Is Landon Tice the next Tom Dwan? Probably not as "durrrr" is one-of-a-kind, but the 21-year-old poker pro has risen up the stakes quickly, and he shared with Joey Ingram on a recent podcast how he's gone from micro-stakes to mid-stakes and now borderline high-stakes poker.
Tice began playing $0.10/$0.20 cash games online just a couple years ago. He isn't in school so he's had plenty of time to focus on his game. And he's quite passionate about the game of poker, so much so that he admits he's willing to sacrifice his social life for the next year to spend his time perfecting his craft.
Tice recently faced Doug Polk in a low-stakes heads-up match that he streamed on the Solve for Why YouTube channel. Polk is preparing for an upcoming high-stakes heads-up challenge against his bitter rival Daniel Negreanu.
The young pro won the match against Polk, one of the top heads-up online players ever. He's won a ton of battles throughout his brief poker career. Just 18 months ago, while in college, he discovered poker through a $20 home game tournament that he won for a couple hundred bucks. Since then, he's been hooked on the game.
Tice admits his rise up the stakes has been greatly helped by having backers. He isn't playing on his own dime and, as he said in the interview, he is a "horse" at a poker-backing stable. What that means is an investor hired him to play with their money. If he wins, he makes everyone money and the backer sees a nice return on investment.
Along with the backing arrangement, Tice says, he receives access to top-notch poker coaching and training software such as PioSolver, a fast game theory optimal (GTO) solver that helps players make the most optimal decision in every scenario. He strongly believes in using PioSolver and other solvers, studying the game away from the felt, and networking with other poker pros to discuss hands.
"You have the exact kind of mindset needed to succeed, whether it's at poker, whether it's at business," Ingram told Tice during the conversation.
Ingram said he rose up the stakes years ago in a different way than Tice. He didn't have a backer and had to build his way up on his own dime. But times have changed and he, like Tice, agree that in today's poker climate, the smart play for an aspiring pro is to seek out a backer, not only for the financial assistance but also for access to the best training materials and software. He believes his game has evolved due to the backing stables he works with.
"You can have people in a group, talk about Pio outputs, talk about hands, talk about all these things," Tice explains. "And then you just talk poker strategy and strategies kind of evolve."
