Doug Polk Reveals How He Won $1.2 Million vs. Daniel Negreanu
If you want to improve your heads-up poker skills, here’s some great news for you:
Doug Polk has peeled back the curtain to reveal his strategy from the $200/$400 heads-up challenge versus Daniel Negreanu.
His new lesson (which is live in the Upswing Lab training course) has 3.5+ hours of exclusive content covering all major aspects of the match, including never before seen hands that didn’t go to showdown.
(Already a Lab member? Find this lesson in the What’s New section of the course.)
Free Sneak Peek: Doug Turns Pocket Fives Into a $38,808 Bluff
Want to get a better idea of what the content is like? Check out this free preview video in which Doug analyzes one his biggest bluffs that didn’t reach showdown:
And for those who prefer reading, here’s a written version of the hand and brief snippets of Doug’s analysis:
- Preflop: Doug raises to $948 with 5♦5♠. Daniel 3-bets to $4,269.28. Doug calls.
“I open Pocket Fives and face a 3-bet, which is a standard call.”
- Flop ($8,538.56): Q♠Q♣7♥
Daniel checks. Doug bets $1,707.21. Daniel raises to $10,671.94. Doug calls.
“Daniel checks and I bet very small, which is preferred on paired boards. Daniel check-raises big. Now, there are some things to think about here. You need some floats that can bluff later streets and I think you prefer calling hands that can draw to [a full house]. So I think I like to Pocket Fives here more than a hand like J♥10♥ or J♠10♠. We do choose to float.”
- Turn ($29,882.44): J♦
Daniel checks. Doug bets $9,860.38. Daniel calls.
“Now he checks. You can maybe argue that Fives should check here and lower pairs could bluff. But I think Fives is right around the cusp. We do go for the 1/3 pot turn size and he calls.”
- River ($49,603.20): 3♥
Daniel checks. Doug bets all-in $38,808.05. Daniel folds.
“The river is a 3 so now Pocket Threes has improved to a boat. Our only worse hands we can shove here are Deuces and Fours. You should bluff those before Fives, for sure. But we do jam and get the fold. I think he likely turned a Jack.”
- Results: Doug wins $88,411.25
The module is packed with hands like this — hands that are interesting, informative and downright entertaining.
Final Thoughts
For the final words on this new module, let’s give Doug the floor:
“It was a year ago that I started training for this. Here we are a year later, and we got the win. I’m proud of how I played. But I could have played better, obviously.
If you think the games are getting really tough, I [won $1.2 million] despite making tons of mistakes. And if I did it again, I’d make tons of mistakes again. You’re always going to make mistakes in poker.
The question is: can you learn from your mistakes and improve?”
Improve your skills today when you get the Upswing Lab training course, which grants to instant access to:
- Doug’s new module.
- Loads of training content for cash games and tournaments.
- 439 preflop charts, including comprehensive Advanced Solver Ranges.
- Access to the members-only poker group where you can get help with your strategy.
- 5+ hours of new content added every month.
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