker to receive a $100,000 Team Party sponsorship within two weeks of the event. Some country specific satellites also remain available Sunday Jan. 17 under the “specials” tab in the PartyPoker lobby.