Upswing Poker Bankroll Challenge

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He also created his YouTube Channel, which later on went on to become the most popular poker channel on the video network. In August 2016, Polk started what’s known as a “Bankroll Challenge,” where he pledged to take a $100 bankroll and turn it into $10,000 by playing online poker. He broadcasted the whole thing on the internet. Welcome to the Upswing Poker YouTube channel! The topics covered will be poker strategy, common mistakes, poker tips, how to play poker hands, bankroll management, poker mental game tips, etc.

A lot of people think that advanced poker strategy doesn't work at the micro stakes. Throughout the $100 to $10,000 bankroll challenge, fans have implored Do. A week later my bankroll has doubled and I sit at 200, my question is, is this normal growth for the stakes I play at or am I just experiencing a large upswing. I play about 3 to 4 hours a day as well and usually don't dip too much, and if I do I grind out the double or nothing's to break back even which I average in 85% win rate on.

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Challenge

The poker world already said goodbye to Doug Polk the poker player, now it must do the same for Doug Polk the content creator.

Upswing Poker Bankroll Challenge Tips

Polk, who runs an industry-leading YouTube channel with 286,000 subscribers, announced on Monday his retirement from the poker content world. Polk used the channel to break down poker strategy and explore a variety of topics in the poker world.

Polk had originally said he was done playing in September 2018 but continued to make content on YouTube. Some of that was geared toward promoting Polk's poker training course, Upswing Poker. However, it seems even that has ground on Polk until he can no longer stay in the game.

'My heart's not in it anymore,' he said. 'I just don't like poker anymore. I'm sorry to say that. I really feel like I'm done.'

'I just don't like poker anymore. I'm sorry to say that. I really feel like I'm done.'

Sickened by Solvers

Polk pointed to many things being behind his decision to fully move on from poker.

One he highlighted that will touch a nerve with many players is the prevalence of solver usage. The programs, which aid players by providing them optimal range strategies in a given spot, have 'killed the fun and spirit of the game,' according to Polk.

He expounded upon this viewpoint in a Tuesday appearance on Joey Ingram's podcast.

'The actual strategy itself has essentially become botting,' he said. 'It's just not fun anymore. It's just memorizing shit. It sucks now, honestly, the way things evolved.'

'It's just memorizing shit. It sucks now, honestly, the way things evolved.'

Polk explained that when he was working his way up the stakes, he had to manually do a lot of work similar to what the solvers produce in order to beat his toughest opponents, players like Ben 'Sauce123' Sulsky and Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom. Solvers are one reason Polk seemed a bit pessimistic about the game's future online.

'I think that if we look at anything digital, it's going to get harder and harder and you have to be super careful where you play,' he said. 'Tournaments are probably still pretty safe. Online cash games you should be super scared of where you play. I think live poker will basically always be good.'

Good Memories Galore

While Polk has lost his passion for the game, he hasn't lost his appreciation for what poker did for him or the time he spent in it. He told Ingram has tons of fond memories of his time in the game, and they spent some time going over highlights of Polk's career.

At the top of the list, Polk said, was the time he bested Sulsky in their heads-up challenge.

'I made it from nothing to beating the No. 1 guy in something in the world because I spent so much time working hard at it,' he said.

According to HighStakesDB, Polk won more than $2.1 million in tracked games on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker as 'WCGRider'.

Polk was also proud of keeping his independence in a space fraught with advertisers willing to throw a few bucks his way.

'I always said my piece,' he said. 'I never got bought out by anybody in this industry. I always tried to do the right thing. I want to be remembered for my time here that I always tried to do the right thing.'

The hardest part will be walking away from all of the loyal fans who kept consuming his content, propelling him to the top of the poker content creation heap. Polk hit the 100,000 mark in 2017 and kept climbing to unprecedented heights, far surpassing other poker-related media.

That proved lucrative for his Upswing business, to say nothing of the millions won both in cash games and tournaments — Polk owns three World Series of Poker bracelets and most prominently won the One Drop in 2017.

However, Polk maintained the work creating content just isn't worth it for him anymore.

Upswing Poker Bankroll Management

'It takes time, and if your heart's not it in, it's brutal,' he said. 'At some point, you gotta throw in the towel...and we got there.'

Upswing Poker Bankroll Challenge Rules

What's Next for Polk?

While Polk will hang up his content creation kicks when it comes to poker, he isn't getting out of the YouTube business altogether.

'At some point, you gotta throw in the towel...and we got there.'

He plans to continue making videos, just on a new channel that will have nothing to do with poker. He hopes to tackle more mainstream topics and be able to make more personal stuff if it feels relevant to him, such as video-game-related content.

It's not his first time venturing out of the poker realm, as he previously created a cryptocurrency channel that proved quite popular.

He plans to make five videos per week on his new channel, and he's excited for the challenge. If his new venture never reaches the heights — monetary or otherwise — of his poker stuff, that's fine by him.

'I'm all in on making it work and I'm really excited for the first time in awhile,' he said. 'If half a year from now, I'm just failing brutally, I might reconsider things.'

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    Viktor BlomDoug Polk

Professional poker player Doug “WCGRider” Polk embarked on a bankroll challenge this week. These types of challenges are nothing new – plenty of players have tried them – but they are still a lot of fun. Polk began his Sunday, attempting to grow an online poker bankroll from $100 to $10,000 in the appropriately named “$100 to $10,000 Challenge.”

The most famous bankroll challenge was done by Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, back in 2006 when he wasn’t a known asshole. Ferguson did his a bit different than will Polk, aiming to generate a $10,000 bankroll from nothing. He started by playing in freerolls on Full Tilt Poker, taking several weeks to make just two dollars. He lost that money, but kept plugging away, eventually making $22 in freerolls. His breakthrough came when he turned a second place finish in a one dollar tourney into $104.

From there, Ferguson went on to hit his $10,000 in a total of about a year and a half. He made it all the way up to $28,000 before falling back below the $10,000 mark.

In an interview with PokerUpdate.com, Polk said that one way his challenge differs from Ferguson’s, aside from starting with $100, is that Ferguson had a strict set of rules, including one that stipulated that he had to have 20 buy-ins to sit down in a cash game. Polk feels that this rule, specifically, was “very aggressive” and “inadvisable.”

Polk, instead, has not set any rules for his play. He is going to treat the money like it is his own bankroll, trying not to lose it all.

He also said that Ferguson’s challenge is “long outdated,” as he started it before the UIGEA was passed, when online poker was much softer than it is now.

Upswing Poker Bankroll Challenge Game

When asked why he is doing this, Polk said, “I took on this challenge because I want to prove that, even in today’s tough online poker ecosystem, a hopeful micro stakes grinder can still run up a bankroll. The days of the 2003 poker boom may be behind us, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up and blame our failure on the system.”

Upswing Poker Bankroll Challenge Games

Polk is playing the entire challenge on WSOP.com in Nevada, streaming his sessions on UpSwing Poker’s Twitch channel. From what I have seen so far, he constantly interacts with viewers, narrating his games and answering strategy questions.

He told PokerUpdate that he is mostly going to play No-Limit Hold’em, though he is currently playing Pot-Limit Omaha (and winning a big hand for the buy-in he was playing). Polk began the challenge poorly, losing $17 in the first day, but that’s poker. One could argue that it is almost better that way, as having a huge run-up on day one could potentially make Polk and his fans overconfident.

As I write this, he is in the fourth day of the challenge and has worked his way back to around break even.