When the Ethics Committee of the Epic Poker League concentrates all the controversy, its visible head takes the victory in Las Vegas.
Mike McDonald is the prototype of online player who had made the jump to the live circuit, where it is virtually unknown to the public, he has never seen him play in programs like Poker After Dark. The Epic Poker League wants to get to these players and are the backbone of a project that seems to fall apart in terms of participation numbers.
‘Timex’ in their day announced his retirement from poker, but could not take even six months before returning to the game.
In this new adventure of Epic Poker League was offered to be part of the Ethics Commission, an invention that once seemed a toast to the sun but in only two events and has had to deal with scandals such as exclusion of a player with random background or financial affairs of the first winner of an event of the League, David ‘Chino’ Rheem, who was warned publicly about the matter while, as critical in the forums, one member of the commission, Andy Bloch, is probably a shareholder in Full Tilt Poker.
The particular form of classification, by invitation, said that the tables are hard from the start and, of course, abound in the final table players of quality. As McDonald himself said at the end of the tournament:
“I have rarely played on a table like this, where virtually all the players seemed to me better than me.”
The starting stacks were these:
1. David Paul Steicke – 1,059,000
2. Erik Seidel – 1,031,000
3. Isaac Baron – 876,000
4. Fabrice Soulier – 537,000
5. Dutch Boyd – 393,000
6. Nam Le – 362,000
7. Mike McDonald ‘Timex’ – 357,000
8. Sean Getzwiller – 235,000
With respect to the final table, the first 4 eliminations were swift and legitimate. Boyd, with jacks, fell before Seidel’s aces; Getzwiller was eliminated with AK against KK McDonald, Isaac Baron attempted robbery and was being dominated shortstack with QT against AT and Nam Le Soulier Fabrice lost with AK, a flip Soulier to the jacks. The awards were increased stepwise from the eighth $ 57,530 to $ 126,570 in the fifth.
The day was spent in a very irregular to Erik Seidel. To get his removal chipleader Boyd became the shortstack at the table and ended up giving his last chips to Fabrice Soulier, who was crushed preflop to ‘Seiborg’ nine to five. Seidel said, for this fourth, $ 184,100 for his incredible money list in recent times.
The strategy Soulier three players still on the table was to open the range of push preflop. The concert lasted Gaul’s what it took McDonald to find a decent hand, AQ, with which to resist and eliminate the French, who was far behind with AT. The third prize was worth $ 299,310.
The matched started face to face and chose the side of ‘Timex’ when David Steicke decided to try to eliminate the Canadian fell AQ and the flip side of the six McDonald.
Steicke managed to double its almost nonexistent stack twice, but on the third hand her K2 could not improve and lost against Mike McDonald A4, which was $ 782,410 for his victory. The consolation prize for Steicke was $ 506,260.
It should be noted that Erik Seidel takes a second and a fourth in the first two events of the Epic Poker League and McDonald Award, being jugosísimo, remains some way off the million dollars that was David ‘Chino’ Rheem on his victory.
1. $ 782,410 Mike McDonald
2. David Paul Steicke $ 506,260
3. Soulier Fabrice $ 299,160
4. Erik Seidel $ 184,100
5. Thien Nam Le $ 126,570
6. Isaac Baron $ 92,050
7. Sean Getzwiller $ 69,040
8. $ 57,530 Dutch Boyd