BOA Freezes WCGRider's Accounts: "This is the Icing on the Cake"
In a series of Tweets posted last week, it was revealed that Doug Polk (pictured), who is known in the high-stakes online poker world as WCGRider, had his Bank of America accounts frozen. The bank’s actions came in advance of Polk wanting to head to Canada for the ongoing WCOOP on PokerStars.
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According to HighStakesDB, “When Polk tried to change his more anonymous ‘WCGRider’ screen name to just ‘Doug Polk’, a security alarm of some kind in the Bank of America system must have been raised.”
Polk promptly took to Twitter to warn other poker players who may bank with BOA, saying:
Despite legitimately paying taxes, playing by all the rules, and banking at bank of America for 6 years they hve shut down every account 1/3
— Douglas Polk (@DougPolkPoker) September 10, 2014
I have other then my checking account. Today I received notification that my remaining account has suffered a loss of servicrs, and all 2/3
— Douglas Polk (@DougPolkPoker) September 10, 2014
Money has been frozen. I can’t believe how horrible my interactions with have been and this is the icing @BofA_Community on the cake 3/3
— Douglas Polk (@DougPolkPoker) September 10, 2014
Members of the industry responded to Polk’s comments by saying they’ve had similar experiences in the US and UK, with Polk remarking at one point, “Yeah, I’m tired of getting treated like a criminal.” When asked why BOA shut his accounts down, Polk simply told the community, “They told me they do not reveal that information.”
The issue involving poker players and well-known banks doesn’t seem to be isolated to BOA, either. For example, Jason JCarver Somerville (pictured) described his experience with Chase, saying, “Chase did basically the same thing to me a few years ago that BOA is doing to you. I’d be a little cautious w/ them too.”
WCGRider is 74th on the list of biggest winners tracked by HighStakesDB, which makes the news more high-profile. He is $1.23 million in the black in high-stakes games that the tracking site has logged since late 2009. According to the Hendon Mob, Polk has $3.6 million in career live tournament winnings, including a victory earlier this year in a $100,000 No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for $1.6 million.
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