A surprise decision

Doug Polk, the well-known personality in the poker community, has quit making poker videos on his popular YouTube channel. The decision comes more than one year after he retired from playing professional poker.

The former poker pro uploaded a 15-minute video announcing his change in direction. Titled This Is My Final Poker Video, it talks through his decision as well as his future plans for YouTube and his personal life. 

Polk said he has fallen out of love with the game and the thought of playing is no longer of interest to him. He added that the last time he played poker was at the Main Event of the 2019 WSOP. Even then his heart wasn’t in it, and he quickly lost his stack as a result. 

The former pro player shared the video on his Twitter account, saying it has been a “hell of a ride” and thanking all his viewers for their support.

Most of Polk’s YouTube videos related to poker, with the channel accumulating over 288,000 subscribers over the years. 

Reasons for quitting

Polk said the only reason he took part in WSOP events in summer 2019 was to keep his fans happy. However, the act of playing and creating content around poker is not the direction he wants to take any more. 

playing and creating content around poker is not the direction he wants to take

He added, “I kept doing it because I wanted to make something, and also because I had that dumb prop bet with Joey (Ingram) where I had to jump out of a plane if I didn’t make 80 videos.” Polk was ultimately successful with this bet.

What the future holds

For now, Polk does not envisage himself ever reigniting the passion he once had for poker. He will not quit making YouTube videos in general; only the kind of content will change. The new videos will be uploaded on a different YouTube channel and will cover a variety of subjects, such as entertainment and politics. 

He already has 17 videos uploaded to this channel and 26,000 subscribers to date. Some of the topics he recently spoke about concern the coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump, and the Democratic presidential nomination race. 

A successful poker career

Polk, who played under the online screen name WCGRider, is not just a poker personality. He won three WSOP bracelets during his playing career. He also built his poker YouTube channel into the second-biggest of its kind on the platform, only behind that of his long-time rival Daniel Negreanu. 

built his poker YouTube channel into the second-biggest of its kind on the platform

He also founded an online poker training platform called Upswing Poker. During his poker YouTube career, Polk made hundreds of videos, starting back in June 2016. He has always been a controversial figure and many in the poker space will be sad to see him go.