The Railbird Report: Doug Polk and Ben Tollerene’s Big Online Brawl

Last week Hendrik “ValueH” Latz and Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz released a joint statement of an issue they had with Alexander Dreyfus, describing events where the Global Poker Index-owner paid money back weeks later in what should have been a simple swap. The forum topic on twoplustwo saw Dreyfus react early on, followed by a ton of people venting their indignance.

One of the twoplustwo forum members to comment was Ben “Ben86” Tollerene. The well-known online high-stakes player shared the general feeling that Dreyfus was largely at fault.

What started out as a simple thread that did not look good for Dreyfus soon escalated as Doug “WCGRider” Polk reacted to Tollerene’s remarks. Polk said the following:

What about agreeing on NL for PLO coaching, getting some NL coaching, then backing out on the PLO coaching because it’s not convenient for you.

That’s way more legitimate.

As was instantly clear to everyone following along, there were some issues between the two high rollers. After some more back and forths, it became clear the issue revolved around Polk giving Tollerene coaching in no-limit hold ’em. Tollerene backed out on returning the favor.

The thread derailment was soon moved to its own thread in the same popular News, Views & Gossip sub-forum. The situation soon escalated.

Tollerene elaborated on the subject, writing that the dispute had its origin four years ago. According to Tollerene, Polk moved to Vancouver that year, making the two just about neighbors. The two agreed on sharing coaching. Polk started teaching Tollerene a thing or two on hold ’em over the course of four sessions. By the time it was time for Tollerene to explain some of his pot-limit Omaha insights to Polk, though, a partner Tollerene had developed strategies with didn’t approve of sharing the information they had formulated.

The two talked about the issue and, according to Tollerene, Polk seemed to understand the situation. A year later, as the two were out one night with some other high-stakes players, Polk blew up about the issue anyway:

Then we go out drinking one night, it’s late and we’re wasted. Doug starts giving his No. 1 in the World speech and I tell him I don’t agree. His sample is too small, etc. We argue for a while and he eventually breaks down and gets really upset. We talk it out until about 5 a.m. in his room, hug each other and we’re cool. I wake up the next morning to an essay on Skype about why we cannot be friends anymore.

Another year later, Tollerene decided to sit in on Polk on a $500/$1,000 CAP no-limit, hold ’em table and the issue was resurrected. Polk said the following:

But Ben Tollerene is my enemy, make no mistake. The way that I was treated, was beyond unacceptable. The story of what happened that night is the most absurd thing that ever happened to me, and if Ben wants to deny his guilt here, I will have no choice but to tell it.

Not much later, Polk released a video explaining Tollerene had backed out, the reason being that his partner did not want …

continue reading in source www.pokernews.com