Why Poker Players Should Consider Getting Staked

Staking in poker is becoming increasingly more popular poker strategy around internet and live poker games. There are many websites that allow ordinary people buy stakes from great online and offline professional players. Many poker players are left with the question “ Why do great players offer stakes on themselves if they know they are winning players?”. This is a fair enough question but it is easily answered when faced with why taking a stake in a Texas Holdem poker tournament benefit’s the player getting staked.

Immediately it is obvious that if a player accepts a certain amount of his buy in for a stake he can enter high price tournaments for a cheaper price. Sometimes poker players are a little short for cash or don’t have access to the sort of money that is needed to enter some tournaments. Taking a stake allows poker players to participate in large tournaments for a much cheaper price. Many good professional poker players have gone broke through a very bad run of variance and poor bankroll management. They usually turn to their fellow professionals for stakes and sometimes the general public. Cheaper entry for staking also helps good lower stakes poker players who are taking a “shot” at a larger buy-in event who probably don’t have the correct bankroll to play.

Having an outside staker paying for a percentage of winnings means that if a player loses they do not lose as much. This means that a poker player’s highs and lows to his bankroll will be lower, this removes some of the variance he would be subjected to if he paid the whole tournament buy in. Though in small stake tournaments it is probably very unlikely a player would get stakes for this reason when a poker player starts to consider entering a $10k entry tournament it becomes immediately obvious that getting staked 50% of the buy in removes a good chunk of variance.

Poker players learn from experience, A poker player may be reluctant to share some of his percentage profits with another staker. The fact is that playing in higher value tournaments that a poker player would otherwise not be able to do without a stake is a great experience. Higher value poker tournaments usually mean better competition, the only way a poker player can learn to improve their game is by playing harder opponents. Even though they may be giving away a piece of their profit’s a poker player that is being staked may be gaining invaluable experience that they might otherwise not be able to afford. Also some poker tournaments really are the experience of a life time, most of us can only imagine what it is like sitting down at day one of the World Series of Poker Main Event, with staking, a poker player with a proven track record can make it a reality.