Say Hello to poker’s community-focused live streaming personality team.
Team GrindNation is a group of poker players and video content producers founded by Upswing Poker pro Doug Polk in July 2016. Individuals within the group typically work on separate projects with the overall aim to grow poker, but also collaborate periodically to support each other in various ways through cross-promotion, poker strategy insight, and skill set improvement.
Following is a list of Team GrindNation members with corresponding bios.
Team GrindNation founder Doug Polk is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner who has quickly become a leading independent poker personality on YouTube and Twitch since launching Upswing Poker alongside Ryan Fee and Matt Colletta in 2015. The former competitive Warcraft III gamer-turned-poker-pro currently owns the live streaming tournament cash record on both platforms.
Affectionately referred to as Dan Polk by his social media followers, Doug established himself as an elite heads-up No Limit Hold’em player upon claiming victory over some of the biggest names in online poker, at the highest stakes available, until he was no longer able to find action in those big online games. He would go on to defeat the Claudico heads-up NLHE Poker Bot created by Carnegie Mellon University professor Tuomas Sandholm in 2015.
Doug’s archived video and live streaming poker content offers a variety of entertaining choices for longtime pros and recreational players alike; including shows such as Polkernews (current poker news events based on feedback posted within the TwoPlusTwo forums), Poker Hands, and a number of podcast dialogues with the biggest names in the game. He also makes regular TV appearances for Poker Night in America and PokerGO — routinely appearing on cable networks such as ESPN2 and CBS Sports.
YouTube: @DougPolkPoker || Twitter: @DougPolkPoker || Video Editor: Thomas Keeling
A longtime contributor and forum moderator of the TwoPlusTwo poker community boards, the native Californian’s most historic feat came in June 2017 when he won the WSOP High Roller for One Drop event for $3.68 million USD… earning a profit of $1.5 million thanks to his hefty 43% personal stake in the event. Doug would subsequently give away $30,000 of those cash winnings to his social media supporters around the globe — with Australian Eddie Zeng taking home a $25,000 Grand Prize.
Poker Life Podcast host Joey Ingram has taken the poker world by storm in recent years thanks to his in-depth ‘conversational’ segments with high stakes poker players along with poker industry representatives. The shows are typically broadcast to a live audience of hundreds, if not thousands of viewers, and later archived on YouTube for fans to watch at their leisure.
Known by many of his followers as Papi or ChicagoJoey, Ingram is a poker author and live cast talent who broke the record for most hands of poker played in a day; seeing real money action in 50,000 hands on the PokerStars Internet Poker site in 2009.
YouTube: @Joeingram1 || Twitter: @Joeingram1 || Wizard Assistant: Jonah Vella
Widely recognized as a highly influential member of modern day poker media, Joey focuses his programming on showcasing professional poker players, discussing current events within the industry, and promoting “The Great Game” of Pot Limit Omaha. He owns and manages a premium self-improvement service called The GTO Club and has been instrumental in attracting more players to poker through social media outlets and occasional appearances on Poker Central/ESPN2 broadcasts during the WSOP.
Upswing Poker co-founder Ryan Fee is a former LAPT San Jose champion who contributes regularly in the TwoPlusTwo High Stakes threads while also providing exclusive video content for our in-house Upswing Poker YouTube channel as well as CardPlayer Magazine online.
Ryan grew up in the Philadelphia area and was a competitive Warcraft III player before discovering poker while still in high school. Over a decade later, Ryan has turned an initial poker bankroll investment of $300 USD into millions, and currently concentrates his efforts on poker-related projects such as guest commentary for Live At The Bike along with social media outreach through the Upswing Poker Engaged Facebook page for our premium Lab subscribers.
Twitter: @RyanFeePoker || YouTube: @UpswingPoker
In 2016, Ryan captured his first World Series of Poker bracelet after winning an inaugural Tag Team event alongside his business partner and good friend Doug Polk.
Upswing Poker Pot Limit Omaha specialist Fernando Habegger hails from Switzerland and owns one of the fastest-growing YouTube Poker channels thanks to a wide variety of video content focusing on PLO strategy, a bankroll challenge, and expert-level analysis provided in conjunction with top-name pros such as Doug Polk, Joey Ingram, and Primed Mind CEO Fedor Holz.
Fernando, who joined Team GrindNation in February 2017, was also instrumental in collaborating on a number of video entertainment projects which became a worldwide hit during the 2017 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, and appeared on PokerGO/ESPN2 during the 48th Annual WSOP as a guest strategy analyst and commentator.
Twitter: @JNandezPoker || YouTube: @JNandezPoker
Fernando’s commitment to Pot Limit Omaha has been well documented since becoming a full-time player of that format. In 2016, he collaborated as a guest writer on Chasing The Poker Dream, a 40,000-word book authored by Poker Life Podcast host Joey Ingram.
Team GrindNation member Matt Colletta is a co-founder of Upswing Poker and currently serves as this website’s President. A longtime player and fan of chess, Matt got into poker way back in 2004 and has since made multiple millions playing the game both live and online.
Twitter: @Checkmate824 || Business Inquiries: Matt@UpswingPoker.com
Matt credits a large part of his success to having an opportunity to meet and collaborate with successful poker players, and runs the day-to-day business operations of Upswing Poker alongside Doug and Ryan.
Courtney Gee (also known as courtiebee) is a YouTube and Twitch Poker streamer who has earned a solid following of avid poker fans who tune-in to watch her online tournament feats in real time via The Swarm.
Twitter: @courtiebee || YouTube: @courtiebee || Twitch: @courtiebee
In mid-2016, Courtney joined forces with our very own Doug Polk to tackle Spin & Go strategy in an effort to assist new players to that format. You can check out that video along with a complete transcript here.
Bryan Paris is a well-known tournament player who recently became only the second player ever to surpass $10 million USD in career online poker tournament cashes.
Twitter: @bparispoker || Twitch: @bparispoker
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Bryan’s accomplishment is the fact that he has amassed those cashes with very few large scores; the biggest of which came in 2013 when he final-tabled the PokerStars WCOOP $1,050 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $111,792 according to the PocketFives rankings website.
Hristivoje Pavlovic joined Team GrindNation in 2016 while streaming his online poker games to a worldwide audience via Twitch Poker and YouTube.
Twitter: @ALLinPav || YouTube: @ALLinPav || Twitch: @ALLinPav
An online professional poker player who hails from the country of Australia, ‘Pav’ has been a key personality in communicating what Australian pros can do to promote the game in the Land Down Under.
Thomas Keeling is a Team GrindNation member who is better known to the poker community by his SrslySirius online name that is tied to multiple YouTube videos that have kept forum-goers entertained for nearly a decade.
Twitter: @SrslySirius || YouTube: @SurslySirius
A former contributor of Bluff Magazine, Thomas’ work in coordination with Upswing Poker’s very own Doug Polk is legendary — with video segments such as Polkernews and Poker Hands that can contain dozens of “Easter Eggs” for fans who are in the know enough to locate them.
Adrian Fenix is a longtime friend and sidekick of Poker Life Podcast host Joey Ingram who has enjoyed a decade-long career at the poker tables, and is currently focusing his attention on Pot Limit Omaha.
Twitter: @AdrianFeniXx || Twitch: @AdrianFeniXx
Although Adrian doesn’t stream as consistently as he once did, he still attracts hundreds of real time viewers whenever he decides to go live. You can learn more about Adrian, his poker story, and the profit potential of live poker in California by watching his recent Poker Life Podcast appearance.
Henri Buehler is an online poker tournament player from Germany who represents a young generation of poker enthusiasts who have taken their love and passion for the game to YouTube and Twitch.
Twitter: @henribuehler || Twitch: @Buehlero || YouTube: @Buehlero
Henri’s live stream programming focuses on final table performances as well as deep runs in some of the most widely-recognized poker events that are available online.
(Note: Talk poker strategy with the greatest minds in the game. Sign-up for the Upswing Poker Lab training course and collaborate with Doug Polk and Ryan Fee.)
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