Can Doug Polk Hold Against Phil Ivey & Poker Vlogger in 1,100 Big Blind Pot?
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The World Poker Tour (WPT) brought the heat on Sunday with a star-studded poker showdown, as ambassadors for WPT Global and ClubWPT Gold battled it out in a $5/$10/$20 cash game streamed live for fans worldwide. Poker legend Phil Ivey and content star Ethan "Rampage" Yau took their seats on the ClubWPT Gold virtual felt, joined by heavy hitters Doug Polk, Jean-Robert Bellande, and Alexander "Wolfgang" Seibt.
With Polk, Yau, and Wolfgang streaming the WPT Super Stream on their YouTube channels, viewers were treated to nonstop action from the first hand to the final showdown. For those who missed the two-and-a-half-hour rollercoaster, PokerNews has you covered with all the must-see highlights.
Yau Gets a Gift from Wolfgang
Ivey and Polk both started the session with $5,000 stacks (500 big blinds). Yau bought in for $2,000 (200 big blinds) while Wolfgang sat down with the $500 min-buy-in, waiting for the game to take off. And it didn't long for it to find his wings.
Within the first few minutes, Wolfgang shipped in his stack the unconventional 7?4? over an open from the button, which folded out the blinds. Yau, in the $20 straddle, woke up with Q?Q?. He put in a four-bet, forcing out the original raiser, and the two vloggers were off to the races. The board only made things worse for Wolfgang, as Yau’s queens improved to a set, drawing first blood.
Wolfgang, fresh off a $680,000 tournament score, put some of the winnings to work, hopping back in with $2,500. Ivey looked to take a slice of Wolfgang's Triton windfall and put the YouTuber to the test for all of his chips. Ivey, with K?5?, limp-jammed on Wolfgang, who held A?10?.
If seven-four was good enough a few hands earlier, Wolfgang wasn't going to give up his decent ace here. The chips went in, and this time, Wolfgang came out on top, locking up the hand by the turn and getting one over on the poker G.O.A.T.
ClubWPT Gold Curse Lifted off Doug?
Over the past few weeks on ClubWPT Gold, Doug Polk has been grinding away at another bankroll challenge, aiming to win $100,000 playing online poker in just a month. But things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for The Lodge Card Club co-owner. Instead of running it up, Polk has found himself on the wrong side of the poker gods, injecting $37,000 into the heads-up ecosystem. But was a small rebate on the horizon?
After doubling up Wolfgang, Ivey put in his last $968 with Q?6?. Polk called with 8?8? before Wolfgang was all-in for a third time, this time holding A?K?. Polk flicked in the call as the covering stack for the cards to turn over. Remarkably, the pocket eights were good after the river, and Polk pulled out some rare celebratory dance moves as the $11K pot was pushed in his direction. After the WPT Super Stream wrapped up, Polk managed to claw back an additional $2,000 in his heads-up challenge. While his goal of $100,000 in the black might be out of reach, there’s still time to hit Challenge $0 with just over a week and a half left to go.
Brutal Session for Polk has 'Code Doug' Online Poker Challenge on the Fritz
From Bad to Worse for Yau
Like Polk, Yau has found himself on a rough stretch lately. The vlogger hasn’t been shy about the downswing he's facing, as he continues to lose six-figure pots. On top of that, his own $1 million poker bankroll challenge has been, in his words, “incredibly unsuccessful,” and JRB, who promised to "whoop ass" ahead of the stream, looked to inflict some more misery on Yau.
Moments after getting into the game, JRB and Yau were flipping for more than $4,000. A king-high flop saw JRB's Big Slick pull ahead of Yau's tens to set the cash game veteran off to a flying start.
And things went from bad to worse for Yau after folding a monster preflop. Facing a raise, three-bet and four-bet ahead of his action. Yau was in the blender with ace-king. Yau, despite his reputation for punting, opted to go the conservative route and give up his Big Slick. He soon regretted his decision.
Wolfgang’s K?Q? and "greenrider3’s" A?Q? would have been dominated, and to make matters worse, neither player connected with the runout. So what did Yau think of his newfound discipline? Not much. "I suck at this game, oh my god, I suck," he groaned in frustration as the hand played out.
Polk was the big winner by the end of the session, banking almost a $10,000 profit. Ivey, JRB and Wolfgang fell into the red while Yau finished around the even mark.
