https://twitter.com/pokershares/stat...26526874112007
https://twitter.com/pokershares/stat...26532075094023
https://twitter.com/pokershares/stat...26536869175299
Pokershares was founded by Mike "Timex" McDonald in 2017, as a counter to players selling themselves in tournaments at ridiculous markups. On Pokershares, a free market approach was taken to buying pieces of poker players, where the poker player himself is cut out of the whole thing. Instead, Pokershares sets the markup (or in some cases, markdown), and then it goes up or down based upon interest, similar to a sports line.
Later on, they also added sportsbetting and casino games.
Prior to Pokershares, McDonald did the same markup-selling directly, calling himself "The Bank of Timex". This often embarrassed poker pros who were being sold by McDonald at 10% markup, when they were charging 40%.
Mike McDonald scaled back his involvement somewhat over the years. Also, some online poker sites started to copy Pokershares' model, likely cutting into their business.
In February 2021, McDonald got into a public Twitter battle with fellow Canadian poker pro Terrence Chan, in regards to an ambiguous betting line, and neither party looked particularly good.
After 5 years, it simply looks like everyone involved just got tired of running it.
