Doug Polk Discusses Million Dollar Game, Lodge Poker Club, Mike Postle, and More
5 minutes
Last Updated: March 5, 2024
There has been no shortage of content in the poker world lately, but if there is one guy we all have missed, it’s undoubtedly Joe Ingram.
Ingram’s legendary podcasts and investigations have been a critical part of the poker content world over the last decade, but we have not seen too many of those lately.
Ingram came back just yesterday, following a hiatus of sorts, and hosted none other than Doug Polk, one of the greatest heads up poker players of all time and the co-owner of Austin-based Lodge Card Club, on his podcast.
The two got into plenty of different topics, ranging from Doug’s and Joe’s business ventures to the upcoming Million Dollar Game on HCL and some of the poker world drama surrounding the Mike Postle scandal, the Negreanu vs Berkey beef, and more.
You can check out the full video below or keep reading and get the gist of the 140-minute interview in a few short paragraphs.
Polk Teases “The Lodge” Expansion
The Lodge Card Club has been Polk’s primary business interest over the last couple of years, ever since he partnered up with poker streamers Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen to buy into the business.
The Austin-based poker club has since flourished and become one of the biggest and most successful poker rooms in the world. All of that in a city of just two million people.
Polk and Ingram spoke about the success of The Lodge in the interview, and Doug teased the expansion of the club to other cities in the state, which should be coming in the near future.
If you live in places like Dallas or Houston, this could be great news for you, as it seems quite clear The Lodge strives to offer the best poker experience and the best games to all who visit it.
The new locations of these future clubs have not been disclosed, but Polk did make it quite clear that they are not planning on expanding beyond Texas just yet.
The two proceeded to talk about the Poker at The Lodge livestream, which has been picking up speed and getting some serious traction on YouTube.
While Doug admitted they can’t compete with the likes of HCL in terms of live viewership just yet, the overall number of views their clips have been getting just shows how popular The Lodge and poker in Texas in general are.
In a final bit of news related to The Lodge, Polk also teased the opening of a brand new restaurant at the Austin location at some point in the next six months, which will be great news for all the regulars at the Club.
-
1
Bonus £60 Freeor £600 bonus - Trigger the bonus: You need to deposit at least £10 and generate £10 in rake to trigger the FREE training bonus. | 18+ | BeGambleAware T&Cs Apply
-
2
Bonus $600or $100 tickets
-
18+ | BeGambleAware T&Cs Apply | Read full T&Cs
-
3
Million Dollar Games Is Coming Back
A few weeks ago, Hustler Casino Live announced they would be throwing the second iteration of their Million Dollar Game, and Doug Polk was advertised as one of the players who would join the stream.
Polk famously lost huge in the first Million Dollar Game last year and has not done too well on HCL streams, so many of his fans want him to go back in there and get his revenge.
Polk first posted on X about his excitement for the new Million Dollar Game but then mentioned some second thoughts as the event coincided with the $25k Heads Up tournament at the WSOP.
Yet, the Supreme Leader has now put all doubts aside, telling Joey he would play the Million Dollar Game over the tournament anytime and ensuring everyone he will be there to battle the likes of Alan Keating and Nik Airball for millions of dollars.
Doug’s nemesis from last season, Tom Dwan, has not yet confirmed he will be playing the game, although it would be highly unusual for him not to, given the success he has had at the Hustler in the past.
Doug Touches on Rampage, Adelstein, and Postle
Given the two have not talked on a podcast in a long time, Joe Ingram wanted to touch on every current topic with Doug, so he also brought up Rampage’s recent downswing and the return of Garrett Adelstein to streamed games.
Polk had nothing but the best to say about both, although he did mention that Rampage was probably over-extending himself in terms of bankroll management and that the downswing he was facing is completely normal and to be expected.
Speaking about Garrett and the whole incident that made him step away from the game, Polk indicated he believes Adelstein made a mistake initially in not giving the money up for arbitration but that he is right to be doubling down at this point in time.
Regarding the cheating allegations against Mike Postle, which have once again been ignited by Postle’s re-emergence in the poker world, Polk again said he believes Mike cheated but with no new evidence for either side, there was little point in debating it further.
In his well-known provocative manner, Polk did invite Postle to come down to The Lodge, play with Polk’s bankroll for a few hundred hours at $1/3 and $2/5, and show the world what he’s got!
Whether Postle will take him up on this or not remains to be seen, but it’s nice to see Doug backing up his words and also giving Postle a chance to redeem himself if he can.
New Doug Polk Is Staying Away from the Drama
Over the years, we have seen Doug Polk involved in much of the poker world drama, be it as an active participant or covering the stories from the media side of things.
Now, Polk says he’s had it with the drama, and he’s too focused on his businesses like The Lodge and Upswing Poker to care about things like the Daniel Negreanu vs Matt Berkey cross-book and other similar stories.
One thing that will come as a disappointment to many Polk fans is that Polk is unlikely to create as much content as he did in the past, although the man has been known to change his mind when the right situation comes up.
The Million Dollar Game is coming on HCL in late May, and you can see plenty of Doug Polk in the meantime in Poker at the Lodge streams, which have been getting juicier and juicier in recent months.
