Just call it the poker capital of Canada.
For the fourth time in two years, a Waterloo, Ont., card shark has raked in more than half a million dollars in an international poker tournament.
The latest Waterloo phenom to win big is 18-year-old Mike (Timex) McDonald, who cashed in $1.4-million worth of chips after winning the European Poker Tour German Open on Saturday.
His victory makes him the youngest winner in the history of the EPT and reaffirms Waterloo's reputation as a hotbed of world-beating poker talent.
"Waterloo has always been known for math and engineering," says Steve Paul-Ambrose, a recent University of Waterloo graduate who took home $1.3-million in a World Poker Tour event two years ago. "And there's certainly a large math element to poker. The students who are getting introduced to poker here tend to get very good very quickly."
He's not kidding.
Mr. McDonald follows in the path of 18-year-old William Ma, a close friend who cleared more than $600,000 winning the Grand Prix de Paris last year.
And then there's Nenad Medic, who started playing poker while he was a forward for the University of Waterloo basketball team. He had $1.7-million payday last year when he won the World Poker Finals in Connecticut.
Mr. McDonald was barely old enough to drive before he was haunting card tables at the University of Waterloo's student housing. A stand-out chess player, his teacher had advised him that there was more money to be made with poker chips than chessboards. He immediately sought out Mr. Paul-Ambrose, who was at first reluctant to take the kid under his wing. "It was a bit of a weird situation," said Mr. Paul-Ambrose, who was then living in a university dorm. "In retrospect, I'm not sure why we invited him over. We weren't sure what to expect."
They soon found out. In his first dorm-room game, the 16-year-old Mr. McDonald beat out Mr. Paul-Ambrose, who months earlier had upset the world's best for his million-dollar payday.
"I helped him a bit," says Mr. Paul-Ambrose, 24. "But I can hardly take credit for what he's done. He was always willing to put in a lot of hard work."
That hard work paid off last weekend. With many Waterloo residents crowded around computers to watch the six-hour game online, Mr. McDonald showed the poise of a veteran in dispatching players from Germany, Spain, France and Switzerland.
"There was a humility to him that I found quite appealing," said John Duthie, the European Poker Tour creator known for coaching actor Daniel Craig before the card scenes in Casino Royale. "Especially when you're used to poker players being so loud."
While Mr. McDonald's win firmly establishes Waterloo's prominence in the international poker firmament, the city's prowess is no surprise to residents.
"We are a little ahead of the curve here," said Tim Jackson, a venture capitalist who hosts a biweekly game in his basement. "The calibre of games is amazing here. Everyone who plays my game would be comfortable going to Vegas and doing quite well."
In recent years, Mr. Duthie has noticed a flood of young players hailing from high-tech towns such as Waterloo, where Research In Motion, Adobe and Google all have a large presence.
Ranging in age from 18 to 25, these fresh-faced players learn the game online and then test skills in live tournaments. Often they are overwhelmed by the psychological intimidation that some older players employ. But not Mr. McDonald.
"I didn't see Mike make any of those amateur mistakes," Mr. Duthie said. "He was staring down opponents. I didn't pick up any information from his body language. He was very focused."
Mr. McDonald spent one year as a scholarship student in University of Waterloo's math program before convincing his parents to let him travel the world's poker tables. "We were a little concerned at first," said Rick McDonald, his father. "We thought he would be a professor or an actuary when he grew up."
After six months touring as widely as Prague, Macau and Aruba, his son has become a savvy traveller, often flying and rooming with other players as a safety measure.
Even though Mr. McDonald beat out Europe's best players, his family has a bigger challenge waiting for him when he arrives home today. "It's hilarious," said his sister Emily, 16. "Every family get-together we take down the poker chips and Mike never wins."
Patrick White