One of the first Triple Crownwinners of 2011 was the Ukraine’s very own gnat777. He’s one of about a million people to call the city of Donetsk home and captured a Triple Crown by winning three online poker tournaments across three sites tracked for the PocketFives.com Rankings within a seven-day period. Let’s see what he had to say.

gnat777 holds down the fort at #2 on the Sortable Rankingsfor the Ukraine and, as expected, was elated to procure a Triple Crown. He told PocketFives.com, “I’m very happy and very glad to win.” Within a four-day span, gnat777 brought home the bacon in the PokerStars $100 Cubedfor $38,000, the Absolute Poker $60,000 Guaranteefor $18,000, and the Full Tilt Poker $60,000 Guarantee for $12,000. Not too shabby.

He amassed 954 PLB Points in the process, the highest total of any Triple Crown winner in 2011, and also banked $68,000 in real money. On his first day of action, gnat777 recalled, “The $109 Cubed was easy because I was getting good cards, but the Absolute Poker $60,000 Guarantee was all skill. Then, it was about Triple Crown hunting. At the start of the Full Tilt tournament a few days later, I was not shooting for the award, but after I made the final table, I realized I had to get it then.”

Eugene Katchalov and Yevgeniy Jovial GentTimoshenko (pictured) headline the list of Ukrainian poker players. Timoshenko is a former World Poker Tour Championship and World Championship of Online Poker Main Event winner, snagging both titles in 2009 for nearly $4 million total. Katchalov is fresh off a $1.5 million win in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller tournament and recently faced Viktor Isildur1 Blom in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown.

On the state of Ukrainian poker, gnat777 told us, “Ukrainian poker is on its way up. So many players have become good and I’m happy to see more and more skillful opponents from the Ukraine. I’m looking forward to becoming #1 in the country soon.” He currently sits at #331 worldwide in the Rankings.

He’s a full-time poker player and has his sights set on the top 100 in the Rankings, an accolade he could see himself achieving in 2011. “It would be a very good result for me and very prestigious,” gnat777 observed. “I will work hard this year and I’m sure that I will be in the top 100 by the end of the year.”

There’s no diversity for gnat777, however. You won’t see him branching out into other poker games like Omaha and Stud. In fact, you won’t even see him placating any cash game tables. gnat777 argued, “I’m playing only tournaments and only Hold’em. I think it’s much more important to become good in one thing and one type of game.” It’s paid off too. Since 2011 began, he’s generated $131,000 in Rankings-eligible cashes.

In November, gnat777 finished second in the PokerStars $100 Rebuy for $27,000. One month later, he final tabled the weekly Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guarantee for another $24,000.

Finally, we asked the Ukrainian poker prodigy what the reaction from his friends and family has been to his rash of success this year. He told us, “My friends and family were always supportive of me and happy with my results. All of them have been supporting me and I’m happy I have that.”

See who else has won big by checking out the Triple Crown Wall of Champions.