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 days ago128PokerTube,

Published 3 days ago

Doug Polk CAN'T BELIEVE Nik Airball Jams All-In

Nik Airball thrusts Doug Polk's Pocket Kings into a precarious position at Poker At The Lodge!  Offering round-the-clock cash...

6 years ago5,014BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Challenges Tom Dwan: $5Million Heads Up Match!

With his poker and content career going down the drain, poker coach Doug Polk pleads with the public to help him...help him make a...

7 years ago22,600BestPokerVids,

Published 7 years ago

Doug Polk Crushing $5,000 Heads-Up Sit N Go's

Doug Polk reaches into the cookie jar in this $5k Heads-up sit and go on Pokerstars.

6 years ago5,533BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Deep Run In BIG $215 ($98,800 Prizepool)

Doug Polk makes a deep run in the PokerStars Big $215 with a $98,800 prizepool! In this video you can watch all the highlights and...

6 years ago4,352BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Facebook Live: Strategy & Upswing Announcement

Doug Polk arrives at his 2nd home in Vancouver to play the PokerStars SCOOP online festival! He also has a big Upswing Poker annou...

6 years ago8,527BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Goes Broke with Pocket Rockets!!!

During the $5/10/20 NLHE Live at The Bike cash game Polk gets into trouble with aces as he goes 3 way to the flop! Spoiler: T...

7 years ago11,692BestPokerVids,

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. /

6 years ago6,167BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Loses $102,000 Live On Twitch!

High stakes cash and tournament pro Doug Polk loses $102,000 playing live on Twitch in the PokerStars WCOOP high roller which feat...

6 years ago5,488BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Loses $300K On PNIA: Joeingram1 Breaks It Down!

Joeingram1 enjoys  breaks down Doug Polk's $300k downswing during the last 3 hands of the Poker Night In America $100/200 cas...

6 years ago4,912BDJB,

Published 6 years ago

Doug Polk Loses $300k Playing Drunk!

Poker superstar turned coach and content creator Doug Polk lets the alcohol get to him during the $100/$200 NLHE cash game shot du...

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