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 ago8,819BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Coach Doug vs. the Poker Supercomputer

Carnegie Mellon is on a mission to develop an AI that can defeat the best humans in the world at Heads Up No Limit Texas Hold'em. ...

7 years ago21,466BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk Online High Stakes Heads Up With Ben Sulsky

While warming up in the WCOOP $10,000 Heads Up Tournament, Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky sits in at Doug Polk's $50/$100 heads up Zoom tab...

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Doug Polk vs Ben Tollerene Dispute

Doug Polk and Ben Tollerene recently got into a dispute on the TwoPlusTwo Poker forums over a business/personal relationship gone ...

7 years ago76,347BestPokerVids,

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Phil Hellmuth Is LIVID!

In this high stakes cash game hand from Poker After Dark, Phil Hellmuth butts heads with Brandon Adams. Phil claims to have a dead...

7 years ago6,282BestPokerVids,

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Poker Earnings LEAKED! How Much Money They Really Made!

It's Doug Polk's birthday, and he gets the best gift ever: unlimited access to player earnings at tracking site HighStakesDB.com! ...

7 years ago16,196BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Colman Can't Believe Negreanu's Hand

Doug Polk analyses a hand from the $1million buy-in "Big One For One Drop" from the 2015 WSOP. Daniel Negreanu takes a very intere...

7 years ago7,233BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Could You Fold This Set Against Negreanu?

Poker Hands is a series in which Doug Polk analyzes televised hands and shares his thoughts.Daniel Negreanu, 6-time World Series o...

7 years ago33,216BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Fedor Holz Makes Moves In The Main Event

Doug Polk analyses a big hand Fedor Holz plays against Upeshka De Silva deep in the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event, and sha...

7 years ago15,232BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Gordon Vayo Gets PUNKED

Imagine that you're heads up in the 2016 World Series of Poker Main event. Your opponent is Qui Nguyen, an aggressive gambler in a...

7 years ago4,991BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Poker Hands - Would You Bluff Patrik Antonius Here?

Patrik Antonius is put to the test as Doug Polk runs a massive bluff in this nosebleed stakes cash game played alongside the Aussi...

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