Doug “WCGRider” Polk about his goals as a poker streamer

Doug “WCGRider” Polk is recently putting his entire focus on streaming poker through Twitch.TV platform. With a huge success as a high stakes cash game player and nearly $5 million in live tournament winnings he always gets a huge audience and is amongst most popular poker streamers. However, how does running a poker stream looks like?

Polk and Ryan Fee teamed up with another poker pro, Matt Colletta, to start Upswing Poker, a poker training and media website. As part of his of duties for Upswing, they stream their play while interacting with viewers.
Earlier this year, Polk broke the record for the biggest online poker win in Twitch live streaming history when he won a $700 buy-in MTT on PokerStars that paid out around $162,000.

However, when asked about streaming, he says:
“It is tough - if you look at how many hours have already been streamed on the Upswing Poker Twitch Channel, I think we’ve already streamed 450 hours. The good thing is that because poker situations tend to be so unique, it’s rare that we see the same things going on over and over again. However at the same time, it is poker and there’s really only so much room for variety. The biggest challenge I guess is filling those hours with unique content despite the fact that we’re still playing online poker.”

When asked about his goals as a streamer, Polk said it's mostly a promotional tool for his own brand rather than a way to make more money directly. He still enjoys it a lot though: “To be honest, I enjoy streaming … it’s fun getting to interact with people and I love trolling people when they ask stupid questions.”

“I’m really excited that our channel has a lot of growth, but it’s funny when I look at Twitch, because I’ve made $180,000 playing on-stream—so compared to whatever Twitch is making me, the poker play itself is much more.”

Have you seen his latest Polkernews where he trolls Negreanu? Doug is hilarious.

Seems like this would be disastrous for him in future games vs opponents who have studied him. How could this ever be a good idea for him?

On July 30 2016 12:08 NewbSaibot wrote: Seems like this would be disastrous for him in future games vs opponents who have studied him. How could this ever be a good idea for him?

Cause he'll just adjust and he's probably making a good deal off his site. Even if people start surpassing you, you can basically treat the twitch/site income as a form of rakeback if you started breaking even. Something tells me though I don't think this guy is going anywhere skillwise.

he realised that its easier to make money like this in poker
he doesnt seem very confortable playing 10k when he played vs jungleman
so, its not like hes super rich and doing this for fun

I honestly don't have an idea how good he is, he keeps reminding people he's the best NLHE player in the world and he seems really confident saying that. Weird dude sure, but he is kinda different in how he presents himself to people, like sincerely arrogant or something :D

pretty sure people would rather watch someone who touts themselves as the best instead of some modest quiet guy just going about
then again winning 180k on stream should be enough to get a couple of viewers

Love the guy. Don't think he's arrogant at all. He's also smart in deciding to focus on the business of poker rather than poker itself. I'm sure Galfond, Ivey, and others have made more from their poker business than poker.

The stream itself is meaningless compared to poker income, the money made just pales in comparison. However if you look at most poker players they're not at the top forever (skillwise). If he can establish his brand and/or company he still sets himself up for the longrun and possibly a less stressful occupation.

On July 31 2016 00:05 PolarFox wrote: pretty sure people would rather watch someone who touts themselves as the best instead of some modest quiet guy just going about then again winning 180k on stream should be enough to get a couple of viewers

Ive seen those modest quiet guys actually say Doug is the top nlhe hu player

On August 01 2016 05:26 Baalim wrote: Show nested quote + On July 31 2016 00:05 PolarFox wrote: pretty sure people would rather watch someone who touts themselves as the best instead of some modest quiet guy just going about then again winning 180k on stream should be enough to get a couple of viewers Ive seen those modest quiet guys actually say Doug is the top nlhe hu player

Still blows my mind, remember reading his posts when he was a NL50 player. Amazing how his mind adjusted and mine did not