After a full month of play, the $100k ClubWPT Gold Challenge is in the books. Doug Polk battled it out for over 160 hours on a newly-launched sweepstakes poker site, wrapping things up just $1,421 in the black.
The final result is a far cry from the $100,000 goal Polk set to achieve at the start, but he managed to at least turn things around and bring the challenge back into the positive. This was very important as, halfway through the journey, he made a pledge that if he were to finish down, he’d shave his head.
So, finishing $1k up instead of even a buck down is a pretty big personal success for Polk — and a loss for a decent chunk of his followers who were looking forward to the new style.
Despite falling way short, Doug will make good on his promise of dishing out $100,000 to everyone who joined the site using his code on a stream set to take place on April 9.
An Exciting & Stressful Journey
The Doug Polk challenge has been one big rollercoaster from start to finish. Despite his clear theoretical advantage, Polk struggled to catch any real momentum at the tables.
After reaching about $20,000 in profits ten days into the challenge, the heads-up specialist got hit pretty hard by variance. Session after session, he’d go into a deeper hole, hitting the absolute low about a week later, when his total losses added up to $50,000.
To Polk’s credit, he did not allow his emotions to take over. Knowing the nature of the beast, he kept coming back and even upped the antes, promising to shave his head if he didn’t get back into the black by the end of the challenge.
This added a fair bit of pressure to an already stressful situation, but it clearly acted as a motivation as well.
Doug started to dig himself out of the hole, finally reaching the profit land once again on March 31. This was followed by a couple of strong sessions, and going into the last day, Polk was about $20,000 up and ready to take on the final challenge.
Enter Eric Persson
Saving best for last, the final day of the challenge was set aside for a heads-up match against Eric Persson, a businessman and high stakes poker player best known for his aggressive style of play.
It was a make-or-break moment for Polk as the duo agreed to play $50/$100 for two hours, buying in for $20,000 each. They had a side bet that the loser would have to drive a “mystery car” provided by ClubWPT Gold; plus, if Doug were to end down for the challenge, he’d have to shave his head (or dye his hair blond — whichever his subscribers preferred).
While the Lodge Club owner and heads-up specialist is used to playing for big sums of money, there was a lot riding on this match that transcends monetary value.
Things didn’t quite work out for Doug, as Persson managed to take down a few pots and eat away almost all profits. Polk managed to hold his own for two hours, though, and after folding a few hands in a row, he reached that two-hour mark and decided to call it quits and at least save his hair.
He’ll still have to drive the mystery car, though, and we can’t wait to see what ClubWPT Gold will come up with.
Too Ambitious of a Challenge?
Now that the results are in, it is common to try and see what we can learn from what transpired. Is online poker really that tough, even at a sweepstakes site filled with casual players, that a former number-one HU crusher can’t beat it?
Of course not! The fact of the matter is that Polk’s goal of $100,000 was very ambitious, but his final result isn’t a true reflection of things, either.
Many factors played a role here: he was able to play only one table, his opponents would often not reload, and sometimes, he would just have to wait around to get a game going. But those who watched the streams know that a lot of the deficit can be attributed to bad variance that evens out over a big number of hands.
Given the conditions at ClubWPT Gold, a three or four-month challenge would probably be more indicative as it would allow for enough volume, but after narrowly escaping with a full set of hair this time around, it’s hard to imagine Polk will be eager to double down!