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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7 years ago32,030BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Daniel Negreanu BLOCKED By PokerStars and Jason Mercier CHEATING Allegations

Doug takes a look at some of the top stories from this week, including Daniel Negreanu's struggle with copyright infringement, Jas...

7 years ago14,025BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Phil Ivey's Battle is Heading to the SUPREME COURT!

Phil Ivey's mutlimillion dollar suit against Crockford's is being appealed to the highest court in the United Kingdom. Cate Hall p...

7 years ago7,807BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Ryan Fee Faces A BAFFLING River Bet

It's time for more high stakes action on Live at the Bike! This time it's Ryan Fee locking horns with Barry Woods. Don't let his a...

7 years ago11,212joeingram1,

Published 7 years ago

PokerLife Podcast - Doug Polk Gets REAL

Joey Ingram and Doug Polk are together in Beverly Hills for this Poker Life Podcast Episode. They discuss Doug being snubbed at th...

7 years ago6,460BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Lawyers Are Ordering Doug Polk to Take Down 17 Videos

Today, Doug Polk has something a bit more serious to talk about. He received a cease and desist letter from Game Show Network, dem...

7 years ago8,625BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Has Tom Dwan SCAMMED Again?! New 7-Figure Scandal!

Tom Dwan is infamous for his Durrrr Challenge against Jungleman, which is undeniably one of the largest scams in the history of po...

7 years ago14,345BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk - My $25k Pot With Pocket Queens

Today, Doug Polk is breaking down his own big hand of the night at Live at the Bike, where he built a huge pot against Josh Maccie...

7 years ago39,737BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Phil Hellmuth DECLARES WAR On Kelly Winterhalter

Before the cards are even dealt, Phil Hellmuth draws a line in the sand. He declares that he will 3bet very light if Kelly Winterh...

7 years ago11,718BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk Hanging With Phil Hellmuth

Doug Polk live streams with Phil Hellmuth after a great session of high stakes poker on Poker Night in America. /

7 years ago4,836BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk - 7 Misconceptions About Playing Winning Poker

Many of the common sayings you hear in poker are completely wrong. Sometimes the conventional wisdom just enforces bad habits and ...

Wolfgang Poker Reaches 1 Million Subscribers Milestone on YouTube

Wolfgang Poker has made history as the first poker player-focused YouTube channel to surpass the 1 million subscribers mark.

Doug Polk Loves Poker Again - Will He Unretire?

Doug Polk has expressed his excitement over falling back in love with poker

Twitter Spaces Unite: Poker Players Address Bullying Accusations in Doug Polk Discussions

​​Doug Polk and several other poker players have gathered on Twitter Spaces to address allegations of bullying against Polk

“Harassment-free” Ladies Event at Doug Polk Poker Room gets $50k Bonus from Bill Perkins

Bill Perkins has responded to the recent outcry about a man entering and winning a Ladies Only event

Phil Galfond Posts Public Statement on Bullying in the Poker Community

Phil Galfond has written a public statement about Doug Polk, following a significant backlash related to recent news

Fernando ‘JNandez’ Habegger Buries Doug Polk after $150k Lawsuit Win

Quickly overshadowed by this week’s events, Doug Polk was recently called out for setting the legal dogs loose against Fernando ‘JNandez87’ Habegger

Doug Polk Apologises to Charlie Carrel Over Paedophile Row

Warning: Contains sensitive subject matter NSFW

JNandez Reveals All About Upswing Poker Court Case

JNandez has tweeted a comprehensive response about what really went on during his bitter court case against Upswing Poker

Doug Polk Facing Lawsuit in Attack on Texas Poker Clubs

Mark T. Lavery has filed four lawsuits in Texas targeting social-club poker clubs

Doug Polk Takes Pot Shots at Matt Berkey in Nik Airball Spat

Doug Polk, Matt Berkey and HCL reg Nik ‘Airball’ Arcot have spent the past week feuding on social media