Doug Polk – From Micro-Stakes to Millionaire Upswing Poker Founder

Doug Polk is one of the recognisable names in poker today. His rise from micro-stakes grinder to founder of Upswing Poker is one of the game’s great success stories.

This journey took place not only at the felt but also in the broader world of online content creation and crypto. It has it all, including a fair share of controversy.

A Look at Doug Polk’s Poker Career

Like many of us, Doug Polk started his poker journey grinding out on the micro-stakes tables. He was no different to the rest of us except for possibly one point — he was clearly hungry to improve.

The 2+2 forum is legendary for its part in helping players improve throughout the boom years, particularly those who are big names today. Polk definitely made the most of it.

Day-by-day he posted questions for help about spots in his game of choice: full ring NL cash.

And before long, he had made it to the point of at least being able to support himself from playing poker.

But it wasn’t so easy. There were many struggles along the way and he even contemplated giving it all up in 2007 just before he took the plunge and moved to Las Vegas.

It was fellow Upswing Poker founder Ryan Fee that helped turn the tide with the pair teaming up to improve together.

Polk soon reached the $5/$10 and $10/$20 tables and was now preferring the more popular six-max games before taking it further and finding a new love of heads-up cash poker.

That lasted for two more years until there was nobody left willing to sit and play, except one person — Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky.

In 2013, Sauce was considered by many to be the best in the world at heads-up NL but Polk wasn’t perturbed at all. In fact, after examining his game in fine detail, Polk reckoned he could actually find an edge.

Big words, for sure, but he was confident. And so a match was set up for the pair to play 15,000 hands of $20,000 NL. The loser would also have to pay out $100,000.

Polk eventually ran up a $750k advantage and collected the side bet too. At this point, it was logical to say that Doug Polk was now the world’s best NL heads-up cash player and so another challenge beckoned.

By 2014, he only had four live tournament cashes on record and this seemed an interesting deviation in focus.

Black Friday made the online tournament scene difficult for American players but the live scene was absolutely booming.

Fast forward to today, and Doug Polk has more than ten million dollars in live tournament winnings with three WSOP bracelets for good measure.

Doug Polk Moves into Content Creation

It’s fair to say that Doug Polk has a big personality and isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. So a move into poker content creation was a natural fit.

In the middle of 2016, the Doug Polk Poker YouTube channel was born, soon becoming the largest of its kind in the space.

It was probably also the breeding-ground for some of the more well-known controversies with other big names in the poker world.

Online spats with characters such as Luke Schwartz, Charlie Carrel, and Daniel Negreanu were highly-publicised.

From the channel we also heard about how Ben Tollerene broke a mutual coaching agreement for him to help Polk with his PLO game. Tollerene claimed his partners refused to let Polk have access to a piece of bespoke software.

Upswing Poker 

Doug Polk, Ryan Fee, and Matt Colletta started Upswing Poker back in 2015, growing into what is thought to be the biggest poker coaching site in the world today.

The aim was to give players of all levels a high-quality poker education to enable them to make the most of their talents.

All popular games found in casinos and card rooms around the world are covered across a wide selection of courses.

High-quality poker coaching was previously fragmented with the best information found across various forums, books, and websites. Now players can find everything in one place.

All Upswing Poker content is divided up into different levels to allow players to focus on exactly what is appropriate for their needs.

The Daniel Negreanu Grudge Match, Retirement, and The Lodge Card Club

As time goes by, people change and want different things from their lives. Doug Polk is no different.

By 2018, he felt he wasn’t getting the same satisfaction from the game as before. The proliferation of GTO solvers had changed how players approached the game at the highest level.

No longer was there a need to spend long hours in the lab considering strategy versus counter strategy. It was more about seeing what the GTO play was and becoming comfortable with that.

And so retirement from playing poker was Polk’s next move.

Only a couple of years later, we were surprised to hear that he was quitting the industry for good. Even the Youtube channel was going to fall by the wayside. But then Daniel Negreanu saved the day.

Following a long period of clear dislike between the pair, Polk challenged Negreanu to a heads-up grudge match.

Many thought that the Canadian wouldn’t have the stones to take on Polk at his favoured format but fair play to the man because he didn’t even hesitate before agreeing terms.

It didn’t end well for Negreanu, though, because as expected Polk’s class combined with experience of playing heads-up against the best was too much.

He ended up with $1,200,000 in profit and collected $530,000 from the sidebets.

Following this satisfying victory, Polk moved from Las Vegas to Austin, Texas, and started playing live cash at The Lodge Card Club.

Some months later, he teamed up with Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen and bought the property to run the most popular card room in the state.

For now, Doug Polk seems to be concentrating on the card room and coaching site. Could we see him playing anywhere else but at The Lodge?

Who knows but maybe there are some interesting opponents who fancy testing the once heads-up number one again at his best game.