Bankroll and staking: a short guide for beginners

Staking is not a new invention, but it has long been done in the shadows — over chats and handshakes. Here are the basics if you're thinking about selling some of your action for the first time.

What staking is: you sell a share of your results in a tournament. If someone buys ten percent of your action, they pay ten percent of the buy-in upfront and receive ten percent of any winnings. It's that simple.

Why sell action: it comes down to variance. Poker swings hard in the short term, and selling a piece spreads the risk. You can play at a level your own bankroll doesn't really allow without risking going broke in a single bad month.

How much to sell: there's no definitive answer, but a common rule of thumb is to never sell so much that you lose motivation. If you keep a big chunk for yourself, you're still playing for yourself. Many people land somewhere between thirty and sixty percent in the more expensive tournaments.

Markup, briefly: markup is the price add-on the player sets for the share on offer. It is not a verified measure of skill or expected return. If you're new, keep the markup low — close to 1.0 — until you've built up a track record.

Bankroll aside: staking doesn't replace sound bankroll management, it complements it. Sell to smooth out variance, not to play tournaments you genuinely can't afford.

Doing it in the open, with markup and history visible, puts the terms and the user-reported track record in one place for both sides to see. That information is user-reported and no guarantee of future payment or results — but it makes the arrangement clearer for the player and the backer alike.