So much for being retired from poker. Doug Polk is once again an active member of the poker community, as evidenced by his heads-up challenge callouts to multiple poker pros in the past day, and insults flung in the direction of those he perceives to be weak players.
Polk isn't finished feuding with Daniel Negreanu. He's still going to face "DNegs" on the virtual felt November 1 in a heads-up no-limit hold'em competition. But he's now also focusing on some other targets, namely Matt Berkey and Christian Soto, the operators of the Solve for Why poker training academy.
The heads-up NLH specialist has been feisty on Twitter the past day. Perhaps he's just trying to drum up some easy money action. But it's rather interesting to see this from a retired poker player who has claimed the past couple of years he no longer enjoys playing poker and gets anxiety when he plays.
Polk began insulting numerous members of the poker community — something he's done many times in the past — Monday morning. His first target, of course, was none other than Negreanu. He referred to the GGPoker ambassador as a "little b---h" over their ongoing feud about using Real-Time Assistance (RTA) charts during their upcoming heads-up match.
The Upswing Poker founder then took another jab at Negreanu while explaining why he's back in the game. He wrote: "Lets get this straight, I only retired from poker one time. I didn't play a single hand after that. The only reason I am back in the streets is because a complete dolt wants to ship me a million dollars."
Polk, a heavy favorite to beat Negreanu, has forced himself into a tough spot. If he wins, which he is expected to do, many will be less than impressed given he's supposed to win. But if he loses, he'll lose all credibility with most poker players.
On to the next battle
Doug Polk is a multi-tasker, whether it be tangling a poker career with creating YouTube content. Or, as has been the case recently, preparing for a heads-up battle against Daniel Negreanu while simultaneously feuding with half the poker community (perhaps, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point).
Polk's first target on Monday was Matt Berkey, who co-founded Solve for Why. Berkey has always been more of a live pro, and Polk's long made it clear he doesn't respect his game. So, Polk took a subtle, insulting jab at Berkey in hopes of drumming up some action.
Christian Soto, a Solve for Why podcast co-host, defended his friend. And took shots at Polk in the process. Polk then fired back, offering up another heads-up challenge.
Poker pro Kelly Minkin, who doesn't typically engage in poker Twitter drama, then jumped in to pile on Polk with an insult about the size of his manhood.
The Upswing Poker founder wrote: "So apparently if you make fun of people on twitter, you were a loser in high school and have a tiny dick. Couldn't be farther from the truth. High school was great."
Soto refused to accept Polk's heads-up challenge. But he did offer to invite Doug to his home games and play a full-table game. Polk's specialty is online heads-up no-limit hold'em. He's one of the best all-time in that format, so Soto wants to level the playing field, although that offer was denied. Berkey has yet to respond to the heads-up challenge.
Polk's attacks on Soto, Berkey, and Negreanu apparently weren't enough. The three-time WSOP bracelet winner then went after another long-time rival, Luke Schwartz, aka "full_flush."
"Let's be real. Luke can talk a lot of trash, but that's the only thing he's good at. If we played high stakes NL Hold'em he'd have worse results than he had playing pokerstars cash games," Polk wrote before sharing Schwartz's downward spiraling online poker graph as an insult.
Featured image source: Flickr
