Full Tilt Poker Pro Mike McDonald

Mike "Timex" McDonald Takes Down Place at EPT Deauville

A hearty well done to Full Tilt Poker Pro Mike McDonald, also known as Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald, for taking third place in the European Poker Tour Deauville 2010 that took place in France. McDonald rose to the top of a huge playing field of 768 players to find himself among the top three finishers and pocketed $295K in prize money for his achievement. Added to his previous cashes, this brings McDonald’s impressive career tournament winnings to over $2.6 million.

As young Canadian player, McDonald dominated the European Poker Tour in prior years, starting with his 2008 win of $1.3 million in the €7,700 German Open. That feat earned him the title of the youngest person ever to win a European Poker Tour event. To this he added a 5th place finish in the $5K No-Limit hold ‘em event at the German Open, and walked away with over $249K. Another impressive achievement for McDonald was a second place finish in the 2008 Aussie Millions AUD $1K Poker Championship in which he won $75K.

McDonald began playing poker as a math major at the University of Waterloo with micro-stakes Limit Hold ‘em and participating in various low buy-in tournaments online. Over time, he built his bankroll and then joined the live tournament circuit. Then in 2008, McDonald went professional and became an instructor with CardRunners, known as the leading premium poker training website where members have access to a library of hundreds of poker videos from some of the poker world’s most elite players.

McDonald attributes his success to endless practice at the poker tables and a strong commitment to the game. He averages about 500 hours of online play, as well as around 500 hours of live poker participation each year and although his current strength is known to be tournament No-Limit Hold ‘em, McDonald’s goal is to become skilled in all poker variations.

He believes that poker achievements are attained by having “the right balance of patience and aggression.” While too much patience can allow a player’s chip stack to diminish; being too aggressive leads to picking spots weakly, as well as over intensely trying to bluff people on hands not folded. His best advice for new players is to “constantly think about your options, don’t get too caught up in what is the ‘standard’ thing to do, but at the same time realize that math and expected value should be the main things that dictate your play.”

When McDonald is not at the live poker tables or playing online at Full Poker, he enjoys playing volleyball and is a dedicated marathon runner. To learn more about Mike “Timex” McDonald, look for him at the Full Tilt Poker tables. And keep a close watch on upcoming live events, as we believe that we will be seeing much more out of this young, lively, and already highly successful poker pro at the final tables.