Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald Launches PokerShares

What started almost as a joke on a poker forum nearly a decade ago, is now looked as the future in poker world with the old ‘Bank of Timex’ relaunching as a more refined and formal product – PokerShares.

It all began some nine years ago, when well-known poker pro Mike “Timex” McDonald (cover image)saw that selling bundles of action was becoming more and more common with players selling action at ridiculously high mark-up.

“Someone was selling at some crazy markup and I was just like, I’d bet against this guy at this rate,” McDonald recalled. “For a long time, I’ve felt the poker marketplace was not very fair to buyers.”

This prompted McDonald to try launching a stock-market style betting system he called “Bank of Timex” just over three-and-half years ago looking to “short” players in events such as the World Series of Poker with a good markup for their backers.

Initially he wasn’t intending to make many bets, but he wanted to have a platform to have some fun and call out players selling action at absurd prices. But the response from the community blew McDonald away.

“Within a week, it (McDonald`s twitter handle) had like 1,000 followers,” McDonald had said. “People were messaging me… I never anticipated it would get as popular as it did.”

However, the great idea was nipped in the bud within just a few days after Veron Lammers, a friend “well-versed in the gambling industry”, alerted McDonald to the perils of what he was doing: essentially acting as a bookmaker which made McDonald quickly shut down the unofficial book, at least publicly.

But Lammers was by then excited by the concept and he agreed to take on most of the behind-the-scenes duties. McDonald took charge of things like pricing and marketing on the front end. PokerShares is the result of the duo’s hard work over the past 18 months.

The official announcement of the launch came via a Twitter post on January 4.

Introducing PokerShares featuring @MikeMcDonald89 https://t.co/0gRUajirD4

— PokerShares (@pokershares) January 5, 2017

And sure enough, McDonald arrived at the PokerStars Championship in Bahamas wearing a T-shirt bearing the PokerShares logo. PokerStars Championship Bahamas also happens to be the first big event with listed prices on PokerShares.

However, normally a familiar face in the $100,000 Super High Roller, McDonald skipped the events because he felt he wasn`t ready for that level of competition. This candid admission by one of the most successful poker players of our time is a big deal, and McDonald was honest enough to say that he had lost countless potential playing hours working on PokerShares and other projects.

Speaking of the launch McDonald said, “The poker investment economy is scary for buyers. The most desirable horses are generally well outside the buyer’s network. Sellers pick whatever rates they want and sell even if the vast majority of buyers think they’re unfair. Plus, the buyer has to trust they are going to be paid.”

Although PokerShares will not be available for US citizens at this time due to the aforementioned legal issues, the site is licensed and regulated by the laws of Curacao, with client funds segregated from company funds.

Users of PokerShares aren’t simply limited to buying action of players in WSOP events; but it provides a huge selection of tournaments and players, each with a highly competitive mark-up.

McDonald said the buzz and response has been huge. Even people outside the poker and gambling worlds have responded well. As such McDonald himself is preparing to see himself in a different role with his venture.

“I don’t know how big this will get,” he said. “But, if it gets to be pretty big, I could see poker becoming my secondary thing and this being my primary thing.”

Cover Image courtesy: Neil Stoddart, PokerStars Blog