Doug Polk appears to be headed toward poker retirement, again. That’s assuming he sticks to his recent Twitter comments.
The Upswing Poker founder is in the midst of a lengthy heads-up battle against his long-time rival Daniel Negreanu. His lead ($736,000), with fewer than 5,000 hands remaining, seems to be nearly insurmountable. So, he’s likely going to win a bunch of money from “DNegs,” along with his massive side bets against other gamblers.
Polk came out of retirement to play in this challenge. Outside of prepping for the match for two months, he hadn’t played poker in more than a year. It had been a few years since he played regularly. When he “retired” in 2018, the three-time WSOP bracelet winner said he no longer enjoyed the game, and that playing poker gives him anxiety.
But, a shot to stick it to the man he’s tormented through repeated insults and criticism on social media brought him out of retirement — if only for a few months.
Doug Polk Retirement 2.0
Polk took to Twitter following Friday’s session to answer questions about his future. Right off the bat, he let his thoughts on a potential rematch be known, if Negreanu challenges him to one.
Make no mistake about it I still have an edge. But its much lower than it was at the start. I'm not going to run this back for even less money after winning buyins+sidebts. Not worth the stress of doing something I dont enjoy doing.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) January 30, 2021
“I am not going to play a rematch. There has been a lot of talk about this, its [sic] simply not going to happen. Im [sic] way too burned out from all of the study/prep/play and dont [sic] enjoy the game. I also want to have some flexibility to not have to be in Nevada for the next 4-5 months,” Doug Polk wrote.
This isn’t the first time he’s again made it clear he doesn’t enjoy poker anymore. He said in a recent post-game interview that he feared Negreanu would seek a rematch. And not because he’s afraid he’d lose, but because he worries how it would look if he turned down the offer.
Coach Polk?
That said, Polk might be willing to help Negreanu’s next heads-up opponent, if there is one. Polk wrote on Twitter that “If a scenario arose where Daniel wanted to play someone else, I would potentially be interested in heading the coaching [for] the opposing player.”
As for facing new opponents instead of a rematch with Negreanu, Polk too squashed that notion. The heads-up No-Limit Hold’em specialist said, however, he will at the very least upload many of the hands from the Negreanu match to his Upswing Poker lab for training purposes.
