The German European Poker Tour was exciting and definitely a tournament to remember. The first prize was $1.3 million and was full of anticipated and nervous players each working their own strategies to try to beat out each other. In the end it was 18 year old Canadian – Mike McDonald – who surprised us all and won against all odds.

McDonalds didn’t expect to play poker and didn’t even think about it until his chess teacher told him that if you were good at it you could make good money off of it. McDonald studied after a year at the University of Waterloo in Canada and has top grades in math and engineering. Knowing the time he has put into practicing and the way he plays is unique and earns our respect. He plays in a calm manner that is not seen in many young people of his age. It is easy to see him as a top professional poker player in the years to come.

Yet, even with his smarts he admits that it took him hours and even years of practice to get to the point he is at today. He even warns other teenagers from following in his footsteps.

"If you approach it like a game of skill and you're constantly analyzing your decisions and stuff like that you most likely will end up being successful, but 99 per cent of people who play this game just play," McDonald said during an interview. "Realistically, there are a lot more failure stories than there are success stories." Yet, this obviously doesn’t apply to Mike McDonald who proved to the world that he knows how to play it cool and keep his head on when deciding to fold, hold, or bet it all. In the end he beat out the best competition and ended as the top winner.

The final results of the night were: