The Muck: Doug Polk Loses Mind Trying to Analyze Drunken Poker Hand

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Dec 08, 2017 8 min read

In the poker Twitterverse where we are being inundated with blockchain news and political spats, Doug Polk always seems to find the funny. And the recent addition to his YouTube channel is no different.

When it comes to entertaining video content, Polk might be in a league of his own. In fact, Polk's victories on the Internet this year are soon to be featured in a story right here at PokerNews in the coming weeks (teaser alert). But for now, we'll share this gem.

Doug Polk Delivers a Poker Public Service Announcement

“They’re just not paying me enough for this sh*t. This is what I do now. I commentate on people who show their hands preflop,” Polk says as he analyzes a Live at the Bike hand where a player willingly enters the pot preflop after he exposes a card.

If you want to cut to the chase, the whole video boils down to … “Don’t do that.”

But don’t cut to the chase. The video is hilarious and you owe yourself some non-political, non-controversial (well, except for playing with a hole card exposed), and non-bitcoin entertainment.

Polk generously shares this game selection tip:

"If you’re in a game where both sides of the screen are needed to display the hole cards for players reaching the flop, and you have a player showing a card preflop, you’re probably in a good game."

Polk adds this nugget that certainly will get picked up for a strategy book: "Here’s the thing about the implied odds with your suited one-gappers. They’re less implied and more just odd when you show a card preflop.”

One of the best lines from the video actually comes from the stream commentators: “If he calls, there will be tilt. If he folds, there will be tilt. The average expectation here is just tilt."

Polk’s public service announcement for the day:

"Try not to show your hole cards and still go to the flop. And post flop don’t represent a hand that doesn’t make sense, especially if you have one of your hole cards showing."

In other words, “Don’t do that.”

#PokerIsDead

If there is one thing Polk’s video confirms is that anyone who claims poker is dead is on the wrong side of the debate.

And to illustrate that point, WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic decided to go out and set some new milestones.

In the end, 812 players showed up to play, some waiting hours in line to get their chance to claim a piece of the record-setting $7,876,400 prize pool.

Of course, a huge field produced by a single Day 1 is bound to have a bottleneck in the registration process. And who better to call the WPT’s attention to the problem than poker’s watchdog, Allen Kessler.

Surely long lines, huge prize pools and first and second-place prizes over $1 million is enough evidence that it’s time to change the conversation to #pokerisnotdead.

And if you are someone that prefers the glass is half-empty argument and want to hang on to the belief that #pokerisdead, here are some more case studies:

Daniel Negreanu Tests His Skill at Live Reporting

The award for the best Twitter feed of the week has to go to Daniel Negreanu who took it upon himself to wear two hats, that of player and also of live reporter in the $100k WPT World Poker Classic Super High Roller.

It started with a day 1 ending report:

And he never looked back, commenting on skill levels, tweeting hands, and putting the occasional poll out there.

There was the obligatory “In the Money” celebration tweet:

Giving credit where credit is due:

Calling it like he sees it:

And finally, the “damn, I only got second for close to a milly" finale:

We aren’t the only ones who noticed his multi-tasking skills on the felt and on his phone:

I think we can all agree that Negreanu is known for his optimistic nature. But maybe, just maybe, he is buying into the whole #pokerisdead theory and putting together a plan B by gathering experience for his poker media resume. Nah. Who are we kidding?

To be honest, we had fun reading because it seemed like he had fun tweeting. So, let this be a lesson to you kids out there - #maketweetingfunagain.

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