Polk Ranks Top 10 HUNL Players Online
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Who does WCGRider rate?
Doug ‘WCGRider’ Polk has undeniably been tearing up the virtual felt this year, and currently shows no signs of slowing down. In the midst of his explosive challenge with Ben ‘Sauce123’ Sulsky, we catch up with the outspoken pro to get his opinion on exactly who is the best at high-stakes Heads-Up NL at the moment.
1. Doug ‘WCGRider’ Polk
“Obviously I put myself at the top (laughter), otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a list for me. So I’m number one. I don’t really think that until there’s somebody that comes up and beats me and gives me consistent action, I don’t think there’s really anyone that can claim to be better than me.”
2. Ike ‘luvtheWNBA’ Haxton
“I think the reason Ike is second is he’s the most well-rounded, solid player. He’s pretty good at everything, he’s got a good sense of adjustment based play, he’s got a good sense of game theory, he’s aggressive, he’s smart. He’s willing to play tough. I’d basically say he’s the most well-balanced, rounded player. I’d pick him over anyone else who’s playing right now.”
“Jungle is third. I think earlier this year I would’ve put him a little bit lower, but he had really good results versus me so I kinda moved him up a little bit. He’s plays that, like, American street poker. It’s in the streets… if he doesn’t believe you, he’ll just call you down with pretty much nothing. I had a couple of hands where he called me down with something like queen-high and was good. That’s tough to play against. Even in situations where you’ll bluff shove against 99% of opponents, that won’t always work against Jungle. There was one notable hand where like I three-bet and he called, and the flop was like 6-7-2. I bet and he called, and the turn was a King and I bet and he called. The river was a Jack and I shoved and he called with Q-9. He also had the missed flush draw, so he basically just bricked the flush draw and was like ‘yeah I’m not buying this’ and called down anyway.”
4. Ben ‘Sauce123’ Sulsky “It’s actually funny, because I have Sauce at No. 4 on my list and Jungle at No. 3, and it’s kind of amazing because you could not get two more polar opposite players. I think that what I figured out is that I know what he does, but I haven’t really figured out why necessarily (laughs). So I just know what. So I guess that makes it a pretty good match up for me to play against. If you wanted me to write you an essay on the reasoning on why he does what he does, there would still be a lot of missing pieces. Maybe I’m just totally missing the boat here – but then again, I am up like $600k!”
5. Max ‘altFC’ Altergott “Last time I played Max I actually thought he played really well, and I was impressed with that. He hasn’t played me much lately, but he’s better than a lot of people at the higher stakes. So I’d definitely say he’s a contender for No. 5.”
6. Alex ‘Kanu7’ Millar “I’d say Kanu is No.6. I think that Kanu would’ve been higher up my list six months ago, because he used to play me, and I don’t know if he just can’t take the heat, or what’s going on… he’s actually up a lot on me, and he still won’t play me, so I don’t really understand. He went on kind of a bad downswing in No Limit this year, so he’s probably still rebounding from that. I do think he plays well, but until he starts to play more people, and understand a few spots better, I think I’d put him at No. 6.”
7. Nicholas ‘ragen70’ Heinecker “I think he plays kind of a style that’s a little different. I think most people’s styles are based off either GTO or exploitation, and ‘ragen’ is more tricky. I think he’s more about putting good hands in weird spots and forcing you into tough situations. He’s way trickier than most other players, and way less balanced to me. There’s certain spots where he over-folds, but he’s definitely willing to make big calls, and sneak in some traps in some situations. I think he’s a really smart guy, and he’s got to be one of the richest poker players after his performance this year. I think if he spent more time on NL he could definitely become on of the top players, but he just doesn’t. We actually had another hand earlier this year, where we had a really big single raise pot. By the river I shoved, and it would have been like an 800bb pot if he’d called. He folded and said ‘I really wanna know your hand, how much is it gonna cost me?’ So I said ‘I don’t know man, I don’t think I can tell you.’ He said ‘If you tell me your hand then at some point this year I’ll play you a 6-7 hour session at 50/100, or I’ll give you $10k if I don’t.’ So I told him my hand and hopefully we’ll have that match scheduled this year!”
8. Tobias 'KTPOKP' Kuder “He has a lesser known story I think, he came up on PokerStars last year. I know he’s been in and out of the higher stakes scene, but he really crushed everybody on his way up. I believe he was the biggest winner between 5/10 and 50/100 on Stars last year, which is definitely impressive. I think he suffers from being a little bit behind the curve. Of all the people I’ve listed so far I think he is… I don’t know, what’s the nicest way to say least smart? He’s good, he’s solid, he’s got good fundamentals – but I don’t think he’ll be able to make it much further than he already has.”
9. and 10. ‘RaúlGonzalez’ and ‘donthitnrunme’ “Ninth and tenth are kind of interchangeable – two of the Germans, ‘donthitnrunme’ and ‘RaúlGonzalez’ – I’d put both of them up there. I’ve played both of them a lot, they play well and I’ve got good history versus both of them. They’re kind of like a tier of reg – they’re some of the bosses at 25/50. If you’re trying to get from like 10/20 to 50/100, you’re pretty much going to have to go through them at some point. I haven’t played either of them in a while, from what I can remember I think ‘donthitandrunme’ was a little more aggro and a little more tough but also a little more spewy. I think ‘RaúlGonzalez’ was a little more solid, and probably a touch better.”
Look out for our interview with Polk in next month’s issue of Bluff Europe.