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 ago135PokerTube,

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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$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 ago4,146PokerTube,

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 ago17,051PokerTube,

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 ago6,158PokerTube,

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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 ago4,630PokerTube,

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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 ago3,683Pokertube1,

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 ago3,157PokerTube,

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...

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.

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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.

Online Poker , 6 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.

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.

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.

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’.

Live Poker Events, 6 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.

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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, 6 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.

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.