We had to do a double-take this afternoon to make sure we were actually seeing Mike "Timex" McDonald in the field. Timex's future on the felt was seemingly up in the air after a recent blog entry in which he detailed his exit from the mainstream poker scene. Here's an excerpt from CardRunners:
In poker although I've met tons of people I really like and had tons of cool experiences I just kind of feel like there is nowhere to go from here in poker. I can't really think of anyone who is more engrossed in the poker world than me who I aspire to be like and poker seems to be a lot more isolating than I initially realized.
I guess what really stemmed all my thinking is that lately despite playing lots of poker and enjoying it plenty, I feel unfulfilled by it and think it can cause me to feel unfulfilled about other things in my life.
During the first break, Glo pulled him aside to clear things up and to chat about the future now in San Remo. Check out Timex's thoughtful replies:
rainbow board. His opponent Bogdan Kozhokar gave him a funny look and called, and they flipped the cards.
for absolutely nothing at any point in the hand.
. After a check from small blind Matthew Kay, McDonald continued out with a bet of 4,225. That got a quick call from Darren Elias, while Kay ducked out to let the other two go heads up the rest of the way.
. McDonald slowly checked, and he would tank and call a bet of 7,600 from Elias.
. McDonald checked again, and Elias thought it over for just a moment before waving his hands forward in that familiar all-in gesture. Timex considered carefully before making the call for his last ~23,000 chips, putting himself all in and at risk.
for aces up, and McDonald leaned over to get a better look. He then flipped up his own 
, and the two men got to take their money back. They'll chop up the blinds and antes, plus a few extra chips from Matthew Kay.
but was in fact ahead of Karkkainen's 
ahead of Boatman's 
