1. Mike Mcdonald Md
2. Mike Mcdonald Poker Free Throw
3. Mike Mcdonald Poker Player

Before Mike “Timex” McDonald was 18 years-old he was already a force in poker. He had a stable of backed players when was 16, a network of peers that would become the next great generation in poker, and then he won $1.3 million as the youngest EPT winner ever. Mike McDonald resembles Steph Curry at the charity stripe now. (Image: Twitch) The Canadian poker pro took on an athletic prop bet with an undisclosed individual back in April.

Before Mike “Timex” McDonald was 18 years-old he was already a force in poker. He had a stable of backed players when was 16, a network of peers that would become the next great generation in poker, and then he won $1.3 million as the youngest EPT winner ever.

Then in 2014 he turned the game on its head with his “Bank of Timex” idea – he looked to book action against players he felt were charging an excessive markup. He offered shares of players at lower markups, and it worked like the stock market in general terms.

“The initial support of the Bank of Timex was pretty impressive, but I quickly realized that betting on tournaments wasn’t as simple as just playing a poker tournament regarding legality,” McDonald said.

The Bank closed after a couple of weeks for a number or reasons and the overwhelming response led backers to re-think some investments across the game. McDonald moved on from the idea to focus on deep stacked play.

“I reached out to Veron Lammers for coaching, we began talking more and became quite close friends,” McDonald said. “Early (in) 2015 he asked why I had abandoned my Bank of Timex idea. It just seemed like a logistical nightmare to try turning this into a fully functional licensed business.”

“He asked if I’d want to be business partners where he is much more involved in the company’s setup and organization and I am more in charge of promotion and pricing,” McDonald continued. “This seemed like a pretty good arrangement to me and we began planning for making PokerShares a reality.”

Earlier this week, McDonald launched PokerShares.com accompanied by YouTube video explaining the business.

PokerShares has open action and lines on most of the major 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas events, the Sunday Majors on PokerStars, Cate Hall vs Mike Dentale heads-up match and even the Brains vs AI match that’s set to run.

Currently, American aren’t allowed to bet on the site but can hold accounts in outside markets similar to online poker accounts. They are quite clear that player account funds are segregated from company operating accounts.

On McDonald’s side, the bets are part of a larger bankroll. “Generally on small bets Veron and I split the action, for medium sized bets I take the remainder of the action beyond his risk-tolerance threshold,” he said. “For large bets, some others take the remainder of the action beyond both of our risk-tolerance thresholds.”

“The betting limits will depend on a large variety of factors, but they’ll be much larger than they are now,” said McDonald. “We plan on allowing exposures into the low seven figures fairly often, but larger will require very specific circumstances – (the) WSOP Main Event and other events like that.”

McDonald’s vision for his future is inspired by another poker prodigy from a different era. “I love poker and will always continue to play it. But I do think it’d be amazing if I could follow a Bobby Baldwin-esque path where I go from poker shark, to businessman, to recreational player competing with the new wave of poker sharks.”

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player's results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here's a look at the rankings as of May 24.

GPI Top 10 Canadians

This marks 30 weeks in a row that Ari Engel has been on top of the Canadian rankings. Only the bottom few spots saw any movement this week as Luc Greenwood and Kristen Bicknell made their return to the team, bumping Sorel Mizzi down a peg and removing Mark Radoja and Jean-Pascal Savard from the roster entirely.

2017 GPI Canadian Player of the Year

The only change in the Canadian POY race where Ari Engel enjoys his second week on top was a few more points for Sorel Mizzi, vaulting him all the way from No. 10 to No. 6. Those points were earned in the $10,300 High Roller at Playground earlier in the month where Mizzi finished third.

2017 GPI Player of the Year

Looking at the latest update of the 2017 Global Poker Player of the Year leaderboard, it's tempting to fall into the cliché trap and talk about the 'calm before the storm.' But things are pretty calm right now, POY-wise, and the storm's a-coming — the 2017 World Series of Poker, that is, the first events of which get going in less than a week.

The POY top 10 remains identical from a week ago, with Bryn Kenney — leader for 16 weeks running now — carrying the advantage into the start of the WSOP.

Looking down the list a bit, Nadya Magnus made an upward move from No. 60 to No. 19 this week after picking up a couple of cashes at the recent WSOP Circuit Harrah's New Orleans stop.

All-time WSOP Circuit ring leader Maurice Hawkins also made the High Roller final table in New Orleans and moved from No. 37 to No. 22. And Aaron Massey jumped from No. 90 to No. 31 after finishing runner-up to Michael Shanahan in the Mid-States Poker Tour Firekeepers Casino Michigan Main Event.

GPI 300 Top 10

The quiet week also meant no movement among the top 10 in the overall GPI rankings where Nick Petrangelo remains the No. 1-ranked player in the world for an eighth-straight week.

Looking down the list a bit, Charlie Carrel moved up from No. 41 to No. 24 this week. Though not related to his GPI ranking, Carrel also earned a cool $1.2 million this week for winning the Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event ('High') where he topped a 693 entry-field.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

There are 10 new names among the GPI Top 300 this week, including a number of familiar ones. Caufman Talley comes in as the highest-ranked of the group of newcomers. Talley went from No. 357 to No. 192 after finishing third in the WSOP-C Harrah's New Orleans Main Event won by Jason Baldridge.

Mike McDonald rejoins the list, moving up from No. 433 to No. 224 not long after winning the partypoker MILLION North America High Roller.

Matt Salsberg recently won the 2017 California State Poker Championship, and he's returned to the list as well after going from No. 420 to No. 234.

And William Kassouf is among the Top 300 again this week, too, after elevating from No. 301 to No. 237 following his 11th-place finish in the 888Live Barcelona Main Eventwon by Luigi Shehadeh.

Biggest Gains

McDonald made the biggest upward move this week among players in the GPI Top 300. Eddy Sabat moved up nearly as many spots as McDonald did, going from No. 432 to No. 236 after a fifth-place finish in that aforementioned 2017 California State Poker Championship won by Salsberg.

Biggest Drops

Mike Mcdonald Md

Finally, only considering players still ranked in the GPI Top 300, Martin Kozlov fell the furthest since the last update after going from No. 184 to No. 287.

Mike Mcdonald Poker Free Throw

What to Expect Next Week

As noted, the start of the 2017 WSOP next Wednesday currently occupies most of the live tournament poker world's attention at the moment, with the PokerNews live reporting team currently gearing up for its coverage of all 74 events.

Speaking of the live reporting team, they are currently reporting from four other locations:

• the PokerStars Championship Sochi series in Russia
• the PokerStars Festival Chile in Viña del Mar
• the Poker King Cup Macau series, and
• the Unibet Open Copenhagen Main Event in Denmark.

To view the GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

Mike Mcdonald Poker Player

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  World Series of Poker CircuitMid-States Poker Tour

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  Mike McDonaldMatt SalsbergAri Engel