Landon Tice and Bill Perkins agreed to a high-stakes heads-up poker match on Twitter, and it appears they aren’t just messing around. Whether or not they’ll actually go through with it, however, is another issue.
With the Doug Polk vs. Daniel Negreanu and Galfond Challenge matches out of the way after three months of exciting action, poker is in search of its next heads-up battle.
Polk and Negreanu drew 10,000 or more viewers for nearly all of the 36 sessions they played. The match lasted nearly three months, and Polk won it by $1.2 million. It quickly became the talk of the poker community, and poker fans remained interested throughout.
Tice vs. Perkins certainly won’t draw similar interest as neither player is as big of a name in the poker world as Negreanu or Polk. But it could potentially be an intriguing match, so long as poker fans actually watch it.
They have tentatively agreed to play $200/$400 stakes, the same stakes at Negreanu and Polk, over 20,000 hands. All action will take place online, although the poker site hasn’t yet been determined.
There is one caveat to this challenge. Tice must pay Perkins nine big blinds per 100 hands as part of the deal, or $720,000, assuming the match goes the full 20,000 hands. So, if he wins $800,000 during the heads-up play, he’ll really only profit $80,000 as he’ll then owe his opponent $720,000.
Giving him a Chance
Have you ever faced an inferior player on the basketball court? Chances are if you have, you’ve given that opponent a few points to start the game just to make it fair. That’s essentially what’s happening in this match.
Perkins, a hedge fund manager who plays poker recreationally, understands the obstacle he’s facing. Tice, a 21-year-old poker pro from Florida, is considered one of the top young up-and-coming players in the game. He studies the game relentlessly, and is presumed to have an edge over a casual poker player.
Thus, the reason he’s freerolling Perkins nine big blinds per 100 hands. Doing so should make the match a bit more fair for a casual poker player. With that said, Bill Perkins is a bit more skilled than the average recreational player. And because he’s so wealthy, he won’t be playing with scared money, which could give him an advantage over Tice, who is backed and doesn’t have as hefty of a bankroll.
No date has been set yet on when the match will begin. But both players have agreed to play, at least on social media. The only question now is will Perkins actually see this thing through until the end or will he get bored or have more pressing issues to tend to instead of poker? Last summer, he briefly began a Galfond Challenge against Phil Galfond, but that match only lasted a couple of sessions. Haralabos Voulgaris isn’t very confident in Perkins playing all 20,000 hands.
https://twitter.com/haralabob/status/1358323633438007301?s=20
