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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.”
Doug Polk now installed as a -555 favorite in the upcoming heads-up challenge against Daniel Negreanu
A string of shaky results in warm-up matches hasn’t hurt Doug Polk’s odds against Daniel Negreanu in the eyes of PokerShares.
The poker betting platform shifted the odds even more in favor of Polk over the weekend. Bettors can now take the favored Polk at 1.18/-555 payout odds, or choose Negreanu at 5.20/+420 underdog odds. Those lines shifted Sunday from previous lines of Polk at 1.25/-400 and Negreanu at 4.10/+310.
PokerShares posted the updated lines on Twitter, in response to a tweet from Polk outlining his difficulties playing in warmup matches on the Winning Poker Network throughout August. Since agreeing to take on Negreanu in a heads-up challenge, Polk hit the online felt for the first time in more than a year, taking on selected challengers in heads-up cash games.
Not going to sugarcoat this, I have beaten almost none of the opponents I have played since I got back into playing HU. It has basically been a 30-35 buyin beatdown by people playing all kinds of styles including the following:
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— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) September 6, 2020
“Not going to sugarcoat this, I have beaten almost none of the opponents I have played since I got back into playing HU,” Polk said in the tweet. “It has basically been a 30-35 buyin beatdown by people playing all kinds of styles including the following:”
Polk then goes on to list some of those styles, including “Misclicking every 30 hands, 4 Betting me 20%, Streaming their session on Twitch,” as well as “Can’t figure out how to sit the table.”
Polk’s opponents in the heads-up matches have included Twitter followers that Polk agreed to play, along with top players like Landon Tice, ‘VeniVedi1993’, and Marty ‘forrestranfar’ Mathis.
“All in all, either my fanbase of small to mid stakes players are either some of the strongest hunl players on the planet, or there may be trouble in paradise,” Polk says in a later tweet.
In light of this new information we have raised out limits 1000% and drastically shifted our odds ➡️ https://t.co/EDEGw5jUG8https://t.co/zwpBuWHKKspic.twitter.com/p2zgCosGfg
— PokerShares (@pokershares) September 6, 2020
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PokerShares still posts Polk as the heavy favorite
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In response to Polk’s thread detailing the heads-up warm-up match woes, poker betting market PokerShares responded with an announcement that the odds have shifted even further in Polk’s favor, with betting limits increased on the Polk vs. Negreanu match.
“In light of this new information we have raised out limits 1000% and drastically shifted our odds,” PokerShares posted in a tweet.
The latest odds place Polk as more than a 5-to-1 favorite, with betting limits increased to €2,000. The line lists that bets are only valid if Polk and Negreanu agree to play between 10,000 and 25,000 hands.
The listing posts the date of the match as September 30, but with a provision that further details of the match are TBA. Neither Negreanu nor Polk has announced an official date for the challenge.
Heads-up challenge brings Polk out of retirement
The rivalry between Polk and Negreanu spans most of the last half-decade, and the latest social media spar between two of poker’s most recognizable players led to Polk’s comeback to poker.
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In late July, Polk and Negreanu engaged in a Twitter exchange that spilled over into an entry on Negreanu’s Full Contact Poker blog. Poker.org coverage of the Polk vs. Negreanu challenge includes details and reactions to that social media back-and-forth, a direct message mix-up that almost sunk the challenge before it even began, and an op-ed by Jon Sofen that looks at the actions of both players across the years-long rivalry.
The date hasn’t been officially set yet, but at some point Polk and Negreanu will battle each other heads-up, giving the poker world a chance to see two of the top players and most influential personalities in the game settle the score on the felt.
Featured Image source: Twitter