Doug Polk Starts $100 to $10K Challenge on Twitch

Doug Polk started using Twitch earlier this year, and by April the US pro broadcast a live stream of a session in which he won $162,951 while playing a tournament at PokerStars. Since then, Polk’s Twitch account has continued to grown in popularity, and now numbers more than 4,000 subscribers.
On August 7th, the 28-year-old pro subsequently launched a new challenge that is sure to stimulate further interest in his Twitch activities, namely turning an initial online investment of $100 into $10,000. As well as entertaining his audience, Polk’s challenge is also an attempt to attract more casual players to his broadcast by providing valuable training on the importance of bankroll management.
In 2007, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson famously completed a similar challenge to the one now undertaken by Polk, although he did so by entering only freerolls in order to build up an initial bankroll. Likewise, numerous online pros started off their careers by making a small first deposit online, including Polk himself who ran a $20 deposit at PokerStars into $10,000.
Since Twitch was introduced in 2011, however, the live streaming platform has been instrumental in helping stimulate interest in online poker amongst a new generation of gamers. Having Polk’s challenge streamed in real-time can therefore only help to drive the industry further forward by inspiring recreational players to try replicating the feat for themselves. In addition, practicing careful bankroll management means that they can do so at a minimum financial risk.
Doug Polk is a 2-times WSOP bracelet winner, with $5,068,368 in live tournament earnings, as well as a further $589,499 won online playing cash games at PokerStars. In the early stages of his challenge, Polk said that he would mainly be concentrating on playing MTTs and SNGs. His initial foray didn’t go quite as well as he had hoped, though, with the pro having lost $16.92 by the end of his first session.