High profile and respected poker pro Mike “Timex” McDonald has revealed details of his new PokerShares online enterprise, where users can buy stakes in any poker player, in any tournament along with a range of other betting services that includes creating prop bets, betting on friends or other players, and in short gamble on anything to do with poker.
In an interview with Poker Listings, McDonald said that the site would present players with lists of players they can invest or gamble on, but also caters for users who exclusively request a specific player not on the PokerShares lists.
The ‘price’ on a player is dependent on how much information PokerShares has available, and it uses research and its contacts to amass that sort of information.
The players being bet upon are not involved in the transaction, which is between PokerShares and the user….with no middle man.
“With us, there’s no middle man between the buyer and the seller. We are the seller. We create the share you want and then sell them to you without anyone else involved,” McDonald explained.
The deposits of users who place bets on the site go to a dedicated bank account from which winnings are paid to the user if he or she is successful. McDonald said that he has thus far secured processing from Skrill and WireTransfer, with Neteller a work in progress, but has plans to integrate Bitcoin transactions as well.
McDonald emphasised that the project has set aside reserve funds to cover pay-outs in the event of major wins, observing that even if hypothetically the project loses a million dollars on each of five bets, the enterprise would still be “in a fine position”.
“The amount of money that people have invested in this project is pretty substantial and goes well beyond the scope of just me and my business partner,” he said.
PokerShares’ mark-up on the transaction is estimated on its operators’ expertise in the game, considering win rates, rakes, structures and the players’ track records.
Partnering McDonald is Veron Lammers, an accomplished online high stakes poker player and coach with a relatively low personal profile.
Giving examples of the sort of prop bets he is currently accepting, McDonald cited who will win the Brains vs Libratus AI game (see previous reports) or when Joe Ingram finishes his book.
“We’re planning on taking any bet; anything gambling in poker we want people to be able to get in on,” he said, adding that he and his partner have been careful to ensure compliance with the law.
“We’re not taking any chances and we’re setting this up in the most legitimate way possible,” he said.