Doug Polk Sells Upswing Poker to ClubWPT Gold

Aftermore than nine years of operating the leading training site with his friend Ryan Fee, Polk will be handing over the keys of Upswing Poker to its new owner, while promising a bright future for the outfit.

A Decade of Upswing Poker

It was all the way back in 2016 that Doug Polk was encouraged to consider starting a poker training site by Ryan Fee.

The training space has previously been dominated by classic sites Card Runners and Deucescracked, but their massive, over-sized libraries left novice players scrambling around, wondering where to start.

Polk’s idea was to streamline the learning process into a course style where every lesson would build on the previous instruction, bolstering the knowledge into executable ideas.

On completion of the course, the student would be able to clearly see what they had learned and have an idea about what to study next.

The other main selling point Polk and Fee wanted to implement was a small team that consisted of players who played high stakes with a degree of success.

So how to ensure success in the post Black-Friday world? Marketing is everything to a fledgling company, in most cases, and so Polk brought digital marketing expert Matt Colletta into the fold.

All it took to get off the ground was a couple of $5,000 cheques each written by the trio and Upswing Poker was born.

The recipe was a success, but not right away. In fact, Polk recalls a story from the first sale of his first product — The Lab.

Thinking it would be a nice touch to contact his very first customer, Polk phoned the guy to congratulate them and get some feedback, only to receive a call back the day after with the guy requesting a refund as he didn’t like what he had bought.

Well, business can be tough, but Upswing Poker’s fortunes did change, and a few days later, poker pariah Ali Imsirovic bought the course! — Polk didn’t really have much to add on that score.

A year after the business was launched, Polk and Fee won the inaugural WSOP Tag Team event giving the company’s reputation a nice boost. Two to three years later and there was several million dollars in revenue coming through the door.

Obviously people would love to know some exact numbers on how it’s all gone for Doug Polk over the last decade but he wouldn’t reveal anything beyond millions of dollars in revenue and tens of thousands of paying members.

The Future for Upswing Poker

With Doug Polk finding himself spread a little thin across more businesses than he did a few years ago, it made sense to agree a deal when a World Poker Tour brand came knocking. The deal made sense for everyone involved, Polk said.

Although Polk will be a little sad to see his original baby pass into new hands, he did say that the resources of the ClubWPT Gold would promise a bright future for Upswing Poker.

As for how much the sale was worth — we’ll just have to keep on guessing.