5 Minutes Read
The Landon Tice vs. Bill Perkins heads-up challenge met a premature end as Tice conceded defeat after only about 25% of the challenge had been played. On July 4, Tice tweeted that he had decided to surrender the heads-up challenge to Perkins after much deliberation.
Regarding the Perkins Challenge:
As a team we decided to surrender. We see no other way to proceed. He’s a much stronger player than expected and I took on more than I could handle.
It was an unreal experience to be a part of, maybe in the future I’ll try again.
GG @bp22
— Landon (@LandonTice) July 3, 2021
Before we get to the details of what brought about the surrender from Tice, let’s do a quick recap of how the heads-up challenge came to be.
How It All Started
In February, the duo agreed to play 20,000 hands of $200-$400 No-Limit Hold’em on Americas Cardroom. A side bet was added to the challenge in May.
The challenge, eventually, got underway several months later, in early June.
Tice agreed to grant the recreational high stakes player Perkins a handicap of 9 big blinds for every 100 hands played, unlike other challenges between two pros. It essentially meant Tice would need to win $720,000 over the course of 20,000 hands before he could earn a profit.
At the time the handicap was agreed upon, Tice and many others believed that given the 22-year-old’s skill advantage over Perkins, the handicap wouldn’t be insurmountable for an upcoming full-time poker pro like Tice. However, as the challenge start date approached, Tice started doubting his decision. On May 24, Tice posted a blog sharing his thoughts on his forthcoming heads-up challenge and acknowledged that he did not realize what he was signing himself up for at the time of agreeing to the challenge.
Tice had admitted that he had been caught up in the Polk vs. Negreanu match while commentating on it alongside Joey Ingram. And even though he was not a heads-up specialist, he wanted to tackle a heads-up challenge of his own, and Perkins seemed like the perfect opponent.
Tice had not considered perhaps that though Perkins is not a poker pro, he still has a lot of experience playing high-stakes poker. Moreover, he is a top-notch entrepreneur who used his bargaining prowess well to negotiate favorable terms for himself in the challenge.
Tice vs. Perkins Heads-Up Challenge: A Quick Recap
The challenge kicked off on June 1, and right off the bat, Tice was off to a winning start. However, soon enough, he realized Perkins wasn’t as weak an opponent as Tice had initially thought him to be. If he was hoping Perkins would slip in form as the challenge progressed, he didn’t.
Tice won most of the sessions played between the duo, but he never could complete control of the situation as his win-rate was always lagging the 9 BBs/100 hands handicap. In fact, the last two sessions were both won by Perkins.
When Tice called it quits, the duo had played 12 sessions and a total of 4,907 hands. He was winning $63,720 at the time, but that only equated to a win rate of 3.25 big blinds per 100 hands. Tice ended up losing $112,680 thanks to the handicap.
Waving the White Flag
After the June 29 session, Tice gave serious thought to whether he should continue on or call it quits, and for someone who has been very vocal on being staked for the challenge, his backers likely had a lot of say in the decision as well. On Sunday, he made the decision, which he tweeted.
In a tweet where he posted the graph of his results for the challenge, Tice said the $200,000 side bet was also forfeited. Tice, who won the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Main Event last November for $201,529 at just 21 years old, had admitted from the outset of this match that he had sold a lot of action and wouldn’t be taking the brunt of the variance on his own.
Challenge Graph
And for some clarification: we had a sidebet of 200K at 1:1 and the buyout and bb/100 pro-rata was agreed upon by both parties.
I’ve got the Online WSOP and some other MTTs to worry about. Just have to keep moving forward.
I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done. pic.twitter.com/49mSPknbWq
— Landon (@LandonTice) July 4, 2021
Between the side bet and the big blinds he spotted Perkins, Tice had to pay the difference proportionally to how many hands they played and not the entire $720,000. Tice and his backers ended up losing $312,680 to Perkins.
Tice also posted a video acknowledging the mistakes he made said that losing to Perkins was an important life lesson.
Had a tough convo with myself inspired by @dankness3 regarding the Perkins Challenge.
I made a lot of mistakes, I didn’t take accountability, and I could have done more.
It hurts, a lot, but the past is the past and I’ll learn from it. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/EiOZQohD4k
— Landon (@LandonTice) July 4, 2021
Overall, I can say that I made so many mistakes, so many failures in and learned a lot about myself.
I made all the negotiations myself, with no prior funding, and built a game out of literally thin air.
I lost that battle. Handily. I got my ego checked.
I needed it. pic.twitter.com/DGWtLS7Nrz
— Landon (@LandonTice) July 5, 2021
Perkins Rejoices
Expectedly Perkins was over the moon after winning the challenge. Perkins is coached by high-stakes cash game pro MJ Gonzales. Gonzales is one of the founders of Hybrid Poker and is in the midst of his own heads-up challenge against Dan Smith. He has coached six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu as well.
Not surprisingly, Perkins had all of his own action and went on to credit Gonzales and his other coaches for turning him into a “strong player” in just three months of training.
Thanks for the competition. It was great spot to force an old dog to learn new tricks. The team @PokerHybrid took a complete fish & turned me into a strong player in 3 months so I have to thank them & @larasebastian for giving me time to study. @LandonTice will crush the future https://t.co/pf3q6uw26f
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) July 3, 2021
Despite winning the side bet and the match, Perkins said that Tice was likely a big favorite before the match began.
Very happy to make money for those who bet on me. Gave me extra motivation knowing people believed in me. #Poker https://t.co/aN0bHDvprh
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) July 6, 2021
Doug Polk Weighs In
No heads-up challenge is complete without Doug Polk adding his two cents to the matter. The three-time WSOP bracelet winner’s initial reaction to Tice’s surrender was one of surprise.
Surprised to say the least. So early on, expected this to go the distance unless there was real carnage. https://t.co/rz5J47G6wR
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 3, 2021
Polk has been trying to put together a podcast where Tice and Perkins would talk about the sudden conclusion of their challenge.
Putting together a podcast on the @bp22 vs @LandonTice match surprise conclusion. Going to have Bill on as well as a coach or two on Landons side.
What questions do you most want to hear them answer?
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 4, 2021
It seems like Perkins’s part of the podcast has already been recorded. Next up will be Tice’s coach, Kevin Rabichow.
Recorded a talk with @bp22 on his thoughts on the challenge, going to have @KRabichow today/tomorrow to talk about coaching Landon/his thoughts on the challenge.
Should be up by Wed. Will be a nice insight into the challenge.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 5, 2021
In the meantime, Polk shared a 2+2 thread where cryptocurrency enthusiast and poker pro Jason Mo had shared his views on the Tice vs. Perkins challenge. He had gone on to call Tice “arrogant” and had said that Tice had “literally accomplished nothing in poker.”
First the discord leak then this 2+2 post, @cuntycakes123 dropping bombs on this challenge pic.twitter.com/dsXFiNSbGZ
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 5, 2021
Mo, too, will be a part of Polk’s podcast.
Update: We are going to have @cuntycakes123 joining as well for his takes on the Landon/Bill challenge.
Think we can expect some fireworks.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 5, 2021
Sharing his own opinion on the matter, Polk said that though Tice is just 22 years of age, he was still fully aware of what he was getting into.
(2/3) I was upset when I lost, but it fueled me to become a stronger player.
This was at 19 years old. So enough with this “omg hes only 22 nonsense”. If you take a big public challenge, your crew is talking you up, you have to put up results or you’ll face some heat.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 5, 2021
(3/3) Its harder today than it was back then. Social media lets people funnel hate it at you much quicker. But when you take on a challenge for 20k hands and quit 1/4th of the way in when you are barely even losing…. you wont escape that unscathed.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) July 5, 2021
Well, this heads-up challenge has undoubtedly come to an anti-climactic end. Nevertheless, Polk’s upcoming podcast may still end up ruffling some feathers and stir some more controversy. For now, all we can do is wait for the reveal.