Mike McDonald Wins Epic Poker League major live event

Thursday September 15,2011 : "Timex" takes down the Epic Poker League's second big event
 
There may have been only 97 entries for the second Epic Poker League major live event, but that was sufficient to give 22-year-old internet poker whiz Mike "Timex" McDonald a $782 410 first-place prize when he took it down this week at the Palms in Las Vegas.
 
The victory was all the more remarkable because when the final table action started, McDonald was among the short stacks, facing a table that included top international players like David Steicke, Fabrice Soulier, Erik Seidel, Nam Le, Isaac Baron, Sean Getzwiller and Dutch Boyd.
 
The action was fast and furious, taking only 47 hands to eliminate five players before slowing down as the four survivors took a more cautious approach. The heads up was decided when Soulier was sent to the rail in third place by McDonald, leaving him to tangle with David Steicke in the deciding heads up.
 
Despite going into the decider as the shorter stack, McDonald played a blinder to eventually hold a mammoth 20 to 1 chip lead over his opponent, leading to ultimate victory.
 
Steicke's very credible performance was rewarded with a runner-up prize worth $506 260.
 
McDonald, who briefly retired from the game in April last year, has added another major live tournament to his impressively long list of major tournaments, increasing his live tournament career winnings to over $3 million. His income from online action is unknown but is reputed to be considerable.