How Landon Tice Went From Micro Stakes to High Stakes Poker

Many online poker pros dream of working their way up from the micro stakes to the nosebleeds. However, most players simply get beat up in $0.02/$0.04 NL hold’em while continuing to fantasize about future success.

Landon Tice is an exception to the norm, though. The 21-year-old, who recently beat Doug Polk in a livestreamed HU match, explained how he went from being a micro-stakes nobody to a top-tier online pro.

Tice Improved His Skills with a Poker “Solver”

Tice began his online poker career in $0.10/$0.20 NL hold’em cash games. He recently appeared on Joe Ingram’s Poker Life Podcast to discuss how he rose from these lowkey tables to $50/$100 games.

The Florida resident started improving his skills by using a poker solver. The latter refers to a program that lets players analyze different situations and what the best decision is in any given scenario.

While working his way up the ranks, Tice attracted a backer. Now, he can afford to play in some of the largest games available online.

“When I joined (my backer’s group), I started at $50 NL (no-limit hold’em),” Tice explained on the podcast. “So, I built up the fundamentals up, and I basically won 20 buy-ins at $50 NL in two weeks.”

These days, Landon is able to play $50/$100 NL, which is currently the biggest game available at many online poker sites.

Nothing But Studying Poker for a Year

Many people in their early 20s are hanging out with friends, dating, and possibly partying. Tice decided to go the opposite way by dedicating himself to becoming a great poker player.

He essentially gave up any kind of social life for an entire year in order to learn the game. Landon spent countless hours using his solver, other training programs, and reviewing his sessions.

The results definitely justify the sacrifice. Tice started out like millions of other online poker players by toiling away in the micro stakes.

His yearlong dedication and backing deal have allowed him to quickly break out of these ranks and into the big time.

Victory Over Doug Polk

Doug Polk has been retired from poker for well over a year. However, he’s slowly gotten back into the swing of the game.

Polk is soon set to take on Daniel Negreanu in an online heads-up match. Along the way, he’s played some other solid players to train.

He took on Tice recently and was on the losing end. The pair played $2/$4 NL hold’em while multi-tabling two tables.

Following a three-hour match, Tice got the better of Polk with a $500 profit. It’s unclear what would’ve happened if Polk were in his prime. Nevertheless, Landon can claim a nice victory over one of the best to ever take the virtual felt.

What’s Next for Landon Tice?

Tice is one of the freshest faces in the high-stakes online scene. However, he has already worked himself into a position where he’s grinding against some of the game’s best.

Landon may not have much more room to go upwards in online play. He’s already playing in the top stakes available at some sites.

Tice will no doubt continue using his edge to keep making profits online. Perhaps he’ll even move to Vegas someday to play in the big games there. For now, though, he’s likely just enjoying the fact that his hard work is already paying off.