Heads-up drama

What started out as a friendly hustle to get Matt Berkey playing heads-up with Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot has spiraled into one of the petty feuds that Doug Polk has turned into an art form.

the show took a turn in the last ten minutes

On Wednesday, Nik appeared on Polk’s podcast to talk about Garrett Adelstein’s fall from grace. The show took a turn in the last ten minutes as Polk took Matt Berkey to task.

Polk appears to have been acting as a middle man for Nik, brokering the terms of a heads-up confrontation between Nik and Berkey. However, feeling that Berkey was being evasive, Polk couldn’t help but refer to “this thing with [Nik] and Berkey” on his podcast, calling it “a bitch move” on Berkey’s part.

Nik went even further, calling Berkey a “scammer” for selling coaching while also turning down his heads-up challenge.

Escalation

Berkey raised Polk’s bet by responding to the podcast with a Twitter post containing screencaps of the negotiations between Polk and himself. The messages appear to show fairly typical scheduling negotiations, undermining Polk’s point.

This didn’t phase Polk, who re-raised by doubling down on Berkey for “backing out” and then calling him a “nitwit.”

Berkey four-bet by calling Polk a “c*nt” and a “washed up geezer” before challenging Polk to join him in a full-ring game at the Bellagio.

[NB: Interested readers and Berkey may wish to look up the derivation from rhyming slang of the British insult “berk.”]

Polk then shoved with two tweets (which could be read to imply Polk thinks Berkey is a fraud) and a YouTube video.

Polk’s video breaks down a poorly played hand of Berkey’s during a game of jack-four on the Live at the Bike stream.

Polk intercuts his mock-analysis of the hand with a takedown of Berkey’s career. He dismantles Solve For Why – Berkey’s coaching business – calls Berkey out for errors in his podcast, and then tries to poach Landon Tice from Berkey’s stable.

Berkey has yet to respond to the video. When he does, he would do well to bear in mind the old saying about wrestling Doug Polk: you both get covered in shit…and Polk enjoys it.