Doug Polk
| Doug Polk | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | WCGRider |
| Born | December 16, 1988 |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | 2 |
| Final table(s) | 3 |
| Money finish(es) | 10 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish | 592nd, 2011 |
| European Poker Tour | |
| Money finish(es) | 1 |
Douglas "WCGRider" Polk (born December 16, 1988)[1] is an American professional poker player. Polk plays under the alias WCGRider[2] specializing in heads-up No Limit hold'em.
Early life
Polk was born in Pasadena, California and has loved strategy games ever since he was 5 when his father taught him chess. At the age of 15 Polk was a competitive electronic sports player before transitioning to poker in college.[3]
Poker career
Polk attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington, but dropped out before graduating to pursue poker full-time. He started playing $0.01/$0.02 stakes at PokerStars and ran a $20 deposit into $10,000. During this time Polk described himself as a "breakeven rakeback pro".[3]
In 2011, he was nearly broke and decided to fully focus on the game. By 2013 he was considered one of the best online cash game players. He played fellow professional poker player Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky in a highly publicized match of 15,000 hands. Polk walked away a $740,000 winner and received an additional $100,000 bonus for winning.[4]
Polk was vocal about Daniel Negreanu's challenge of beating the $25/$50 stakes with two weeks of practice criticizing him for underestimating his opponents.[5] In mid 2015 Doug started the poker training site Upswing Poker with long time friend and fellow poker pro Ryan Fee.[6]
In 2015, Polk was selected to play heads-up No Limit Hold 'em against A.I. poker bot Claudico along with professional poker players Dong Kim, Jason Les and Bjorn Li. Each player was set to play 20,000 hands against Claudico for a team total of 80,000 hands. The human players ended up defeating Claudico for 732,713 chips with Polk beating the bot for 213,000. The team received a total of $100,000 for the victory.[7]
As of October 2016, his total live tournament earnings exceed $5,000,000.[8]
World Series of Polker
| Year | Event | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $1,000 Turbo No Limit Hold'em | $251,969 |
| 2016 | $1,000 Tag Team No Limit Hold'em | $153,358 |
References
- ^ "Doug Polk". Retrieved 2014-12-05.
- ^ Nutblocker (2013-03-10). "Poker Player Snapshot:Douglas "WCGRider" Polk". Nutblocker. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
- ^ a b Chad Holloway (2014-03-06). "Joy Ride: Doug "WCGRider" Polk's Road to the Nosebleeds". PokerNews. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
- ^ Chad Holloway (2013-10-25). "Doug "WCGRider" Polk Defeats Ben "Sauce1234" Sulsky in $100K Challenge". PokerNews. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
- ^ Julio Rodriguez (2014-10-20). "Doug Polk Calls Out Daniel Negreanu For Insulting High-Stakes Poker Community". CardPlayer. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
- ^ "Upswing Poker Pros - Meet Us". Up Swing Poker. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
- ^ Jason Glatzer (May 11, 2015). "Man Proves Greater Than Machine: Players Win $732,713 Against Bot "Claudico"". Poker News.
- ^ Doug Polk Hendon Mob Database