Poker In Canada 
Mike McDonald
Poker's newest and youngest tournament millionaire
Waterloo, Ontario's Mike McDonald won nearly $1.4 million in the European Poker Tour (EPT) when took down the tournament in Dortmund, Germany in early February. This 18 year old Canadian lad had only been playing poker professionally for 6 months. His first major tournament cash was in the 2007 EPT main event in Prague where he placed 14th and took home more than $28,000. He followed this with 3 cashes at the 2008 Aussie Millions. His current lifetime winnings are an astounding $1.533 million.
McDonald honed his skill playing online under the nickname "Timex". All his accomplishments to date have been before he's even old enough to step foot in a liv
e Canadian casino. It's hard to imagine how far this kid can go. He's entertaining sponsorship offers from several poker websites at the moment.
Young Mike McDonald started playing poker at the tender age of 15. He estimates he plays around 25 hours a week and studies the game through reading, watching videos and talking strategy with other players for an additional 50 or 60 hours each week. Mike had the added benefit of some tutoring from Waterloo, Canada native Steve Paul-Ambrose. Steve won $1.3 million a couple years ago in a major Bahamas tournament.
The final hand
McDonald is heads up with German pro Andrea Gulanay. Mike has A,K and lets Andreas bluff away his whole stack on a board of 7,K,10,K,2. "He was being too aggressive ... I was more or less waiting for him to make a mistake," McDonald said. Then, with two other kings on the table, he called Gulunay to show his cards. "You win," Gulunay said, chucking in his cards. McDonald calmly stood up, shook the hands of his opponent and took a sip of water.
McDonald plans on continuing as a poker pro for the next few years but says; "I don't want to make this my long-term career ... I might like to go back to school and get a real job."
He plans on investing in a hot tub and a used Infiniti SUV. Mike doesn't even have a drivers license yet! He intends to invest the rest of his winnings in a long term savings plan.
During one interview Mike had this to say about his start in online poker; "I guess I really didn't realize I was that good until I started playing tournaments online. In my first year and a bit of playing I made $10k or $12k. Then in my first three months of playing tournaments I made like $100k. Over the next six months I made like $500k so I figured I was getting pretty good." Understatement to say the least!
Waterloo, Ontario's Mike McDonald won nearly $1.4 million in the European Poker Tour (EPT) when took down the tournament in Dortmund, Germany in early February. This 18 year old Canadian lad had only been playing poker professionally for 6 months. His first major tournament cash was in the 2007 EPT main event in Prague where he placed 14th and took home more than $28,000. He followed this with 3 cashes at the 2008 Aussie Millions. His current lifetime winnings are an astounding $1.533 million.
McDonald honed his skill playing online under the nickname "Timex". All his accomplishments to date have been before he's even old enough to step foot in a liv
e Canadian casino. It's hard to imagine how far this kid can go. He's entertaining sponsorship offers from several poker websites at the moment.Young Mike McDonald started playing poker at the tender age of 15. He estimates he plays around 25 hours a week and studies the game through reading, watching videos and talking strategy with other players for an additional 50 or 60 hours each week. Mike had the added benefit of some tutoring from Waterloo, Canada native Steve Paul-Ambrose. Steve won $1.3 million a couple years ago in a major Bahamas tournament.
The final hand
McDonald is heads up with German pro Andrea Gulanay. Mike has A,K and lets Andreas bluff away his whole stack on a board of 7,K,10,K,2. "He was being too aggressive ... I was more or less waiting for him to make a mistake," McDonald said. Then, with two other kings on the table, he called Gulunay to show his cards. "You win," Gulunay said, chucking in his cards. McDonald calmly stood up, shook the hands of his opponent and took a sip of water.
McDonald plans on continuing as a poker pro for the next few years but says; "I don't want to make this my long-term career ... I might like to go back to school and get a real job."
He plans on investing in a hot tub and a used Infiniti SUV. Mike doesn't even have a drivers license yet! He intends to invest the rest of his winnings in a long term savings plan.
During one interview Mike had this to say about his start in online poker; "I guess I really didn't realize I was that good until I started playing tournaments online. In my first year and a bit of playing I made $10k or $12k. Then in my first three months of playing tournaments I made like $100k. Over the next six months I made like $500k so I figured I was getting pretty good." Understatement to say the least!