Doug Polk's poker challenge $100 to $10,000

[Shumkoolie]

I'm going to use this quote every chance that I get. I'm surprised that you think Doug is such an underdog in this challenge. I think that he will complete the challenge, but it will take longer than most think it "should".

I think grinding from almost nothing to a large sum of money is so difficult to do, especially if you're going to do it via cash games. If more people accomplished it, we'd hear way more about it. I think you give me the name of ANYBODY at all, I'd say he/she is an underdog to accomplish it.

But for those who are excellent players/pro's (of which Doug is), he's less a dog than say myself for example. You what though, maybe I'm wrong, maybe he is a favorite to succeed. I hope he proves me wrong.

It's great publicity (obviously) for his channel, as evidence by this thread here, and for sure on other forums. I haven't had much time recently to watch him play, but I do think he's an excellent player and if he were to reach this goal, it lends credibility to the material he puts out there, and it's just another way to monetize what he does.

Frankly, I enjoy reading/hearing about these challenges. It's just that far too often, it starts off very strong, only to fizzle out in the end.

PS - Thank you, I quite like that quote.

 

[fiveohtwo502]

I just started noticing these guys. Upswing. wsop isnt a bad place to play except the degenerate in me would prefer to have a sportsbook etc on hand. I think the micro limi on there is very good though. I look forward to watching this as I would like to see someone using proper brm do this.

 

[Gorak]

LOL, harder to find charitable donors these days.

I'm not looking for donors; I'm just looking for some players that do not hold so hard to their money.

 

[Gorak]

It would be much more fun if a coach did a video stream where they took a losing or break-even micro player and coached them and helped them run up a $100 bankroll to $10,000.

That would be cool but the problem is that the player and the coach must find a time schedule that fits both. And that is not easy for a challenge this long.

 

[thechamp5]

That would be cool but the problem is that the player and the coach must find a time schedule that fits both. And that is not easy for a challenge this long.

Agreed and the coach would need a good amount of notoriety and then they would probably need to split that bankroll, because hey. I am not just going to donate all that time to just charitably help you increase your bankroll by 1000%.

 

[ekgbeat]

I think you give me the name of ANYBODY at all, I'd say he/she is an underdog to accomplish it.

But for those who are excellent players/pro's (of which Doug is), he's less a dog than say myself for example.

I agree that Doug is a great player, and I think that he could accomplish this challenge. However, I do think that other players would be better suited for this challenge. Doug is very specialized in cash games focusing on HU and 6 MAX. While he is the best in those types of poker, I don't not think that the micro stakes of HU and 6 MAX will be a quick jump to $10K. I will be tuning in on Sunday and beyond though.

Someone like Jason Mercier or Ike Haxton would be almost no brainer for completing this. They are well versus in many forms of poker which would lend itself to completing this challenge. I have watched Doug's approach, for example, and he was playing PLO. I would say that Ryan Fee is a better PLO player than Doug. I do agree that this is more of a publicity stunt so it would never be +EV for any player to do this unless they are pushing their brand.

 

[Gorak]

It seems like players come and go fast on Twitch.

I haven't been there for a while before this challenge and I see almost none of those I was following back then.

Anybody good these days on Twitch?

 

[Shumkoolie]

It seems like players come and go fast on Twitch.

I haven't been there for a while before this challenge and I see almost none of those I was following back then.

Anybody good these days on Twitch?

Some that immediately come to mind, besides Doug Polk are:

Jason Somerville (JCarverpoker) - He and tonkaaaa probably have the highest viewership on Twitch
Jaime Staples (I got to meet him last summer at Daniel's Summer Party in Toronto, and he's a good guy).
Tonkaaaa (He's an absolute MTT crusher - if you want to hear how a high level player thinks about decision making, he's one to listen to).
Kevin Martin - Low stakes MTT player but is improving and is also very entertaining. He's a former cast member of Big Brother canada.
Randy Lew (nanonoko)
Doug Polk/Ryan Fee (upswingpoker)

There are many others that I haven't mentioned that are also good to watch. Vary your viewing, get to see how different people think and it should help you improve as a player.

Someone like Jason Mercier or Ike Haxton would be almost no brainer for completing this. They are well versus in many forms of poker which would lend itself to completing this challenge. I have watched Doug's approach, for example, and he was playing PLO. I would say that Ryan Fee is a better PLO player than Doug. I do agree that this is more of a publicity stunt so it would never be +EV for any player to do this unless they are pushing their brand.

I think that Mercier and Haxton are also underdogs likely at the same level as Polk. The thing to keep in mind here is these are microstakes and these people aren't used to playing at that level, just like we're not used to playing high stakes. The reasons are different though, but it would be interesting to see if Doug (or any other high stakes players can do it).

 

[ekgbeat]

It seems like players come and go fast on Twitch.

I haven't been there for a while before this challenge and I see almost none of those I was following back then.

Anybody good these days on Twitch?

MingtheMerciless93 is a great low stakes, 6 Max cash game coach / streamer. Be warned though, he can be very vulgar if the chat is out of hand (which is most of the time).

When he streams, AdrianFeniXx is my fav to watch. He is a great / entertaining mid-stake cash player.

For tournaments, I have to agree with Shumkoolie on TonkaaaaP

 

[ekgbeat]

I think that Mercier and Haxton are also underdogs likely at the same level as Polk. The thing to keep in mind here is these are microstakes and these people aren't used to playing at that level, just like we're not used to playing high stakes. The reasons are different though, but it would be interesting to see if Doug (or any other high stakes players can do it).

I think other players will have more of an edge than Doug for this comp since he is highly specialized in areas that don't lend themselves to micro stake play.

All and all, I'm watching the stream now, and will continue to watch. I think it is a great learning tool, and it is interesting to see how he approaches the micro stakes since it has changed since he was grinding them.

 

[Gorak]

Some that immediately come to mind, besides Doug Polk are:

I haven't seen Staples and Lew since I came back to Twitch.

I have seen Polk; but it was painful to watch.

 

[Shumkoolie]

When he streams, AdrianFeniXx is my fav to watch. He is a great / entertaining mid-stake cash player.

I like to watch him play as well. He kind of fell off the radar for a while and didn't twitch for some time. Good to see him back online again. I'll have to see what his schedule is as when I watched him before, he'd broadcast very late at night, like around 3am Eastern Time.

 

[ekgbeat]

I haven't seen Staples and Lew since I came back to Twitch.

I have seen Polk; but it was painful to watch.

Why do you think Doug is "painful to watch"?

I like to watch him play as well. He kind of fell off the radar for a while and didn't twitch for some time. Good to see him back online again. I'll have to see what his schedule is as when I watched him before, he'd broadcast very late at night, like around 3am Eastern Time.

Yeah, I'm excited about his return. There is just a lot of poker content on Twitch now.

 

[atlantafalcons0]

What's the status?

 

[chronical]

agree on everything that has been said about promotion.
in addition I think it's a bad one at that.
let's say I'm one of the best in the world at input the sport/activity adn it takes me ~1 year to be crushing at input minor/kids league. I mean I get the idea "See we have a top player and if he can do it this = if you learn you can do it", but for the love of... all the feeling aside from Ferguson he is a good player and it took him 18 month(1,5 year) for 10K.
Now lets think I'm a noob out there getting interested in poker and I see 18 month....

 

[thechamp5]

What's the status?

Last night he was playing $5 sit n' go's and he just broke even at $178. I don't know how long he played for but it was only day 8.

 

[Gorak]

He binked 2 tournaments and was up to $540.

On Monday however he played cash games and $10 Sit n Go until he was down to $300.

But again he made a final table in an MTT to get back to $400.

It seems that his real edge is MTTs at this level. Without those MTTs he would be close to broke.

 

[catchitfool]

i think Doug can do $100 to 10k challenge as long he keeps brm and moves up gradually in stakes and plays at his high level. i look forward to watching his cont. sucsess gooder luck bud

 

[FrostyyAustyy]

He binked 2 tournaments and was up to $540.

On Monday however he played cash games and $10 Sit n Go until he was down to $300.

But again he made a final table in an MTT to get back to $400.

It seems that his real edge is MTTs at this level. Without those MTTs he would be close to broke.

I was watching his steam midway through his session and he said that he took two shoot at a $100 MTT. Did is this true or was he just bsing?

 

[Gorak]

he said that he took two shoot at a $100 MTT. Did is this true or was he just bsing?

The time I was watching; I never heard him say that. He was playing Sit n Goes and MTTs at $10 max buyin.

A $100 shot at this point would be very bad bankroll management.

 

[rhombus]

I saw abit and he played quite a few $10 Turbo SNGs and lost them all, although he did tend to get unlucky in most and lose every flip.

When playing cash I don't get the min raise from all positions. It might be the norm at higher levels but micros is a different game

 

[fordman427]

I think he can do it, he will have an edge once he gets use to playing low stakes again

 

[thechamp5]

I think he can do it, he will have an edge once he gets use to playing low stakes again

He definately will, he has been doing really well. He is going to take a break to go play a series for a month, but he will be back at it after that and I think he will finish faster than I originally thought. I think he will be over $2k or so by the end of 2016, he might do even better than that.

 

[fiveohtwo502]

Whos taking over under action??

 

[Gorak]

He definately will, he has been doing really well.

His roll is currently $138 after a very rough day 13.

If a pro like him can take such a drop; just imagine how hard it would be for a rec player like me to succeed in today's poker.