Poker's biggest rising star appears on iconic show for the first time
The latest chapter in the evolution of Landon Tice unfolded on PokerGO Monday night.
Tice, one of the game’s brightest new stars, made his first appearance on Poker After Dark. He took a seat in the “Watch Your Step” lineup, currently in rotation on the 12th season of the show. Tice’s appearance on one of poker’s most storied television programs marks yet another step on his rapid journey to poker stardom.
Monday’s new lineup presented one of the more interesting collections of players seen on Poker After Dark in recent memory. Tice, along with Frank “The Tank” Stepuchin, Ilyas Abayev, Marle Cordeiro, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Alex Ding, and Ronnie Bardah, sat in at the PokerGO Studio for $50/$100 No-Limit Hold’em action on the new episode.
Tice played a major role in the pair of hands that bookended Monday night’s episode. The first hand begins with a $200 straddle from Tice, who holds T♠8♠.
Cordeiro raises to $500 with 5♠5♦️, and the action folds back around to Tice, who makes the call. Tice checks the 9♦️A❤️J❤️ flop, and Cordeiro fires a continuation bet for $800 into the $1,250 pot.
Tice makes the call again, and the 8♣ comes in on the turn. Both players check, and the T♣ falls on the river. Tice puts out a $600 bet, just over one-fifth of the pot, and Cordeiro folds.
Tice plays the seven-deuce game and wins
Tice collects a $2,850 pot in the episode's opening hand, and goes on to scoop an even bigger pot to end the show. The seven-deuce game is on for this week’s Poker After Dark showdown, and any player that manages to win a hand with seven-two as their hole cards collects an extra $200 from each player.
Tice makes a couple of seven-deuce attempts in Monday’s installment. The final hand of the night begins with Bardah straddling for $200, and Tice raising to $600 with 7♦️2♦️.
Abayev calls with K♣Q♦️, and all other players fold. Tice and Abayev go heads-up to a flop of 2❤️8♣9♣, and both players check.
The turn comes 8♠, Tice bets $500 into the $1,650 pot, and Abayev min-raises to $1,000. Tice three-bets to $3,000, and folds out Abayev.
Tice shows the seven-deuce, and rakes in the $3,150 pot and an additional $2,000 from each player for $4,350 total.
The surging poker career of Landon Tice
Tice, who recently turned 22, has quickly risen to superstar status in the poker world over the past 12 months. Since taking up micro-stakes cash games just a couple of years ago, Tice has risen through the stakes to play in some of the biggest games in online and live poker.
Tice and billionaire recreational player Bill Perkins are set to engage in a heads-up challenge sometime in 2021. Tice proved his acumen translates to the multi-table tournament realm, scoring a $200k-plus win in last November’s MSPT Venetian Main Event.
The Solve for Why poker training academy recently brought Tice in as its newest coach, with the 22-year-old phenom donning the Solve for Why colors during his Poker After Dark appearance on Monday night.
We can probably assume it was no accident that the latest Poker After Dark episode began and ended by showcasing Tice. Poker.org’s Jon Sofen compared Tice to a young Tom Dwan in an August 2020 profile, but Tice holds the potential to reach even bigger heights than Dwan as the decades unfold.
Featured image source: Twitter/PokerGO
