Two Rising Poker Players With Competing Styles Face Off In High-Stakes Crossbook
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In the wake of excitement over the release of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) summer schedule, there's a looming poker match-up that has garnered the most excitement of all.
Poker prodigies Landon Tice and Jeremy Becker agreed to a 100% crossbook in at least 25 mutually played events over the summer — a bet brought together by none other than Daniel Negreanu — meaning that a hot summer for one of the young grinders could mean disaster for the other and their supporters.
And though the match-up is between two rising players — Tice, who has picked up the nickname "child of the sim," and Becker, who has managed to win more than a dozen low-stakes tournaments in the past year without ever looking at a poker program — it is really a showdown between two competing poker philosophies: theoretical versus intuitive poker; PioSolver versus daily grinder.
Summer Bet Takes Shape
A crossbook is a bet between players in the same tournament or cash game where "the player who loses owes the winner a percentage of that player’s net winnings (vs. the losing player’s net winnings) in the event," according to Upswing Poker.
In this case, if Becker and Tice both played an event this summer and one cashed for $0 and the other cashed for $100,000, the winning side would be owed $100,000 (plus a buy-in). If the loser cashed for $25,000, they would owe $75,000, and so on.
The bet will be a 100% crossbook across a minimum of 25 events this summer, both at the WSOP and other festivals, with buy-ins of $10,000 or under. Originally, there was a $250,000 cap per event.
UPDATE: Further details about the bet were hammered out in a "proposed rule sheet" Negreanu posted on Feb. 27, including increasing the event cap to $500,000 and setting the date range as May 28-July 18.
The proposed rule sheet also clarified that bounties will not count toward the bet and that it "isn’t an ROI bet, (so) number of entries per event are irrelevant."
The matchup does not stem from any bad blood between Becker and Tice, but rather between Negreanu and Matt Berkey.
Earlier this month, Negreanu called out the Solve For Why founder for his social media criticisms of Jonathan Little and a hand Negreanu played on a PokerGO stream. Amidst the feud, Negreanu through some shade toward Tice, urging him to "break free of the handcuffs" of Solve For Why and find a poker coach that "could actually take you to the next level."
A few weeks later when the WSOP schedule was released, Negreanu posted a list of potential "WSOP matchups," including Little and Berkey, Kristen Foxen and Maria Ho, Phil Hellmuth and Isaac Haxton, and Becker and Tice.
It took only a few minutes for Tice to reply that he was interested in the match-up.
"The DMs are open for a crossbook if you would like to take Jbex, Daniel," wrote Tice.
Showdown Of Two Poker Styles
On the DAT Poker Podcast, Negreanu explained that “there’s no beef between those two (Becker and Tice)" and that he "put it together, because when you look at it, I think it’s a really interesting match-up."
"You’ve got the GTO-studied guy versus the guy who doesn’t own a computer, has never looked at a solver, just plays live, and crushes," Negreanu said.
“I’m a live guy. I look at the guy and (think) ‘Does he have it or not?’"
In an interview, Becker confirmed to PokerNews that he does not own a computer but didn't think it was fair to say he doesn't study the game.
"I wouldn’t say I’ve never studied, just my study’s different. I study by playing, and I study by watching high roller final tables. So yeah, I’m not running any sims; I’ve never seen one. I wouldn’t say I don’t study, it’s just a different form of studying. I’m either playing or watching actual poker. I’m not running hands in any sort of program or anything like that.”
“I’m a live guy. I look at the guy and (think) ‘Does he have it or not?’ Which I think these computer guys think I’m an idiot by saying shit like that. But that’s really how I play, man. Truly feel, intuition. I just go with my gut rather than (thinking) ‘Well if I’m folding this hand, what am I calling with?’ I’m not doing none of that. I’m not calculating no pot odds. Does he got it or not?”
The Wynn assassin also confirmed he and Tice "have no beef whatsoever" and that Negreanu is "trying to take some money from" his rival Berkey.
"Negreanu’s trying to make some money, and I guess Berkey is, too, and we’re just what they are betting on," said Becker.
Read About Jeremy Becker's Daily Domination!
"A Super Good Thing For Poker"
Becker, who noted that Negreanu is trying to get the $250,000 cap raised and that he was hopeful they would end up playing "more like 60 or 80 events," said it would be business as usual for him come summer.
“I basically have the WSOP all year round. Not those type of events, but I mean, I’m grinding almost every day," he said. "So for me, nothing changes."
But Becker did say he thinks the bet is "a super good thing for poker" and will give him extra motivation.
“I had all the motivation in the world, but this just gives me that much more," he said. “Hopefully we both have some sick sweats this summer.”
Meanwhile, Tice sees the bet as an opportunity for redemption a few years after infamously backing out of a high-stakes heads-up match against Bill Perkins.
“I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been," Tice said in a recent episode of the Only Friends podcast. "So this time, it’s like I want to be overprepared for learning strategy, in-game adjustments, lifestyle … making sure you can endure the summer.”
Tice, who could not be reached for an interview, acknowledged that "there’s going to be a lot more stuff out of my control in tournaments than there is in a heads-up (match) versus Perkins.”
"This time, it’s like I want to be overprepared for learning strategy, in-game adjustments, lifestyle."
Several players have already lined up for side action on the bet, including Chance Kornuth, Jesse Lonis and Chris Brewer, and the majority seem to see Becker as a favorite in the match-up.
“It was kind of expected, I suppose, when it comes to the Twitter following that Daniel has," Tice said. "As well as the way that most people see the game, as the machine not translating to live poker.”
Read About Landon Tice's MSPT Venetian Victory!
Let The Games Begin
Though the summer is still several months away, the Becker-Tice match-up is already taking shape. When PokerNews interviewed Becker on Feb. 19, a day after he finished sixth in the Card Player Poker Tour Venetian Main Event for $24,788, he was driving to the Wynn to play a $500 event that he said Tice would be joining him in.
"And that’s not normal to him, so I think he’s starting to prepare and trying to get ready for the grind," Becker said as he pulled into the Wynn parking garage.
As the universe got wind of the match-up, Tice, who said Becker was "like my best friend now," was placed at the same table as his home-court-advantaged opponent and was soon out of the event, as Becker shared on X. Tice fired back with a photo of Becker at a roulette table, but those on Team Becker were unfazed by the snapshot from the pits.
"I always like my horse to have some gamble in them!" wrote Lonis.
