Mike ‘timex’ McDonald won the EPT Season 12 Player of the Year race by less than a point over Steve ‘MrTimCaum’ O’Dwyer

After six festivals across two continents and hundreds of tournaments, the European Poker Tour Season 12 Player of the Year was determined by less than a point. The race literally went down to the very last event at the EPT Grand Final in Monaco.

Your winner: Mike ‘timex’ McDonald, who earned 3,747.38 points, winning the Player of the Year title by a razor-thin 0.96 points over Steve ‘MrTimCaum’ O’Dwyer, who had 3,746.42. McDonald joins past winners such as Dzmitry Urbanovich, Ole Schemion, and EPT Grand Final Main Event winner Jan Bendik.

McDonald had the lead by 184 points entering the EPT Grand Final, but O’Dwyer would not go quietly. He finished ninth in the prestigious €100K Super High Roller to move ahead of McDonald by a point.

O’Dwyer continued to roll in high buy-in events, getting 31st in the €25K High Roller to push his lead to over 240 points.

“At this stage, McDonald had only managed 45 points for cashing in a €500 No Limit Hyper-Turbo, so O’Dwyer might well have thought he was home and dry,” EPT Media Coordinator Mad Harper wrote. “However, those pesky No Limit Turbos on the last day upset the apple cart.”

O’Dwyer whiffed on each of the No Limit Turbos held at the end of the EPT Grand Final, while McDonald finished seventh in the very last event of the festival, a €10K No Limit Turbo. His reward was almost €34,000, but perhaps more importantly, the Canadian earned 243.20 POY points, which put him ahead of O’Dwyer and sealed the win at the very last second.

All told, McDonald cashed twice in Monaco and 18 times over the course of the season, which began last August in Barcelona. He won the EPT Malta High Roller for almost €500,000, his largest cash of the season, and placed fifth in the Barcelona High Roller for another €257,000. Here’s how McDonald performed over the course of the season:

Grand Final No Limit Hold’em – Turbo Six Max
7th place for €33,990, 243.20 pts

Grand Final No Limit Hold’em – Hyper-Turbo
10th place for €1,580, 45.36 pts

Dublin No Limit Hold’em Turbo – Six Max
4th place for €18,405, 174.36 pts

Dublin EPT Main Event
60th place for €10,270, 193.12 pts

Dublin No Limit Hold’em Turbo
5th place for €7,170, 107.39 pts

PCA No Limit Hold’em Six Max Turbo
5th place for $23,460, 197.52 pts

PCA No Limit Hold’em
23rd place for $3,880, 110.98 pts

Prague No Limit Hold’em Deepstack
17th place for €4,105, 121.41 pts

Prague No Limit Hold’em – Hyper-Turbo
28th place for €870, 29.52 pts

Prague EPT Main Event
139th place for €9,220, 166.78 pts

Prague #78 No Limit Hold’em – Hyper-Turbo
7th place for €13,750, 168.11 pts

Prague No Limit Hold’em – Eureka High Roller
58th place for €4,570, 143.53 pts

Malta EPT Main Event
27th place for €17,840, 263.95 pts

Malta No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
1st place for €498,575, 496.65 pts

Barcelona No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
12th place for €60,900, 363.58 pts

Barcelona EPT Main Event
43rd place for €22,840, 308.28 pts

Barcelona No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
5th place for €257,000, 378.94 pts

Barcelona No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller
12th place for €87,900, 234.68 pts

Steve O’Dwyer finished second in the EPT Season 12 Player of the Year race

O’Dwyer cashed twice in Monaco and made the money 14 times during Season 12. He won a High Roller event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas for a blistering $945,000, won the Prague Super High Roller for €746,000, won a High Roller in Malta for €327,000, and finished seventh in the Barcelona Super High Roller for €221,000. Here’s how he performed over the course of EPT Season 12:

Grand Final No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
31st place for €49,800, 240.75 pts

Grand Final No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller
9th place for €98,480, 231.34 pts

Dublin No Limit Hold’em Turbo – Six Max
4th place for €15,860, 170.22 pts

Dublin No Limit Hold’em Turbo
2nd place for €17,180, 140.69 pts

PCA Main Event
89th place for $10,840, 187.62 pts

PCA No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
1st place for $945,495, 525.28 pts

Prague No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
11th place for €49,000, 237.84 pts

Prague No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller
1st place for €746,543, 458.95 pts

Malta No Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty
6th place for €8,750, 180.15 pts

Malta EPT Main Event
57th place for €10,580, 201.98 pts

Malta No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
1st place for €327,030, 471.34 pts

Malta No Limit Hold’em IPT High Roller
43rd place for €3,835, 126.96 pts

Barcelona No Limit Hold’em – High Roller
12th place for €63,300, 274.00 pts

Barcelona No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller
7th place for €221,000, 299.29 pts

Final Top 10 EPT POY Standings

  1. Mike McDonald: 3,747.38 points
  2. Steve O’Dwyer: 3,746.42 points
  3. Ivan Luca: 3,097.93 points
  4. Adrian Mateos: 2,901.41 points
  5. Georgios Zisimopoulos: 2,803.04 points
  6. Isaac Haxton: 2,712.51 points
  7. Fedor Holz: 2,552.36 points
  8. Ole Schemion: 2,528.04 points
  9. Joao Vieira: 2,485.89 points
  10. Daniel Dvoress: 2,436.29 points