[Misc]

I will post my staking theory here for anyone interested.

First, I don't stake cash or live games. I may toss a couple of bucks at a live or cash BAP in a trusted horse, but I never MAD stake for cash or live play. Only SNG's and occasionally MTT's. I usually look for SNG series from my horses and look for horses interested in HEEBs.

I start with the basis that some games are easier to yield a higher ROI than others. For example, maintaining a 20%+ ROI in 45-man or 180-man games, seems a bit easier than in the 6 or 9 man games. The problem is that the variance is higher in those games. The only way to beat variance is by volume. But who has the time to play thousands of $4.40 180-man games, or $1.10-$6.50 45-man games. Unemployed horses, that's who.

For the sake of simplicity here is a model that has worked good for me. If you are a staker, feel free to adopt this model for your own needs. First, I am looking for horses that can put in volume. It doesn't have to be hundreds of games per week, but I like to see at least 25 or more games per week. Usually 50 or more. Some of my horses play even more, but I realize there are fewer horses that can play over 50 games per week.

For horses that are new or unknown, I start them with $2.50 to play $0.10 360-man games. I know those games are boring and generally a waste of time, but frankly it isn't my time. It's my money, and I don't feel like wasting too much of it until a horse can prove that he can keep a clean informed rail, communicate well, play the required volume, and respect my money and the stake. I look at these games as the horse's true application for a larger stake. I let the horse run 25-50 games. I doesn't matter if he wins or loses. I can gauge his performance on many levels for only $2.50. I don't know of very many businesses where you can buy qualified leads for only $2.50.

Once a horse has proven himself worthy by keeping a good rail, communicating well, and properly working from start to end of a $2.50 stake, I promote many of my horses to $27.50 to play $1.10 45-man games. Based on their performance and a 2% or less BR management rule, I advance them to the $3.25, $6.50, $12, and $27 games. $27 is as high as any of them have gotten so far, but I would even consider the $60 games, for the right horse.

I currently have about a dozen or so horses employed under this system. With 12 horses running 25-50 games per week, my money is in action for about 500 games each week that I otherwise couldn't play. By having the horse play multiple time through the given BR, you can increase you ROI per stake with even a modest playing ROI.

For example, if I give you 25 buyins to play 50 games, and you return a 20% ROI, you will win 10 buyins. We would split them 5 and 5, and I would actually earn 20% on my investment, even though we split your 20% ROI.

I'm sort of babbling now, but I hope this helps some people who may be interested in staking. I am not rich and frankly don't have the "disposable" income to gamble. I started three months ago with about a $1000 staking BR that was basically my playing BR. Since I began playing staked, I didn't need all of my playing BR in my poker account so I staked it out.

I have never really looked at poker as gambling. It has always been an investment with a measurable return. I find that spreading the risk of variance across multiple profitable players is a very good thing. Well, at least it has been for the last 3 months or so.