You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
Sky Poker forums will be temporarily unavailable from 11pm Wednesday July 25th.
Sky Poker Forums is upgrading its look! Stay tuned for the big reveal!
Staking offer. Is this too good to be true?
lube up. 
Comments
I guess worst case scenario is you lose the lot and he wants the money back and gets debt collectors to sort you out!! But if you've met him face to face then you'll have an idea for his character and whether he's the sort that would do that.
I can offer to stake you 50K and split the profit 50/50 - but what if you lose? is that a no win no fee offer?
Contracts in staking are very important to get right
A reasonably well known player in the UK is famous for doing something similar to this, he did it for many years in fact.
He would approach several recreational players before a Tournament.
"Hi, I watched you play the other day, you play pretty good, are you playing the Tourney tomorrow night?"
"Yes, that's the plan"
"OK, tell you what, I'm looking for some decent players to invest in, I'll pay 100% of your entry fee, & you get to keep 50% of anything you win, how does that sound?"
"What? A total freeroll? Yes please, great thank you."
"OK, meet me just before before the Tourney starts, I'l have the cash with me, & we'll get you paid in. 50/50 split of any winnings, right?"
"Right"
"Booked"
And of course, the trick was.....
Mr Staker would turn up late the next night, or even not at all, instead turning up a day later. And if "his player" had cashed he would ask for 50% of the winnings. And if his player had not cashed, he might not even bother showing up.
He relied on human nature & naivety. The player assumed the Staker was good for the money, & paid his own entry fee, believing that Mr Staker was good to his word, & that he was being staked.
In fact, one of the 861 Analysts got "stung" by this chap a few years ago.
Danish poker pro you say?
40's you say?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Hansen
xxx
Sounds a bit weird mate the whole situation with this guy.
I would probably stay clear of it and just play of your own money.
You have already won a few £ and so as he so you can leave it on good terms.
Other thing is playing 25/50 do you think you could play optimally given the set up?
Enjoy the holiday!
In all seriousness I would echo what people have said about proceeding with caution. Don't be flattered into thinking that this complete stranger is only interested in your Poker playing abilities. That is not to say that you are not genuinely a good player and maybe he has spotted that and has plenty of cash to splash around - but for certain there will be some other motivation also at play here. Like Ryan suggests it could be something as simple and benign as just a lonely guy being a bit overly enthusiastic about making a friend, but this is the best case scenario and even then you are putting yourself in an awkward position where you are essentially exploiting his loneliness for your own financial benefit so my advice would be do the safe and decent thing and politely excuse yourself from any further correspondence or 'relationship'. And worst case scenario you could be getting yourself into something a whole lot more difficult to get yourself out of.
I once found myself in a strange situation like this in Vegas. It didn't involve staking but was a similarly 'too god to be true type scenario'. I was playing in a cash game and some guy who had been at the table for about an hour and who I'd exchanged a couple of laughs with just flat called my river bet with the 2nd nuts - he had pocket Aces on a paired board with an Ace on it for Aces full so would have only lost if I was holding specifically pocket 66's (or whatever the pair on the board was) and so very few players would legitimately just call there and as it happens I had a lower full house so if he'd re raised me he would have got my whole stack. I was genuinely shocked and asked him why he didn't re raise and he said something like 'because we 're mates aren't we' and looked genuinely hurt and offended that I didn't realise this and share the sentiment (we had only played together for an hour). Later in the session he started following me out when I went for cigarette breaks (asking for one of mine - he didn't have any of his own) and at one point he showed me a photo on his phone of a girl in a revealing (to put it mildly) pose who he said was his girlfriend. Now this girl was stunning in a very explicit adult movie star type of way and then he said she had two friends with her who looked just the same and asked me if I wanted to join them in their room for a 'party'!!
I made my excuses and left and while perhaps I shouldn't have looked a gift horse in the mouth because if genuine that would have been one hell of a 'party' but there just seemed no way that this whole thing could have been genuine - I just aint that lucky.
If its cash he's giving you, i would check its not fake and he's trying to launder it through you.
Gl
Out of interest, how fast can you run Thoich?
hi man
do you think he is a far worse player than you? as otherwise there is nothing in it for him. he could play with the money himself.
are you a profitable player? if so, finance yourself and keep 100%
i fear that if you continue there might be some pain coming your way at some stage.
sir, step away from the sweet tin.
Ironically this situation is very similar to playing poker game and you have to go with your gut feeling, which by the sounds of it you either thinking you are going to be in jail or worse can only be a bad thing.
staking someone where you take 50% of the winnings in any one month and where the losses are 100% rolled over is a fantastic deal for me. not for you.
i would look for volatile players who are good enough to break even. i would need to find some bond that ensured that losses were recoverable in the future. fantastic deal.
simple maths...
stake £1,000 each month. the player wins £500 and loses £500 and wins £500 and etc.
month 1 he wins and I take £250
month 2 take nothing but owed £500.
month 3 take £250 plus £250 of the owed money leaving £250 owed.
month 4 take nothing but owed £750.
month 5 take £250 plus £250 of the owed money leaving £500 owed.
month 6 take nothing but owed £1,000.
and so on.
it will be worse if the first month was losing month.
staked player has broken even but owes £1,000 after 6 months
me as a staker has taken £1,250 and you owe me £1,000
i win, i win, i win
i just need a bond of friendship, or a bond of honour, or a bond of some heavies to ensure you pay the £1,000 owed to me.... and you are the break even player. you played a breakeven game for 6 months yet you owe me.
how good is that.