If Doug Polk can't beat mid-stakes, who can?

Doug Polk is trying to turn $50,000 into $100,000 playing online poker. He's playing medium-stakes games, and he's already lost about half of his money. It makes you wonder about online poker today. If a famous pro can't beat medium-stakes games, what does that mean for everyone else?

I can still win at low-stakes PLO. There aren't as many full-time pros, and you find a lot of loose or very tight players who are easy to beat. But after seeing Doug's results, I don't think I'll ever move up to medium stakes. It seems like making money at those levels is nearly impossible now.

I don't think it means anything for anyone else but him,

for this challenge he's mixing in PLO which isn't his game....

his online stats that were positive were for hu nlhe games only

Is he playing cash or tournaments? How many games into his challenge has he already played?

Variance is real.

I don't think anyone, and it means for others, that we should be very careful when playing medium bets.

If you've just started playing online, I'm almost 99% sure you've misclassified yourself as "average".Perhaps the main difference between a good poker player and a bad one is the ability to let go of a strong hand when it's suspected it will lose at showdown.

Polk crushing HU NLHE years ago doesn’t automatically translate to crushing 4-card PLO games in 2025.
Also, people assume that skill is equal to immunity to downswings. Mid-stakes online is brutal today: smaller edges, tougher regs, solvers everywhere, and Polk isn’t grinding full-time anymore. Doesn’t mean the games are unbeatable, just that one needs volume, study, and specialization, maybe not only a YouTube bankroll challenge