WSOP 2017 One Drop: Doug Polk Win & Card Marking Controversy

The last night saw Doug Polk, one of the best-known high stakes players around take down the $111,111 WSOP 2017 One Drop High Roller to the tune of $3.7 million. But, not before we’ve had the first proper controversy of this year’s World Series.

Marked cards at the WSOP 2017 One Drop final table?

It seems that every World Series as of late needs at least one card drama, and this one happened quite early. The field of 130 players dwindled down to final nine, forming the final table where one player would take home just shy of $3.7 million and a coveted WSOP bracelet. However, all of a sudden, Doug tweeted out the following:

We are taking a break in the One Drop, I looked down at my cards and discovered there were white dots at different patterns for each card

— gN Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) June 6, 2017

With so much money on the line, this was clearly a big deal, and remembering the past problems, many tweeted in support to Polk. The tournament was stopped for some thirty minutes, before the play resumed, although it remains unclear what caused the suspicious dots.

Some speculate that it may be the automatic shuffler, while others believe there are more nefarious explanations. For the time being, there is no official answer, but there were no player on player accusations.

They’re all very respectable people in the community. I don’t think anyone was cheating. –Doug Polk for PokerNews

Stellar final table lineup

As is usually the case with these high rollers, we’ve seen some of the biggest poker names take it to the felt. Phil Hellmuth was the one to earn the unflattering title of the final table bubble, leaving nine other big names to find the winner among themselves.

And, when we say big names, we really mean it.

Apart from Polk, others who made it all the way to the last table in WSOP 2017 One Drop included former WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, Andrew Robl, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Chris Moor, Reiner Kempe, Andrew Robl, Haralabos Voulgaris, Dario Sammartino, and Mike Kamran.

Polk had his ups and downs, as is usually the case with tournament poker, but in the end he managed to hold on to his chips and found himself heads-up for the title against none other than PokerStars Team Pro member Bertarand Grospellier.

Heads up vs. ElkY

ElkY started the final day as a chip leader and he managed to get as close to the title as possible without actually winning. However, Lady Luck favored Doug and the final skirmish didn’t last for too long.

Sup pic.twitter.com/YymAz4ITh4

— gN Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) June 6, 2017

Polk kicked things off winning a big pot off of Grospellier and proceeded to finish him off in the next few hands, claiming the WSOP 2017 One Drop title, together with the first place money of $3,686,865.

As for ElkY, he had a good payday as well, and he didn’t seem too upset after finishing runner up for the grand total of almost $2.3 million. Just another day at the office.

If it was just a beginning? An amazing run with an epic head’s up! Congratz @DougPolkPoker! and thks for the support team! Rdy for the next? pic.twitter.com/WpzTFnDlnU

— ElkY @ WSOP (@elkypoker) June 6, 2017

As an aside, if you’d like to get a shot at 2% of Doug Polk’s net winnings this WSOP (One Drop included), check out his Twitter and get in the mix. (Hint: it’s completely free!)