Eric Persson Defeats Doug Polk in “Code Doug” Challenge Finale

Doug Polk has failed to save face by beating his nemesis Eric Persson in a heads-up match to end his “Code Doug” Challenge after coming close to ending up in the red for his overall result.

After a rollercoaster of a month where the Upswing Poker founder set out to win $100,000 to give away, Polk found himself in the hole for tens of thousands, wondering if he was going to end up with egg on his face.

During the second half of the month, Polk’s regular updates on X were getting constantly taunted by Persson to the point where we all started to get excited by the possibility of a trash talking grudge match between the pair.

As it happened, we did get a short match but it was good natured and Persson showed himself to be a class act and respectful of Doug Polk’s standing in the game.

This Saturday at 11am Vegas time, Ive agreed to play @DougPolkVids for two hours of 50 – 100 HU NLH. What could go wrong? @ClubWPTGold pic.twitter.com/WzX0UY9Js9

— Eric Persson (@IAmMaverick888) April 4, 2025

Doug Polk and Eric Persson Square Off Against Each Other

After almost three weeks of grinding a single table on WPT Club Gold, Doug Polk was almost $50,000 down facing the embarrassment of ending his challenge in the red.

The $100,000 Challenge was renamed the $0 Challenge and it was all about aiming at the green.

What followed was a complete turn around over the last week which saw Polk pull back to $18,652 worth of profit. The only problem was that he had just a single session remaining to win exactly $81,348. Not an easy task.

But with a two hour session against Eric Persson planned for the finale, anything could happen — just ask Phil Hellmuth.

Polk already had a forfeit of shaving his head or dying his hair platinum blonde at stake but now there was the prospect of having to drive a beat up car for a month during the summer as well.

Eric Persson Starts with a Bang

With a hyper aggressive match almost a certainty, anything could have happened over two hours of play. As it was, Eric Persson drew first blood with a nasty cooler that made Polk’s dream of topping $100K for the month too much to ask for.

Less than 10 minutes from sitting to play, Polk thought he was off to a good start when his 7♦ 5♦ made a straight on a board of 2♠ 8♦ 4♣ 7♣ 6♠. Sadly for him, Persson turned over 9♠ 5♠ for a better straight and a $37,626 pot went the wrong way.

Rigged pic.twitter.com/IJI6R66k3o

— Doug Polk (Code Doug) (@DougPolkVids) April 5, 2025

The trash talk continued and Polk eventually got into his stride, soon taking over the lead, even if he was miles away from hitting $100K.

Persson wasn’t done, though, and he retook the lead for around $20,000, taunting Polk even more than he’d done in the past.

But Polk wasn’t finished either, and around 45 minutes before the whistle would blow, he got back to break even with a clear shot at beating Persson for the day’s play.

With that in mind, Polk ramped up the aggression to previously unseen levels, and it worked. Turning a straight with queen-ten looked like it might do the job but a river brought four to a straight and Persson didn’t pay off.

This left Polk $16,690 behind Persson for the two hour session but he did rack up a profit of $1,421 for the last 160 hours of play. We doubt he’ll want reminding of the $8,80 per hour he made.

Let’s see what kind of dumpster Persson has Polk driving this summer!