ShareFor quite some time, Heads-up poker has been considered the most demanding, purest form of the game and a variant that is profitable for highly skilled players.
Great Heads-up No-Limit Hold'em players don't just sit waiting for premium hands. They usually employ a polarized strategy of value betting, bluffs, and three-betting a more comprehensive range of hands with aggression. At the same time, they are adjusting their game versus different opponents playing styles to a more balanced strategy, making them unexploitable.
Doug Polk
Widely regarded as the best heads-up no-limit hold ‘em player globally, Doug Polk revolutionized poker with his playing style by incorporating GTO and exploitative poker strategy to his game.Doug Polk's poker journey had a humble beginning; he started playing in NL 2 in PokerStars under the screen name WCGRider with just a $20 deposit back in 2009 and grew it to $10,000. He's become a household name in the poker world since then.
Over the years, Polk has focused majorly on heads-up no limit hold'em improving his skills. He has spent many hours away from the tables evaluating his opponents, scrutinizing his techniques, tweaking and adjusting his game to become the best in heads-up format.
Polk was so good in Heads-up No-Limit Hold ‘em at a certain point that no one was ready to challenge him.
In 2013, Ben Sulsky, also known as "Sauce123," was the only player willing to take on Polk. It was a battle for the ages since Sulsky was considered one of the best Heads-up No-Limit players in the World.
They played 15,000 hands of $100/$200 heads-up no limit hold'em; after the dust had settled, Polk was $750,000 richer and won the $100,000 side bet.
That victory sealed the deal, and no one was willing to play him heads-up afterward.
Doug Polk announced his retirement from poker on his popular YouTube channel in 2018. Polk channel offers a wide range of content, including strategy videos, hand reviews, and trending topics in the industry.
Polk stated in his retirement video that he lost passion for the game and wanted to venture on other things.
Doug Polk followed through on his promise to retire from poker, as previously indicated.
Polk's relationship with Daniel Negreanu had been acrimonious; this resulted in a heads-up challenge. Negreanu accepted to play Polk heads-up two tables of $200/$400 of no limit hold'em.
Although Polk had taken a few years off poker, he was the favorite going into the challenge.
The grudge match started from November 4, 2020, until February 3, 2021. They played live the first 200 hands; the rest of the battle then shifted online on WSOP.com.
Polk was a big favorite; he did not disappoint and won $1,200,000 after 25,000 hands of play; though Negreanu put up a spirited fight, it was not enough.
If it were in the online poker boom era, Tom Dwan would have fit this conversation. Dwan rose to prominence in the mid-2000s. He was the player to beat in Heads-up poker. That era is gone, and he is no match to Polk. Polk is a legend in the current generation of Heads-up No-Limit Hold 'em.
The duo battled in WPT heads-up battle in 2021; although it was only one tournament, Polk won that match up.
Verdict
Doug Polk specialized in Heads-up No-Limit Hold 'em and practically beat everyone before running out of opponents that would challenge him at high stakes. He is, without a doubt, the best Heads-up No-Limit Hold 'em player in the World at the moment, even if he has retired.Polk has had a very successful poker career with over $9,000,000 in live career earnings,3 WSOP bracelets, and over 2,000,000 won in online poker, primarily heads-up format.
Unless a player comes forward and dethrones Polk, he remains the king of Heads-up No-Limit Hold 'em.
