Doug Polk plans to transform a $100 bankroll into $10,000 a decade after Chris Ferguson achieved a similar feat in the days when the Full Tilt pros chatted to the community instead of robbing them.
Is the modern poker game too tough for people to crack?
Feedback from numerous top players would suggest an answer in the affirmative, but then the much maligned Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson emerged from his six-year slumber to cash 10-times in the 47th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was a performance worthy of an 11th place finish on the WSOP Player of the Year (POY) Leaderboard. The former Full Tilt carrot slicer must have wondered what all the fuss was about?
Most people who saw Ferguson sat in one of those WSOP competitions most likely wanted to cause him some grievous bodily harm, but I think he inspired a certain Doug “WCGRider” Polk. On Sunday, the two-time WSOP bracelet winner and high-stakes, online cash game player began his journey to turn $100 into $10,000 while streaming the entirety of his action on Twitch.
Starting my $100 -> $10k bankroll challenge this Sunday at 6pm PST.
Check it out on https://t.co/Sza4N9voQp! pic.twitter.com/DwTdiptjOF
— gN Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) August 5, 2016
Polk’s challenge is a flashback to the good old days. Back then Full Tilt Poker pros promised players that they could ‘Learn, Chat and Play’ with them. One of the figureheads of that site, Ferguson, wowed fans from all over the world after turning the insides of a balloon into a $10,000 bankroll within 18-months.
How long will it take Polk?
Polk asked his 17.6k Twitter followers for an opinion. 1,944 opined. 8% believe a fortnight is enough time; 17% believe it will take between a fortnight and a month; 40% think it will take between one and two months, and 35% don’t believe he has a cat in hells chance.
Polk is also giving his social media followers the opportunity to win some free money by correctly guessing how much his bankroll will be at the end of Week 1. All you have to do is head to his Facebook page, have a punt and tag one of your friends who likes poker in the comments field of the appropriate post.
The online star is one of the new poker progeny taking an innovative approach to personal branding. Polk and Ryan Fee are the owners of Upswing Poker, an online training and strategy site with a difference. Polk also has 19,801 Twitch followers and recently started a new series called PolkerNews where he offers an opinion on selected news stories from 2+2.
So why has Polk decided to take on the $10k Challenge a decade after Ferguson smashed it?
“I want people to know that even in the tough ecosystem of today’s online poker games, you can still run up a bankroll,” Polk told Robbie Strazynski of the Cardplayer Lifestyle Poker Blog.
So what do you think?
Will Polk make it?
Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates asked Polk if he was offering odds on making the $10k?
“Naw,” replied Polk. “I’m not going all out on it. Too many other things are going on.”
In that case, I think I will side with the 35%.
