Doug Polk Puts Out High-Stakes Challenge in Ongoing Effort to Spur Bigger Action on ClubWPT Gold

Doug Polk is looking to spur higher-stakes action on the poker site that sponsors him ClubWPT Gold. To that end, he has put out a high-stakes heads-up no-limit hold’em challenge:

• 5,000 hands on stream on ClubWPT Gold
• $100-$200 or bigger stakes
• No rake

If the challenger wins, they earn a bounty starting at $25,000. Polk promised to escalate the bounty by a further $25,000 for each match he wins.

Polk’s Offer is Fairly Attractive to a Decent HUNL Player

Polk has been among the strongest, most well-studied heads-up no-limit hold’em players in the world at times. These days, he probably spends more time running his various businesses than sharpening his heads-up skills, but he still rates to be an extremely formidable opponent.

Still, the offer he put out should be fairly attractive to any decent HUNL player. The reason is that 5,000 hands simple isn’t a very big sample. It would take hours to play that many hands, but it’s still a relative sprint in terms of poker hand samples.

For example, using this poker variance calculator and changing the hand sample to 5,000, PokerScout found that even a player theoretically losing 20 big blinds per 100 hands has around a 10% chance of winning in 5,000 hands. Heads-up win rates can be quite high, but 20 big blinds per 100 is still fairly steep.

Polk specified that each match will take place across three days. Presumably, he hopes to zero in on his opponents’ weaknesses in the downtime between sessions.

Polk also specified that he will choose the opponents based on the effect he thinks they’d have on viewership. He named players like Phil Ivey, Phil Galfond, Phil Hellmuth, and Bryn Kenney as opponents he’d like to face.

That left some, such as Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, wondering just how open the challenge is. He agitated for a match, calling the out Polk for floating soft opponents.

Rake, Deposit Limits, and Taxes Remain Obstacles for High-Stakes on ClubWPT Gold

On Feb. 10, Polk posted on social media, canvassing for opinions on why bigger games don’t run on ClubWPT Gold.

Polk regularly streams himself playing $25-$50 heads-up no-limit hold’em there, typically against a player with the moniker ‘strictly business.’ However, outside of that, reports say the action at those stakes doesn’t run that frequently. That’s the highest stake available in the no-limit hold’em games, while pot-limit Omaha goes up to $5-$10-$20.

One issue cited by many players is the high rake. ClubWPT Gold charges some of the most punishing rake in the industry. While the heads-up tables top out at $3 rake, the aforementioned $5-$10-$20 PLO game has a $15 cap.

Compared to U.S. legal market leader BetMGM’s $5 cap for similar stakes ($10-$20 and $10-$25), that’s a mammoth number. Heads-up $10-$20 games on BetMGM rake only $0.50, also a fraction of the $3 rake at ClubWPT Gold.

Further exacerbating the issue, ClubWPT Gold does not offer rakeback.

Even if the rake was more manageable, though, players noted that it’s extremely difficult to play with a proper bankroll at higher stakes. ClubWPT Gold employs deposit limits that start out as follows:

• $2,500 per day
• $4,000 per seven days
• $6,000 per 30 days

Even the 30-day limit provides barely a few buy-ins for the higher-stakes games. Players noted that these limits can be raised by providing bank statements, but few are willing to jump through these hoops.

Finally, players said they’re being sent tax forms even when withdrawing funds from the site after a net loss. Bigger players seem unlikely to voluntarily add to the tax liability they’re already facing, which is threatening some of the biggest live poker tournaments.