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 ago129PokerTube,

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

Tesla makes a notable entrance at Poker At The Lodge, engaging in unforgettable hands against poker luminaries such as Xuan Liu, D...

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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 ago4,139PokerTube,

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 ago17,028PokerTube,

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 ago6,155PokerTube,

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 ago3,680Pokertube1,

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...

Doug Polk Loses $200K Body Fat Prop Bet to Bill Perkins

Doug Polk’s valiant effort to cut half his body fat in a year narrowly failed, costing the Upswing Poker boss $200,000 in his prop bet with Bill Perkins

Doug Polk Reflects on 2022

As we move into the New Year, Doug Polk has tweeted some heartfelt comments about the last 12 months he just had, and it’s clear he’s had a rough one

Doug Polk and Phil Hellmuth Fighting on Twitter Again

The pair have a history of bickering on social media

More Rake Isn’t Better says Doug Polk as He Reduces Tournament Fees

Doug Polk has bucked the trend of poker rooms by reducing tournament rake at his Lodge Card Club in Texas

Doug Polk and Phil Hellmuth in Twitter Cryptocurrency Spat

The spat revolves around Hellmuth’s promotion of Bitcoin Latinum and Polk’s CoinFlex involvement, both cryptocurrencies in serious trouble recently

Ginge Poker Plays $109,000 Pot with Doug Polk

Ginge Poker hit the headlines last month when he announced his $1,000,000 in 90 days challenge

Doug Polk Annoys Veronica Brill by Mocking the Sports Illustrated Cover Woman

Polk received a lot of outraged tweets after referring to the current Sports Illustrated cover girl as "obese," with a furious Brill leading the charge

Drunk Player Burns Through $43k in Live Stream Game at The Lodge

A player called Adam, who was more than a little intoxicated, burned through $43,200 at The Lodge while playing in a live stream $25/$50 NL game with Doug Polk

Daniel Negreanu Reveals All about Cheating, Hellmuth and GOATs with Doug Polk

They were once the bitterest of enemies, but you’d be hard pushed to guess that from Daniel Negreanu’s latest appearance on Doug Polk’s podcast

Doug Polk Accepting Challengers for Live $100/$200 Heads-Up Challenge at The Lodge

For now, the only game on offer will be NL Hold’em, Polk’s speciality