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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Coach Doug vs. the Poker Supercomputer

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Doug Polk Online High Stakes Heads Up With Ben Sulsky

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Poker Earnings LEAKED! How Much Money They Really Made!

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

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Poker Hands - Could You Fold This Set Against Negreanu?

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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...

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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...

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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...

Matusow Attacks Polk Over Negreanu WSOP POY Cheating Theory

Mike Matusow launched a blistering double-barreled Twitter attack on Doug Polk

Calls to Boycott Venetian Poker Room over Rake Grab Claims

The Venetian Poker Room in Las Vegas has been fiercely criticised for its latest tournament series

Charlie Carrel Threatens to Sue Doug Polk over ‘Defamatory’ Video?

YouTube personality Doug Polk sparked off a new Twitter spat with Charlie Carrel

Polk Trolls Negreanu in Randall Emmett T-shirt Windup

Former poker player Doug Polk still seems intent on trolling his arch-rival Daniel Negreanu

‘Johnnie Vibes’ Moreno Triggers Poker Moral Police

YouTube vlogger has set off a rant on Twitter over his mark up pricing for this year’s WSOP

PokerBrat Good, KidPoker Bad According to Vegas Rumours

Daniel Negreanu’s image as one of poker’s nice guys took a further dent this week

Polk and Deeb Apologise Over $42k Flip That Cost Employees Their Jobs

Polk and Deeb have both apologised this week for their parts in a $42k ‘illegal’ hand

Top 5 Poker YouTubers of 2018

According to Social Blade, these 5 poker YouTubers reached a wider audience

Eli Elezra AMA Shut Down as Fellow Pros Claim He Owes Huge Sums of Money

Poker legend Eli Elezra has been shot down in flames on the 2plus2 forum

The Top 5 Poker Pros Who Quit in 2018

Not everyone is still in love with the poker dream it seems