It's been a long month for Doug Polk. But his $100,000 'Code: Doug' Heads-Up Challenge on ClubWPT Gold has finally ended after a hilarious high-stakes showdown with Eric Persson on Saturday. Polk didn’t hit his $100,000 goal, but he also avoided having to shave his head or dye his hair blond. He likely also got a load of sign-ups with his affiliate code and is now a ClubWPT Gold ambassador. We can safely say he ended the challenge in the green.
He also showed why he's one of the best content creators in poker, with some genuinely funny streams and clever videos ripping into ClubWPT Gold mercilessly before revealing himself as an ambassador. Even the final heads-up challenge was a work, with shade being thrown on X before Polk announced the challenge, Persson claiming it wasn't happening, and terms finally being agreed in an exclusive PokerOrg video on Friday.
It's been tough to keep up with it all but it shows what you can do if you let creatives have free rein on your marketing channels. And there's no doubt the poker world needs more fun and fewer suits.
After Eric Persson figured out how the clock worked, the action finally got underway.But what about the heads-up?
It turns out, the match itself was a blast too
The game was $50/100 HUNL with $20K starting stacks. Polk was up $18,121 and needed to avoid losing more than that if he wanted to avoid the forfeit. The loser of the match would also have to drive around in a mystery WPT car this summer.
The players had agreed to do three shots each before the match started (negotiated down from six by Polk) and that's how things started, with Polk wincing and saying, "Holy shit, that was terrible."
The first big pot went to Persson, who limped preflop and called a raise from Polk to $400. Polk had 
and snap-called an all-in from Persson on the river of the 
.
Persson showed 
for a better straight and Polk went off: "Oh my god, are you kidding me? What the hell? That is so rigged!"
Polk fights back
It took 20 minutes to wipe off that deficit. Persson was fighting not only one of the best heads-up players in the world but also his mouse and the ClubWPT Gold clock. Watching his time countdown as he wrestled with the tech was as stressful as this showdown got. Both players were enjoying themselves.
Persson moved into the lead again and, with 20 minutes to go, was $14K up on the night – around $4K off his target.
Could he force the head shave? As Joey Ingram said in the chat, "We started on ESPN in 2003 watching the Main Event in bright lights, and here we are now."
With five minutes left, Persson still needed $2,040 to trigger the forfeit. "It's coming right down to it," Polk admitted.
In the end, Polk folded his way to safety, but Persson had beaten him heads-up and was loving life: "You don't have to shave your hair. Your wife is happy," he joked.
Doug Polk has promised to stream for 30 straight hours on Tuesday – if enough people sign up through his affiliate code.Final scores
- Code: Doug Challenge: +$1,421 over 160 hours (just under $9 an hour).
- Persson vs. Polk: Persson won by $16,690.
There was a final kicker. Polk announced a giveaway on Tuesday that could see him stream for 30 hours straight.
"We're doing something crazy," Polk said. "To drive people towards playing on ClubWPT Gold, I'm going to do a stream where anyone who signs up to ClubWPT Gold, it extends the time. Starting with four hours, I'm willing to stream for 30 straight hours, culminating in finally giving away all these delicious sweeps coins to anyone that signs up. Everyone's a winner."
That stream starts on Tuesday at 3pm CT and it could end at 9pm CT on Wednesday.
You can watch the entire Polk vs. Persson heads-up match, shots and all, on YouTube.
