Doug’s Biggest Session Yet – Bankroll Challenge Day 29

Doug Polk booked his biggest Bankroll Challenge win yet on day 28 after winning over $500, mostly in PLO cash games. He looked to continue that run on day 29.

He started the day with $1,585 in the bankroll. Just $8,415 to go, with arguably the toughest part behind him…

…barring a downswing.

This is Why PLO is the ‘Great Game’

Doug began the stream pleasantly surprised that there were no technical issues like last session. Twitch chat probably appreciated that too.

He decided to play cash games, despite them being relatively poor for his view count. 

“Because sometimes, it’s not about the views, it’s about the money. Which is why I’m playing NL50 today.”

Doug opened a few 6-max PLO50 and NL50 tables. The action started with a heads up PLO match against ‘‘Cat_and_Dog’’ and of course, JonBlvze sat Doug on the NLH table.

As the other tables filled out, Doug continued his PLO hot streak. It almost seemed too easy, to the point where he wondered out loud if his opponents even knew the rules. Just 20 minutes in, the Bankroll was up $100.

Speaking of PLO…

❤️ and ❤️ with Twitch Chat.

Doug took a moment to remember that there was a time when he struggled with this challenge. The swings were brutal at first, with the high stakes pro being stuck in NL2. He almost lost it all in a heads up match against the Blvze. Yeah, that actually happened.

After being called a nerd by a viewer, Doug decided to poll the chat, 1 for nerd, 2 for not. And..

…most think of the poker pro and former Warcraft III competitive gamer as a nerd. Poor Doug (not really).

Conversation soon veered towards Doug and Daniel Negreanu’s recent twitter spats over the latter’s “more rake is better” comments from last year.

“I really do believe that, at heart, Negreanu is a nice person. The thing I don’t like is telling people, basically ‘more rake is better’ and then saying ‘oh it’s about the context’… you have to take responsibility for the mistakes that you make.’’

“I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I just think he was put in a tough spot by PokerStars.”

Doug cited the position that PokerStars sometimes puts Negreanu in as the reason why he doesn’t want to be a sponsored pro himself, at least for the time being.

“I don’t want to be in a position where they do something messed up and I have to defend it. I want to always be in a position where if someone is not treating their customers fairly or is not doing good things for poker or scamming people or stealing money, I want to be able to say what I think, I don’t want to be put in that position.”

At the same time, however, Doug said that he is not judging anyone who decides to go on that route, as he acknowledges that the money may be too good to pass.

“Luckily I’m in a position where I can say whatever I want, and I don’t need the money. It’s a unique position.”

The heart to heart was interrupted by a flush, but not of hearts.

With the deep discussion over, the bankroll now was up to about $1900, +$300 for the day.

Taking a PLO Shot to the Moon

Doug’s PLO session was going so well that he just had to take a shot. He doubled the stakes to PLO100 and NL100 with only 17 buy-ins behind, hoping his edge on the game would out shine variance.

Lucky for the Bankroll challenge, the PLO Gods gave Doug a double up on his very first hand, adding $100 to the Bankroll. That would’ve been great news on it’s own…

…but then Doug doubled up for a second time on another table…

…and he got it all in on the flop at another table. This time though, he was behind. His outs are few as he called for an offsuit nine on the river…

Yes, this actually happened, three double ups in the span of a couple minutes. Doug was at a loss for words.

After recovering from the impact, he just mumbled “PLO is the game of the future” as the bankroll stood at $2,100.

This upswing continued for a couple of hours until around the fourth hour mark, when he started to feel that the games weren’t as profitable as they were early on.

Twenty minutes later he decided to call it a session. By the end of the stream the bankroll stood at an amazing $2,428.

Next session: Saturday, April 1st at 2pm PST.

Get daily updates from the challenge here.