The World of Poker Staking

When I first started playing poker I thought that being a tournament professional was relatively straightforward (if you are a winning player). You have the money to play the events; you buy-in and let your skill earn you what is hopefully a big cash. You then go to the next tournament aiming for that life changing win. But did you notice the major assumption I made there? I said you already have the money to play. It is not guaranteed that professional poker players always have money around and there are people who travel the circuit staking other players in the hope of getting some return by investing in their poker skills. This is poker staking.

If you have ever travelled the poker circuit and like to mingle with other players you will find it commonplace for players to have pieces of each other in tournaments. Rather than relying on their skill alone to win money, they buy a percentage of the other player’s tournament and contribute to their buy-in. This is like hedging; if you lose all is not lost. This can be for business reasons, or sometimes just a way to make railing your buddys final table appearance that much more exciting. For example, a good friend of mine had 10% of a player’s action going into a WSOP final table, and when his friend got QQ in against JJ he was looking at having a huge stack going into the final 5 with the first prize being north of $500,000. The flop came down QJX with the sickening one-outer J hitting on the turn. Being a staker there could have been worth $50,000, but ended up being worth $9,000. He felt that beat a lot harder than if he had not had a percentage of his friend’s action. He certainly would have enjoyed the win a lot more too had the poker gods been more kind to him.

You may have read advice in other articles saying poker players should not borrow or lend money. I personally do not play poker if I cannot afford it but for many poker players they do not have any other way to make money so have to speculate in the form of loans in order to play. Rather than take standard loans players often try and get contributions to their buy-in. This helps not only to get into the tournament but unless it is a make up deal it does not mean they owe the staker any money afterwards. If a player gets 100% staked into a tournament, they will normally only get between 20 – 30% of their prize money, with the bulk of the payment going to the person who staked them into the event.

Some players arrange deals called “make-up”. This is where a person will stake players into events but take 100% of prize money until their total buy-ins have been “made up” and the person bankrolling them are no longer running at a loss staking the player. This does not suit everyone, particularly anyone who dislikes owing money to people. One poker player I read won around $300,000 at a Bellagio event but only got $6,000 after repaying a make up deal.

Tony G, a prominent player and poker businessman, recognised the concept and common nature of staking amongst poker players and set up chipmeup.com which is an auction style site that you can stake players. Many professionals offer pieces of themselves on this site. You then transfer them the money (usually online) and then the player transfers any winnings back after the event. If you view the site you will see many players receiving stakes to the Sunday Million and other large online tournaments every week.

Should you accept being staked into events? That entirely depends on your own objectives and what you are comfortable with playing poker. Staking can be a great way of getting into bigger tournaments and getting experience of large events at a discount price, but make sure you understand and like the terms on offer before agreeing with any deal.

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