Negreanu Cross-Books Jeremy Becker vs. Landon Tice
4 minutes
Last Updated: February 20, 2024
Daniel Negreanu has never been one to shy away from a good gamble, and he’s now taken a huge one in supporting the new kid on the block, Jeremy Becker, to do better than Landon Tice in tournaments this summer.
While some intricate details of the bet remain unclear, Daniel has posted on his X profile that he has cross-booked all of Jeremy’s action in tournaments against Tice in mutually played events.
What this means is that once the summer is over, the results of all mutually played events of the two will be tallied up. Daniel will either pay out the full difference between the numbers if Tice does better or get paid the full difference if Becker outperforms the popular poker influencer.
According to Tice himself, the cross-book will basically be a bet between Negreanu and Matt Berkey, both controversial characters in the poker community, while any additional betting between the two players themselves has not been disclosed.
A whole host of big poker names, such as Dominik Nitsche, Chance Kornuth, Jesse Lonis, and more, have reached out via X to offer their take on the situation or take bets on one side or the other.
Whichever side you prefer, it seems like it will be an epic summer for both, as millions of dollars in side bets could potentially be riding on their Las Vegas performances this summer.
Negreanu Takes the Side of “New Kid Poker”
Back in the day, Daniel Negreanu was the youngest player in many of the games he would sit down to play, which earned him the nickname “Kid Poker,” which stuck even well into his mature age.
Now that Daniel is an experienced veteran, it seems that Jeremy Becker has caught his eye, as he has posted about the up-and-coming tournament pro on more than one occasion over the past year.
Daniel seems to like Jeremy’s style and commitment to the game and recently posted that he also likes his style of learning poker by watching the best in the world play in events on PokerGO instead of cramming on solver solutions.
By all accounts, Becker has never run a solver sim in his life and instead applies an exploitative style of poker to beat his opponents on a regular basis.
His opponent in this bet, on the other hand, is a poker coach at Solve 4 Why, and his game is heavily dependent on solvers and computer simulations, which many top pros believe to be the superior approach.
While Daniel has previously publically spoken about the value of solvers and GTO-based strategies, his belief in exploitative poker and making the right play based on experience in real game scenarios has never faltered.
The cross-book between the two amazing tournament pros will likely be one of the most exciting stories to track this summer, and we are sure to get regular updates via Daniel’s WSOP Vlogs that should be back with the first day of the Series.
Who Is Jeremy Becker?
Even if you are a big fan of poker and watch every televised event out there, it is still possible you have not heard of Jeremy Becker, as his approach to poker has been quite different from that of most players out there.
To date, Becker has accumulated nearly $1.5 million in tournament winnings. However, his biggest score still stands at $56,000, as most of his cashes and wins are recorded in lower buyin tournaments that don’t offer huge prizes.
Jeremy has put in the kind of volume that few other players can boast, recently stating that he's been playing poker 13 out of 14 days, especially since moving to Las Vegas a year ago.
While attending school in Florida, Becker started playing poker in Tampa and managed to grind out a bankroll playing low-stakes cash games at the local casino.
Unlike many players his age, he did not come up in online poker and has barely played any online volume to speak of, much less studied the game with any of the tools.
Yet, Becker has absolutely demolished the low-stakes tournament scene in Las Vegas, winning more daily events at the Wynn, Aria, Orleans, and Venetian than most other regulars.
He’s recently been seen playing in higher stakes events as well, and has spoken about the backing deal he has to play PokerGO events with buy-ins up to $10,000.
This summer, Jeremy aims to play a full schedule of NLH events at the World Series and other venues, and it will be fun to see him go up against Tice and pit the two playing styles against each other.
What Side Do You Have?
Since Negreanu posted about the cross-book, which has since been confirmed by both Becker and Tice, the poker world has gone crazy with players and fans taking sides and stating their opinions very publically.
There is no real telling which is the favorite between Landon and Jeremy, with both players showing remarkable results in different poker formats and being well-liked and respected by the community.
Yet, the animosity between different camps of poker fans that have arisen over various topics over the last year or so has resulted in the entire cross-book becoming much more than a simple competition of two poker players.
The cross-book seems to be much more personal for Negreanu, Berkey, and many of the other players looking to get in on the action and prove a point over winning money.
There seems to be no shortage of people on both sides looking to take bets on the outcome of the cross-book. Negreanu himself is still taking action as well, so if you want to put your money where your mouth is, make sure to reach out via X and place your bets before the numbers are locked in and action starts in May.
