3 Minutes Read
The poker community has a new heads-up challenge to look forward to! And this one promises to be another fiercely contested battle with upcoming poker superstar Landon Tice set to take on hedge-fund manager cum poker enthusiast Bill Perkins. The duo has hashed out most of the finer details of the challenge, even though the site on which the match will be played is still undecided. Like the recent heads-up challenges, this too will be a $200/$400 high-stakes NLHE match lasting 20,000 hands.
To balance the evident skill-edge Tice has over Perkins, the latter will get a 9 BB/100 hand handicap – which given the stakes of the challenge, translates to a $720,000 head start for Perkins. This means, if Tice were to win $1 Million off Perkins after the 20,000-hand challenge, he would only get paid $280,0000.
The news of the challenge sent the poker Twitterati chirping, and many in the community started speculating if the match would even take place. The duo seems determined to see this through. Tice has indicated that the contest will likely begin in May, while Perkins has announced that he will prepare for it. Taking a leaf out of the Grudge Match, both have agreed not to allow “limping” during the match.
Even before starting, the high-stakes challenge has raked up some controversy, though neither of the two challengers was involved. The proponent of the dispute was Terrance Chan, who called out PokerShares and its founder Mike McDonald for the ambiguous manner in which they were inviting bets on the upcoming challenge. PokerShares is a well-established betting website that offers players the chance of betting on the outcome of poker tournaments and has run betting marketplaces for similar heads-up challenges in the past. Chan was apparently not happy with PokerShares’ failure to clarify the 9BB/ 100 hands handicap on its website, which McDonald denied. The misunderstanding led to a war of words between the two, with PokerShares eventually updating the bet’s description.
Let’s quickly check out the sequence of the events.
Tice Offers to Play Perkins
It all began on February 6, when Perkins tweeted that Polk won 12BB per 100 hands in his Grudge Match vs. Negreanu. Perkins announced that he’d take up an opponent at 13/BB per 100 hands since he’s terrible at heads-up and doesn’t even know the basics.
So looks like 12/BB per 100 @DougPolkVids won during the challenge. I'd take 13/BB per 100 cause I'm a glutton for punishment. I'm terrible at HU, don't know the fundamentals and I've grown lazy w.r.t studying but I'm an action junkie!!! #Poker
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) February 5, 2021
The tweet had Polk declining the offer by saying – “I wouldn’t even play without having to pay you.”
Canadian millionaire Michal Wywrot offered Perkins a 10BB/ 100 hands for 10,000 hands. Soon, Tice pitched in, showing interest in a heads-up match against Perkins.
As a man of content, if the opportunity ever arises I would love to find a way to talk terms and battle.
🔥🔥🔥
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 5, 2021
There was a bit of bargaining between the two, with Tice offering 5 BB/100 hands, but Perkins stood firm at 11.5. Rice upped his offer to 8, to which Perkins suggested 9.3, and finally came down to 9 BBs. Tice grabbed the offer, stating that he was ready for the challenge.
Fuck it I’m in let’s do it!
You’ve worked me down enough 😁🔥
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 6, 2021
Perkins instantly agreed, inviting people to place their bets.
It's on!!! Place your bets!!!! #poker https://t.co/rxdooFxUxu
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) February 6, 2021
The next day, Tice announced that the challenge was on!
HU 4 Souls is BACK! https://t.co/7O3E5jPxJZ
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 6, 2021
HEADS UP FOR SOULS IS ON!
I battle the Legend @bp22
200/400
20k hands
I pay 9bb/100
More details to come, but BLOOD WILL BE IN THE STREETS 🔥📈
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 6, 2021
Who’s the Underdog Here?
All of 21, Tice is an acquaintance of Joey Ingram and demonstrated his skills in high stakes cash games last year, also winning a $1,100 NLHE event at The Venetian for $201,529 in November.
He has been producing poker videos with Ingram and is currently writing his own newsletter about his poker career.
Tice has been studying the game passionately. With his strong technical poker know-how, he is likely to have a significant edge over Perkins, who is more of a recreational player but has tons of experience playing high stakes poker.
However, both of them have little experience playing heads-up challenges – Tice has admitted he has been playing heads-up poker only for six months, and Perkins self-admittedly is like a fish out of waters in terms of HU skills. The last we heard, Perkins had even lost a mini-heads-up challenge to Phil Galfond.
That said, Perkins is all upbeat and gearing up for the challenge! He tweeted that he planned to represent the business crowd well. Perkins also invited Galfond to be the arbitrator for the match in his subsequent tweets and admitted that he’d never studied heads-up NLHE until now!
It's going down. I plan to represent the Business crowd well!!! #Poker https://t.co/Pd3LJjrGsl
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) February 6, 2021
So @PhilGalfond will you be arbitrator for the match between @LandonTice and I?
No good deed goes unpunished!!!
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) February 6, 2021
I have done my best to socialize in poker but never my best to study and learn ever. Never really studied HUNL until yesterday. I'm looking forward to showing what I can do when I put effort into something. Thank you @LandonTice for the challenge. #Poker #HeadsUpForSouls
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) February 7, 2021
Clearly, Tice is also super excited and has already started preparing for the match that he shared might start in May.
The battle vs @bp22 Is looking to start in May!
2021: The Year of GETTING AFTER IT
You LOVE to see it 🔥❤️ pic.twitter.com/0y0k72ugWi
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 7, 2021
I declared my challenge with @bp22 yesterday, so I had to go back to the basics.
I taught hand rankings to @akaNemsko, where she learned that three pair doesn’t exist, poker has engines that “do engine stuff,” and 10 is represented as a T.
It’s all uphill from here 😁♥️🔥
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 7, 2021
Bill's probably watching the Super Bowl and I'm in the fucking lab.
We are not the same 🔥
— Landon (@LandonTice) February 7, 2021
Taking some learnings from the Grudge Match and given the generous handicap Perkins has, entering the challenge, the duo has agreed not to allow limping through their match.
So @LandonTice and agreed to not allow limping for our match. It is a sharper strategy but it makes hininzation much harder. #FYI #POKER
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) February 8, 2021
Terrance Chan Calls Out PokerShares For Misleading
PokerShares have labeled Tice a 7/10 favorite in the challenge, and the betting market is open on the website.
Intrigued by the odds, Terrence Chan put in a max-bet on the match. He was hoping for the odds to change like in a dynamic marketplace, but they didn’t, and he put in another max bet. All these bets he placed without being aware of Perkin’s 9BB/100 hands handicap.
Within minutes, he received an email confirmation from PokerShares stating that the site had a $1K max-bet on the challenge and also that Tice would have to win more than $720,000 to come out on top. Chan was upset that the $720,000 handicap was left out of the bet’s description on the website.
Yesterday I’m scrolling Twitter and Mike RTs the pictured tweet. I go for the clickbait, and click through to see that indeed this is the bet they have. pic.twitter.com/LbxvBMN1b9
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
Deciding this is a +ev bet, I fire the max. I actually expect the line to move, but it doesn’t, so I fire again. (I’m used to Pinnacle's dynamic lines & Bet365 doesn't let you fire more than once.)
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
Later Pokershares support would email to say it’s a 1k max bet and they’re cancelling the other two tickets, which is confusing because of my experiences with the above books, but reasonable.
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
Later Pokershares support would email to say it’s a 1k max bet and they’re cancelling the other two tickets, which is confusing because of my experiences with the above books, but reasonable.
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
About 8 minutes after that, they email me to “clarify” the terms of the bet. I say, wat, and send them the screenshots (from above) which clearly indicate no such thing. At no point is -720k mentioned. Note their tweet from post #2 is still live at this point. pic.twitter.com/p9xffhiy9j
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
The email is not a "clarification"–it's changing the rules of the bet. It's literally listing the money line & deciding later it's a point spread. I can't imagine these "clarification" emails are sent very often. It's not "clarification", it's "we fucked up but won't admit it".
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
Chan went on to say that he got a personal message from Mike McDonald, who claimed that all content surrounding the match references the 9BB/100 handicap that Landon is laying to play Perkins.
Chan responded to this by saying, “You might want to put that in terms of your own bet? You seriously calling me dumb when you don’t even put 9BB/100 under your own terms.”
Mcdonald insisted that there was no ambiguity – “If Tice wins 9 BB/100 and thus Perkins profits 1 BB/100, do you think anyone would considered Tice the winner?”
Chan said he didn’t think there was any ambiguity in whether Tice wins or loses money, but – “a lot of ambiguity in what your put on your site if you think people are supposed to magically infer Landon winning 9BB/ 100.”
McDonald said he would still update the terms of the bet to prevent this from happening again. “It’s about who will win the challenge; we’ll try to spell out more clearly.”
Almost immediately I get a private message from @mikemcdonald89, and our conversation is as follows. Note that this isn’t trimmed at all; the first words of this conversation are in fact, “are you dumb?” pic.twitter.com/bik841rHEn
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
Meanwhile, PokerShares canceled Chan’s two other tickets, which didn’t sit well with Chan, who called out the site and McDonald over the issue.
I’m obviously aware that Pokershares have a right to cancel my bet. But as I see it, they’re just plain wrong here. If you run a business and fuck up, you own it and you bite it. **Especially** in this business where reputation and service matter. You're the house.
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
I don't know much about Landon, but the line seems strange. So I ask some friends in a group chat. Two don't know much either; one suggests he is not an NL specialist, the other one says the downside is the bet won't likely complete for years. A third thinks it's a good bet.
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) February 8, 2021
These last few months, we’ve been treated to two other high-profile heads-up duels. Perhaps the more talked-about of the two was the Grudge Match, aka High Stakes Feud between GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk. Even the Galfond Challenge between Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth pulled in the crowds. That makes us wonder – will the Tice vs. Perkins duel build up to attract as much attention?! Well, it`s certainly off to a great start!