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 years ago4,175PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu GRUDGE MATCH Session 30

Session 30 of the heads up $200/$400 grudge match between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu. Start your poker journey with $20 fr...

3 years ago41,340PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Poker Night In America Season 7 BEST HANDS

The BIGGEST POTS and SICKEST coolers from Season 7, Episodes 1-12. Watch Doug Polk, Shaun Deeb, Matt Berkey, Bryn Kenney, and more...

3 years ago5,163PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Negreanu vs Polk DEATHMATCH RESUMES!!

Joeingram streams the Negreanu vs Polk grudge match! Claim $20 free cash Here. 

3 years ago13,678PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Poker Night In America Season 7 Episode 9

The $25/$50/$100 NLHE cash game features Doug Polk and Phil Laak. Claim your giant welcome bonus Here. 

3 years ago4,267PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu $200/$400 GRUDGE MATCH Session 17

The Negreanu vs Polk grudge match continues with Doug profiting $674K going into session 17. Start your poker journey with $2...

3 years ago2,973PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu Challenge Session 11

The grudge match continues as Doug Polk takes on Daniel Negreanu in a $200/$400 heads up NLHE match. Commentated by Joeingram1.&nb...

3 years ago1,744PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk's BIGGEST Online Poker Hands!

MMASherdog breaks down the biggest pots played by Doug Polk featuring Daniel Negreanu, Isildur1, and Trueteller. Become the n...

3 years ago1,864PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu Challenge Session 10

The 10th session of $200/$400 action between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu. Stick around for an interview with Doug when play ends...

3 years ago3,630BestPokerVids,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu Challenge Session 7

High Stakes Feud | Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk | Round 7 Exclusive post-match interview with DNegs Commentary by Jeff Platt &am...

3 years ago2,290PokerTube,

Published 3 years ago

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu Challenge Session 6

The 6th session of $200/$400 action between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu. Daniel is taking a $25,916 lead into today's match afte...

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David “Chino” Rheem has allegedly been up to his old tricks, English pro Alex Goulder taking to Twitter to accuse the Californian of scamming his backers.

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