18 YEAR OLD CANADIAN WINS GERMAN OPEN

8 February 2008

Not yet out of braces, "Timex" McDonald shows 'em how


After three tough days of poker involving a starting field of 411 hopefuls, the PokerStars European Poker Tour German Open in Dortmund ended this weekend in victory for 18 year old Canadian Michael "Timex" McDonald, who gave an outstanding exhibition of talented, disciplined poker to beat some of the biggest names in the business.

McDonald, who clearly has a brilliant future on present form, took home his first EPT title, the Euro 933 600 first prize and a seat into the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final with the win, convincingly beating German player Andreas Gulunay in the heads up at the final table. Gulunay's second placing earned him Euro 528 000, and Torsten Haase came in third for Euro 307 000.

The German Open starter field was slightly smaller than last year but the buy-in was larger, creating a total prize pool of Euro 3.16 million that was substantially larger than last year's tournament.

McDonald was among the top finishers throughout, playing calm, technical and smart poker to claim his second big win in weeks - he pocketed a cheque for $34 000 in the Pokerpro No Limit Hold'em championship at the Aussie Millions recently.

The Waterloo, Ontario player is well known on major poker forums like PocketFives and 2+2 and has recorded four hefty cashes in the last six weeks in Europe and Australia that have seen him pocket a total of over $ 2 million. He is now officially the EPT's youngest ever winner in a career that is still only six months old.

The day he turned 18, McDonald appeared on the player rolls for the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe in London in 2007. Having paid his ten grand buy-in he found himself at the feature table and was eliminated by 2006 World Champion Jamie Gold. Undeterred, he entered other events, and recorded his first cash in the EPT Prague in December. He finished 14th in the Czech capital, collecting Euro 20 200 before heading to Australia and the Aussie Millions festival, where a second and first place ignited his form. There was nothing stopping him and the EPT Dortmund confirmed his prowess.

Continuing to impress throughout the German Open, McDonald started the final table this weekend as the chip leader (see previous InfoPowa reports) on 862 000, followed by Johannes Strassman of Germany on 827 000 and Spaniard Diego Perez on 744 000. Andreas Gülünay, Torsten Haase, Christian Harder, Claudio Rinaldi and low man in chip counts Thibaut Durand made up the rest of the table.

Harder went to the rail first, one of five victims to McDonald's cool, calculating play, and short stacked Durand followed after a tussle with Haase, taking home the first six figure payout of Euro 120 000 for his seventh placing.

Strassmann was another McDonald casualty, going out in the number six spot for Euro 152 000 and after the dinner break he was followed by Claudio Rinaldi, who fell in fifth place for Euro 193 000 to Gulunay. McDonald took out the next victim when he sent Perez to the cashier in fourth place with a pay cheque of Euro 234 200. The young Canadian then knocked out Haase in third place (Euro 307 000) to set up the heads up with Gulunay with a three-to-one chip advantage.

The German Open championship was decided in less than 20 minutes of heads-up action despite a partisan spectator display of support for Gulunay - the German's second placing earned him Euro 528 500, but McDonald was the man, revelling in his record-breaking EPT truimph.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa