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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8 years ago4,825BDJB,

Published 8 years ago

YouTuber's Private PLO Cash Game: JNandez, Doug Polk, Joeingram1 & Andrew Neeme

Footage shot by JNandez of a private PLO cash game featuring the best content creators inc Doug Polk, Joeingram1 and Andrew Neeme....

7 years ago9,667BDJB,

Published 7 years ago

Who is the BEST Cash Game Player?

Online poker crusher Andres 'educa-p0ker' Artinano joins Doug Polk for a power rankings updates as Andres gives us his thoughts as...

7 years ago3,578PokerTube,

Published 7 years ago

When HSDB Made All Player Profiles Public!

Doug Polk re-lives the time that HSDB made all player profiles public so anyone can see who has been winning what! 

8 years ago4,814BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

What's Up, Guys? Doug Polk Here.

What's up, guys? Doug Polk here, and today we're going to be taking a look at this music video. On that note, let's jump right int...

2 months ago245PokerTube,

Published 2 months ago

What They're Doing To Gambling Is Wrong

Doug Polk went on NewsNation to talk with Blake Burman about the devastating tax implications of the Big Beautiful Bill.

9 years ago9,726BestPokerVids,

Published 9 years ago

What Separates the Good vs the Best Poker Players?

Doug Polk explains what separates the simply good poker players and the very best poker players. Polk talks about the number of ta...

7 years ago6,686BDJB,

Published 7 years ago

What Happens When You Give Money Away!

Doug Polk was running a huge giveaway for his followers to win a % of his winnings on the Poker Night in America cash game, and in...

1 year ago1,729PokerTube,

Published 1 year ago

We Need To Talk About The WSOP Scandal - With Daniel Negreanu and Alan Keating

Laptop use by Jonathan Tamayo and Dominik Nitsche during the final table has ignited controversy. With Tamayo winning the $10 mill...

11 years ago5,976Bellagio1,

Published 11 years ago

WCOOP Event 23 - $10K 8-Max High Roller

$10,300 WCOOP High Roller final table with 'Sauce123' and Doug 'WCGRider' Polk

8 years ago3,821BestPokerVids,

Published 8 years ago

Vanessa Selbst's Top 5 Poker Moments

Doug Polk elects to make his own Top 5 list of Vanessa Selbst hands, including footage from the EPT and

This Fold Cost Jungleman $200k

Pretty much the entire poker world was shocked when Cates snap-folded to Hellmuth’s all-in river shove, despite receiving 6-1 odds on the call.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

SuperStars To Play In Live At The Bike S50/100 Cash Game

The Live at the Bike offerings just keep coming, with this Friday seeing the likes of Esfandiari, Fee and Adelstein sitting down for a full ring cash game at $50/100.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

BellagioPots Twitch Live Stream Schedule Announced

The BellagioPOTS fast becoming one of the must-watch Twitch streams for fans of the game, with the likes of Eli Elezra, Tony G and Andrew Neeme showing up in last season’s shows.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

Hellmuth Defeats Cates to Win King Of The Hill Title and $200k!

The epic battle saw an amazing recovery from Hellmuth, who at one point had less than 6K in chips against almost 200K of Jungleman.

Doug Polk and Cate Hall Fight Over ‘Racist’ Tweet

Two white pros having a Twitter spat over how racist white people in America are? It can only be Hall and Polk, both perfectly capable of ‘starting an argument in an empty room’.

Dwan Pays Jungleman Cates $800K for Delaying ‘Durrrr Challenge’

Daniel ‘Jungelman12’ Cates, has now revealed that Dwan has paid him almost $800,000 in fines related to the aborted match.

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.

Online Poker , 8 years ago

Viktor Blom Wins $490,163 In a Single Day And Is On a Legendary Heater

Viktor Blom seems to be back in the saddle playing $200/400 PLO and limit triple draw and Omaha eights-or-better at $1k/$2k limits.

Live Poker Events, 8 years ago

Hellmuth, Polk, Cates & Kassela in $50K Winner Take All on PNIA

Poker Night in America has announced a $50,000 Super High Roller King of the Hill Heads-Up match next month.

Daniel Wolf Responds to Alec Torelli Angleshoot with Funny Rap Song

Daniel 'Clarence' Wolf released a YouTube video expressing his opinion on Alec Torelli's alleged angleshoot.