The Art of Staking Poker Players
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 6:09 PMWe often get asked by our Poker Approved Members, on how much is our average stake in developing or amateur poker players and how is the stake allocated to them and what's involved. Well, to answer some of your questions, we normally only invest about $10,000 to $20,000 in developing or amateur poker players, until they have really proven themselves to us in their cash game or tourney earnings.
As an example, if we decide to invest $10,000 in a particular poker player, we would normally divide and spread the risk at first by allowing the poker player to play with amounts in increments of $1,000 at any given time. So a poker player that we stake for $10,000 would have 10 opportunities at $1,000 each time, he or she plays. By limiting and spreading the risk to 10 games of $1,000 bankroll, we really limit the player to their losses should they have an
off-night or bad day. The upside for us and the player is that, it would be next to impossible to lose 10 times in a row with a $1,000 bankroll. Most poker players will come out on top several times in a series to 10 games with a $1,000 bankroll. Some days/nights the poker player may even take their $1,000 bankroll and turn it into $3,000 in a 4-5 hour period. In this case, we start adding the winnings to the players Poker Approved total bankroll and this is where the player will start to see their average game bankroll increase from say $1,000 per game to perhaps $1,500 or $2,000 / game ....as they start to show good earnings potential for us at Poker Approved and where we can then start to invest more heavily in the poker player.A typical $10,000 stake in any poker player at Poker Approved can be divided as such as a general outline, encompassing both live cash games and live tourneys:
- (8) x $1,000 bankroll, for live cash games = $8,000
- (2) x $1,000 bankroll, for live tournaments = $2,000
As the player starts accumulating earnings in their cash game or tourney play, Poker Approved will start increasing the overall stake limit in the poker player from $10,000 to $15,000 ...and higher as the earnings keep accumulating. So contrary to what a lot of poker players think, we do not invest 100% of a player's bankroll stake in a one-shot deal. This would be suicidal in any poker player's bankroll strategy to bet all of their $10,000 stake in one game. Spreading the stakes over a series of 10 games, we thus spread the risk and actually reduce the risk ratio that we have invested in each poker player that we stake or fund at Poker Approved.
Our business is kind of like the insurance business, where we calculate odds, amounts and spread the risk through diversification, providing poker players with a better guarantee of overall performance and investment/earnings potential.All part of the art of staking poker players!