Doug Polk on crypto, poker, and epic scams
UpOnly: Chats with Crypto Experts
Introduction
Up only t v is a new show that debuts this week. Host Coby Smen will talk to him about his crypto journey, poker and everything in between. We also have our partner f t x for the first episode of up only t v. They ardo migt mony os fecial ther purfasere i workao. Up olyup, up, up oly.
Links
Show Partner
This episode is presented by FTX (formerly Blockfolio). Trade on an awesome mobile interface fee-free, and still get all the great portfolio tracking features you know and love: https://uponly.tv/ftx
Show Notes
FTX?
- Ledger nailed new intro
- UpOnly sponsored by FTX now!
- Blockfolio is now FTX (as everything soon will be)
- Doug was watching an MLB game and saw FTX on an umpire
- So wild
LEDGER DRINKS EVERY DAY
- *one beer*
- *has cravings if he skips his beer*
- *in a weight-loss competition with Primo to lose 10% of body weight*
- Doug: “That 1 beer per day is costing you 16-17 pounds per year!”
Doug’s Crypto Journey
- 2012-2013ish
- Got in because of poker - online poker caused onboarding
- Doug: “the asset appreciation element kinda made sense to me” lol us too sir
Bitcoin v Banks
- People complain about bank fees and then Bitcoin fees spike lol
- Block time also kind of a hassle
- Cobie: “Nowadays if an Ethereum block takes like a full minute I’m pissed”
- Cobie: “Solana is fast enough and if you use it you can afford to live in New York”
Zoomers & Internet Native Generation
- Ledger: “How many people bought SafeMoon and bridged to BSC? Like how did they do that???”
- Cobie: “We had an interview with Teen Exec and he just understands the internet way better than I do”
- Also have the YouTubers who can show you step by step exactly how to buy the top
- Cobie: “Every time a project comes on UpOnly its the exact top of their thesis”
- Light - super bearish at the bottom
- SCAM and CUMROCKET - top tick on the episode
- Charlie Lee even top ticked Litecoin
Coping
- DOGE founder is coping so hard that he won’t come back
- People would easily donate like millions to this guy
The B Word Conference
- Cobie: “I think Cathie Wood is fking phenomenal”
- “Elon just kept talking about Tesla chargers”
- Doug: “I think Jack needs to have a better idea of how Bitcoin can actually be implemented to fix these issues”
- “Also Elon has a firm belief in ‘Bitcoin has to be 50% renewable’ for someone who’s dad was an emerald miner”
- “His Bitcoin takes felt not extremely researched”
- Ledger: “At some point do you stretch yourself a little too thin if you’re trying to create Mars money and [xyz other stuff]”
Doug’s Challenge
- Poker career focused on 1v1 poker
- Challenged a rival troll guy who was after him to a 1v1 for $1,000,000
- This guy was a major underdog
- He said yes LOL
- $40k buy in, any time you dropped off you bought back in with $40k
- Doug won $1.2M off of this guy lol
- Now they are boys
- Ledger: “you had a lot of reputational tie into this as well - like if you lost it’d be like me losing to Cobie in a trading competition”
- Cobie: “you’ve had some anthropologically bad trades that should be on wikipedia” lmao
Poker & Crypto
- Is it banking the unbanked? Or math, trading, etc. stuff?
- Doug: “Poker guys understand having an edge and are used to losing”
- “Today 200 guys played, 15 paid, so 185 lost” fack
- “Can’t handle losing, can’t do poker”
- “Some edge/ trading aspects, some keeping your money off the books aspects… some of the poker community is DEEP in crypto”
No More Poker 4 Doug
- Basically turned from an art to an exact science that you need to memorize
- Doug: “The reality is the guy who spent 2x the time is going to be better”
- Online vs. in person is the same *at the higher levels*
Doug’s Journey
- Just moved to Austin TX
- Was part of the mass migration
- Left Vegas, “I wanted something idk less stripper-ey” lol
- Nashville would also be great
- Doug: “The ‘Keep Austin Weird’ signs need to come down like that is so far gone, its a tech hub now!”
Ledger’s Fame
- Going to give Doug some Alabama BBQ places off air to not dox his micro location
- Cobie and Doug start laughing at the exact same time
- Cobie: “We have the same joke don’t we”
- Doug: “Ya Ledger you wouldn’t want anyone driving 700 miles out to see you” lmao
- Ledger got recognized 2 weeks ago
Scams
- Doug called BitConnect like a week before it happened
- Everyone knew him as the guy who called it lol
- “Save The Kids Token”
- Fake charity token that was somehow supposed to save the kids
- FaZe & some youtube guy Sam Pepper
- creep
Tether FUD
- Doug: “I actually don’t agree with any of the Tether FUD” YES DOUG
- Doug: “Like pretty much people won’t be happy unless they have $60 Billion in a checking account”
- based
ETH 2.0
- If/ wen ETH2 happens, are people still rushing to send their money through MATIC? prolly not
- Probably won’t be a scaling benefit until sharding
- Cobie - prolly rollup-centric solution to scaling when it all works out
ZK-Rollups
- Created down only tokenomics of ZCash *disclaimer: this is FUD*
- Uses security of L1 w/ cheaper scaling
- Vitalik said it’d take like 5 years of optimistic rollups before ZK rollups but now looking like straight to ZK rollups
- More gigabrain Cobie
Top Scams Ever
- 1. Poker guy knew the guy in god-mode and won legit every tournament
- Won like $250k
- 2. Joshua Tyler - installed a trojan on Doug’s computer and could see his cards
- Got investigated and Doug got his money back!
FINAL ALPHA
- Doug: “In life, you should always bet the biggest on yourself”
- “No one is going to work as hard as you or be as honest as yourself”
- “When you get opportunities to bet big on yourself, take them and you’ll never regret it”
Notes by Kevin
Music by GiovanniPickle
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