Who Is Doug Polk’s Wife? The Kaitlin Polk Story

Doug Polk's wife is Kaitlin Polk (née Karges), a former Las Vegas real estate agent who married the three-time WSOP bracelet winner in Maui, Hawaii in November 2021. The couple live in Austin, Texas with their two children.

She is also the least public wife attached to any major poker name. No interviews, no podcast, no poker appearances beyond the occasional cameo in Doug's videos.

That silence leaves celebrity bio sites filling the gaps with guesses. This page carries only what Doug and Kaitlin have said themselves, plus what official records confirm.

Below: Kaitlin's background and career, the wedding, both children, how the family handled the Lodge investigation, and the questions fans search most, including whether the Polks are still together in 2026.

Who Is Kaitlin Polk?

Kaitlin grew up in the Chicago area and moved to Las Vegas in 2011, according to her own professional bio. She built a career in real estate there, earning a Nevada licence and working as a listing agent in Henderson.

One detail Doug has confirmed himself: almost nobody spells her name right. Asked about it on X in 2017, he said the most common version she gets is Katelyn.

The timeline matters. While Doug Polk built his heads-up reputation online, his future wife was selling houses ten minutes from the Strip, with her own clients and her own career.

Several bio sites list an exact age for Kaitlin and name a specific Illinois hometown. No primary source supports either claim, so this article publishes neither. Her own words say Chicago, and that is where we leave it.

From Vegas to the Maui Wedding

The relationship ran through Doug's biggest poker years, though neither of them has ever told the story of how they met. The documented trail is thin: Kaitlin appears in Doug's social posts from those Las Vegas years, and nowhere else.

The wedding capped the biggest year of Doug's career. Months earlier he had finished off Daniel Negreanu in their grudge heads-up challenge for a $1.2 million profit, then declared himself done with full-time poker.

Doug announced the wedding with a single photo on November 15, 2021, right in the middle of WSOP Main Event week. While the poker world watched Las Vegas, one of its loudest voices was quietly getting married in Maui, Hawaii.

The announcement drew congratulations from Jeff Gross, Jaime Staples, and Bill Perkins, plus a few jokes at Doug's expense. He gave away nothing beyond the photo, not even the date. It set the template for how the couple would handle every family moment since.

For where the Polks sit among the game's married names, see our poker power couples rankings.

Son Otis & the Name That Honors Family

Otis Douglas Polk was born on January 27, 2023. Doug announced the arrival two days later, writing that he and Kaitlin had waited to become parents until they felt truly ready.

The same post contains the clearest public description Doug has ever given of his wife. He called Kaitlin his best friend, and said he could not wait to go on the journey of parenthood with her.

The name carries real weight. Otis honors Doug's great-grandfather, also named Otis Douglas Polk, who died of cancer while working at the Nevada nuclear test sites. Doug's father was just nine years old at the time.

Doug wrote that the name brought tears to his eyes, knowing his great-grandfather's life was cut so short. For a player famous for feuds and call-outs, it was an unusually soft public moment.

Family First: Life in Austin After the Lodge

The Polks settled in Austin in 2021, and Doug became a co-owner of the Lodge Card Club in January 2022. Over the next four years, his business life and their family life collided repeatedly.

Georgia arrived in the middle of the worst stretch. Doug declared himself officially on Team Girl Dad while the family's biggest business asset sat closed under a money laundering investigation.

Doug later called that spring the most stressful period of his life, saying he faced potential criminal charges despite doing everything right. Days after the raid, he released his statement denying the money laundering claims and personally guaranteed every player's balance.

On July 3, 2026, with the grand jury no bill secured and the Lodge reopened, Doug stepped away from any active role. His stated reasons: other projects, and “my family continuing to grow.” He remains a shareholder.

Retirement never fully stuck. Doug beat Ossi Ketola heads-up for $1.2 million on ClubWPT Gold in November 2025, and he still fires the occasional WSOP Main Event. The difference is that poker now fits around the family, not the other way round.

His working focus sits on the Lucid Poker solver and his ClubWPT Gold commitments. Kaitlin has stayed exactly where she has always been: present, supportive, and off camera.

Are Doug & Kaitlin Polk Still Married in 2026?

Yes. The Polks welcomed their second child in March 2026, and Doug's July 2026 statement on leaving his Lodge role cited his growing family as a reason. There has never been a public separation, divorce filing, or rumour worth the name.

The couple have simply never aired their marriage in public, which is rare for a player who built a career on saying everything out loud. Nearly five years in, that discipline looks like a choice rather than an accident.

For the most public contrast to the Polks, read Amanda Leatherman's story with Daniel Negreanu.