Canadian wins Epic Poker League’s second Main Event

Canadian poker professional Michael McDonald, one day shy of his 22nd birthday, won the Epic Poker League’s second Main Event early Saturday morning at the Palms, earning $782,410 and the Champion’s Ring.
 
McDonald defeated Australian David Steicke in heads-up play in the No-limit Hold’em eight-handed event.

The Epic Poker League’s second Main Event began Wednesday with a field of 97 players and a prize pool of more than $2.3 million.
 
McDonald, from Waterloo, Ontario, had won more than $2 million before he was old enough to legally play in the United States. He started playing online poker at age 15.
 
"I guess I really didn’t realize I was that good until I started playing tournaments online,” he told ThePokerKeeper.com.
 
Hall of Fame poker professional Erik Seidel made his second consecutive Epic Poker Main Event final table. He entered the day second in chips and quickly moved into first place shortly after play began Friday. But Seidel went on a cold streak.
 
Seidel, an eight-time World Series of Poker individual event championship bracelet winner who was runner-up to David “Chino” Rheem in the league’s first Main Event last month, finished fourth.
 
The Epic Poker League’s next tournament will take place in December at the Palms, followed by its fourth tournament in January.
 
The league’s top 27 players, based on the tournament’s scoring and rating system, will meet in February at the Palms for a $1 million entry-free championship event.
 
The Epic Poker League is the brainchild of Jeffrey Pollack and poker professional Annie Duke, who is the commissioner. Pollack’s Los Angeles-based Federated Sports + Entertainment owns the league.