Doug Polk

Californian Polk, born at the end of 1988 in Pasadena, has not only become one of the world’s best players, but also a leading light in the poker vlogging and training worlds.

Californian Polk, born at the end of 1988 in Pasadena, has not only become one of the world’s best players, but also a leading light in the poker vlogging and training worlds.

He started out as an eSports player before poker took over his life while at college, where he gave up his degree to concentrate on poker full-time after running up an initial $20 deposit into more than $10K.

Within a few years he had become a specialist in heads-up NLHE and challenged the king of heads-up, Ben ‘Sauce123’ Sulsky to a series of matches totalling more than 15,000 hands in the autumn of 2013, at the end of which Polk was up a staggering $740,000. This also entitled him to the $100,000 side-stake for winning.

His online game was honed as part of the self-styled ‘Evil Empire’ crew alongside fellow high-stakes players Ryan Fee and Jason Mo, with Donger Kim and Jason Les as close associates, the crew sharing ideas and strategies to conquer the world of poker.

Although primarily noted for his online mastery under the name ‘WCGRider’, Polk’s live tournament winnings also stand at over $5million, and in 2015 he started up the training site Upswing Poker along with close friend Ryan Fee.

He was also part of the 4-man team to face the AI poker program Claudico in the first of several challenge matches, emerging as the biggest winner – although more recently a superior version of Claudico gained its revenge, Polk not being part of the losing team on that occasion.

Around the same time, Polk decided to start streaming and vlogging – and his intro ‘What’s up guys, Doug Polk here’ has become synonymous with excellent hand analysis and rather controversial views on fellow pros and events in the poker world’.

Polk’s outspokenness on certain subjects has led to many calling him arrogant, but he has developed a huge following in spite of, or perhaps because of, very public disagreements with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier and others.

His beef with Negreanu started when Daniel claimed he could beat the $25/50 NLHE stakes with only 2 weeks of practice, which Polk described as “naïve”, whereas in Mercier’s case the falling out centred around Polk having him tagged as a ‘bad reg’ in his online tournament notes.

More recently he came under fire from English pro Luke Schwartz, who claimed among other things that Polk is a losing player online and therefore his training courses on Upswing Poker are a ‘scam’.

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3 days ago131PokerTube,

Published 3 days ago

Doug Polk CAN'T BELIEVE Nik Airball Jams All-In

Nik Airball thrusts Doug Polk's Pocket Kings into a precarious position at Poker At The Lodge!  Offering round-the-clock cash...

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The Viral Poker Player Everyone Is Talking About

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Published 1 year ago

$69,375 Poker Hand In Doug Polk's $50/$100 Game

Poker player and Lodge partner Doug Polk hosted a $50/$100 game on Poker At The Lodge. There were tons of insane hands, including ...

1 year ago4,141PokerTube,

Published 1 year ago

Brad OWEN vs Doug POLK [Battle Of The Lodge Card Club OWNERS!]

Brad Owen & Doug Polk are both owners at the Lodge Poker Card Club in Texas and today they battle against each other on their ...

1 year ago17,035PokerTube,

Published 1 year ago

Doug Polk Tries To Win His Own Poker Tournament (LCS Main Event Final 6)

The final 6 players of the $2 million guaranteed Lodge Championship Series Main Event battle for the trophy and the $417,800 grand...

1 year ago6,157PokerTube,

Published 1 year ago

Let's Talk About Everything (w/ Daniel Negreanu)

Daniel Negreanu rejoins the Doug Polk Podcast to discuss the cheating allegations, wild stories, and comical events that have been...

1 year ago4,629PokerTube,

Published 1 year ago

Did Phil Hellmuth Scam An Amateur?

Doug Polk investigates if Phil Hellmuth scammed amateur Slime during the Ludwig $1,000,000 cash game stream which featured Mr Beas...

1 year ago3,681Pokertube1,

Published 1 year ago

Greg Merson Talks Poker Cheating With Doug Polk

With poker cheating scandals rocking the community, Doug Polk talks to Greg Merson about blacklists, Ali and poker sites keeping p...

2 years ago3,156PokerTube,

Published 2 years ago

Doug Polk's Huge Pots From The Lodge

Playing in the Lodge poker room, Doug Polk shares with us his biggest hands from the cash game table. Grab $5 cash for free o...

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Scott Blumstein Takes the WSOP Main Event title!

Scott Blumstein won the Main Event bracelet, $8,150,000 and a place in poker history!

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WSOP Event #6: $111,111 HIGH ROLLER for ONE DROP No-Limit Hold'em (Live Updates)

This year, the WSOP’s pride of place in the Rio will be the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop No Limit Hold’em event

The Rise of Poker Vlogs and Why They Have Taken the Poker World by Storm

So why have poker vlogs become such a hit with the poker community? And who are the top vloggers and up and comers to look out for in 2018?

The Most Insane Final Table We Can Imagine

When it comes to the Main Event it’s the characters rather than the actual cards which tend to live on in memory – so this fantasy final table reflects that, pitting heroes against anti-heroes, with much more on the line than the $10million and the bracelet.

Poker TV Guide: What To Watch This Month

If you're trying to figure out which poker show to watch this month, here's a great place to start with.

The Twitch Rich List Top 5

It’s the modern phenomenon which has brought poker right up into the 21st Century and today we’re going to make an attempt to fill the top five seats with the biggest TwitchTV poker earners.

Poker Media: The Next Generation

As the poker community grew more and more though, the juicy and never-heard-before details of some random poker wizkid’s life become more and more enticing.

Twitch: Who Is Crushing/Suffering

Long gone are the days when you had to scroll all the way down to find the Poker Twitch channel where usually there were just a several streamers trying to break through.

World’s Best Heads Up Players

What better way to prove your worth than to challenge the best of the best in a head-to-head match? But who are the best of the best?

Polker News, Doug Polk's Poker News Show

​It’s always a joy when one of the world’s leading players decides to share his thoughts and views on the poker world with us mere mortals, so Doug Polk’s new association with 2plus2 in producing ‘Polker News’ is more than welcomed.