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 ago5,782BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk - Sweet Justice (Bankroll Challenge)

Doug Polk is back at his $100 to $10,000 bankroll challenge and after travelling the world playing live high rollers, now it's tim...

7 years ago27,024BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Seiver Dumbfounded by Aces

Doug Polk analyses a big hand between Scott Seiver and Tobias Reinkemeier in the $1million buy-in Big One for One Drop at the 2014...

7 years ago5,222BestPokerVids,

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Doug Polk - The Fastest Way To Win Money

Doug Polk looks at Pokerstars latest innovation in poker, their newest game "Beat The Clock", but what is it all about?

7 years ago9,356BestPokerVids,

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Poker Hands - Calling With Bottom Pair?

Doug Polk reviews a hand between Gordon Vayo and Qui Nguyen, who are playing heads up on the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event...

7 years ago27,289BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Tom Dwan Stunned by Antonius!

Online legend Tom "Durrrr" Dwan thinks he's in the driver's seat the whole way in this hand against Patrik Antonius on Full Tilt's...

7 years ago17,737BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk - Top 5 Online Pots of All Time

Texas Hold'em on the internet was like the Wild West back in 2008 and 2009. This was the golden age of high stakes poker online, w...

7 years ago9,671BestPokerVids,

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How Much Money Do Poker Players REALLY Have?

Money in poker can a tricky subject. The earnings you see reported in news articles and ranking websites only apply to MTTs, and d...

7 years ago6,869BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Table Talk - Phil Ivey Loses $10 Million Trial

Doug Polk and Joey Ingram discuss Phil Ivey's edge sorting scandal, in which he was able to identify cards based on manufacturing ...

7 years ago58,910joeingram1,

Published 7 years ago

Table Talk - The Debut Episode

The debut episode of Table Talk with Doug Polk and Joey Ingram. Table Talk will be a weekly show where Doug & Joey discuss the cur...

7 years ago8,886BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Phil Ivey Agonizes Over The River

Doug Polk analyses a hand he played himself against the great Phil Ivey during the final table of a $250,000 high roller event at ...

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

Business & Industry, 11 months ago

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