Poker staking is a huge business where a lot of money can be made (or lost). In fact, a lot of guys involved in the poker scene don’t even play — they just stake other players. Staking can be part time, or full time job, and it’s a great way to diversify your investment portfolio.

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But before I get too ahead of myself, you might be wondering what exactly poker staking is, and why you might want to know more about it. So let’s get into the ‘what’ first, then move into the ‘why.’

The simplest way to understand what poker staking is, is to think of it like a loan.

For example, say you want to play a $200 tournament. You have the skill set to play, just not the bankroll. So you come to me and ask me to give (stake) you the $200. In exchange for the loan, we agree that if you cash, I get my original investment back, plus a percentage of any profits made. If you don’t cash, neither of us make any money.

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That’s all poker staking is. It does get more in-depth than this, though.

Length of Loan — The Number of Games Being Played

For one thing, most players who receive backing are staked for longer periods of time (not just one game). This can vary from 20 games to over 20,000 games. The shorter terms are often used for players who just need temporary backing for a special event, such as SCOOP or the WSOP. Shorter terms also used to try out ‘horses’ before backing them long term.

From my experience, most long term staking deals (5k-20k games) are for players who are seeking coaching in addition to a bankroll. Staking deals are longer because coaches will lose money (time) upfront coaching, but over time will start to slowly recoup that money as the player gets better.

Interest or Cut — The Amount of Profit Paid to the Backer

Interest isn’t referred to as interest in staking — it’s referred to as the ‘cut.’

The cut is always a percentage from my experience, and will vary dramatically. A new player can earn as little as 15% of his profits (85% to the backer), while a semi good player can earn 50% and experienced player as much as 90%.

The cut is also determined by the amount of the staking agreement, as well as the number of games being played. The fewer games being played, the less likely that a profit will be made. This, of course, is only riskier the more money that is loaned out. So to offset some of the risk, a higher cut is given in favor of the backer.

One last thing that comes to mind about what affects the cut is whether or not makeup is apart of the deal or not.

If there is an agreement to makeup being owed, the cut will often be less in the favor of the backer, since there is a possibility to recoup losses. However, if there is no makeup in the agreement, then the cut is higher (in favor of the backer) because the risk of losing his investment is higher.

Why You Should Care About Poker Staking

As I mentioned earlier, poker staking is a huge business. There is a lot of money to be made, both as a backer and a horse. That’s why you should care about it.

To elaborate, say you’re interested in backing a player. You set him up with a bankroll of $300 to play $6 SNGs where he averages $1 a game. Your agreement is for 5,000 games, at a 50/50 cut with makeup.

Assuming he doesn’t improve (or gets worse), you’re going to see an average of $.50 per game, or $2,500 from your investment. Most players can knock out 5,000 games in two months, which means you’re earning $1,250 each month.

That doesn’t sound like a lot, does it? But think of it like this. What if you continued to take your profits and roll them over into new players at the same games and stakes. In other words, take that $1,250 each month and pickup 4 new horses that average $1 per game. That means the next month you’ll have 5 horses (instead of 1) making you $.50 per game for 2,500 games each. That’s $6,250** in one month — are you interested in staking players now?

Now, if you don’t have that much money to invest, you can grab a partner. The cuts will be determined by how much each person invests (time and/or money).

Becoming a Horse

But what if you’re interested in being staked; is it profitable?

You bet your ass it is.

The reason why is because you never have to have your own bankroll. All the profit you make you can keep and use to start your own staking business, build your bankroll so you can eventually play on your own dime, or withdraw and use as you wish.

The best part is that for most long term agreements, your bankroll is essentially bottomless. You don’t have to worry about losing it, because if you do, you just contact your backer and get a reload.

** One thing that I should point out, is that the amounts are only examples. If it were only as easy as taking a positive return and rolling it over, and then rinsing and repeating, everyone would be rich. You still run the risk of losing your money, whether partially or in full. With that being said, keep in mind that you will want to keep a reserve in addition to your bankroll so that you can reload players as needed.

Do you like fish? I hope so, because this poker lesson will not only feed you some tasty morsels that will keep you satisfied for short-term, but it will also teach you how to fish so you can feed yourself for the rest of your poker career.

Later on in the lesson we will provide some common betting patterns that you will see in many low and mid-stakes poker games. Recognizing these patterns will certainly help you improve your skills. But learning how to read your specific opponents is the most important skill that can help you become successful in the game of poker. If you can determine individual patterns and how someone plays in certain situations, you’ll unlock the door to the magic room where all their poker secrets are held.

Learning to Read

How do you learn to get inside your opponents heads? You must develop the two important skills of observation and empathy. The power of observation simply comes from opening up your mind and paying attention to everything going on around you instead of just paying attention to yourself. Empathy, which is understanding others feelings, comes into play when you simply ask yourself, why? Much of this comes through years of experience at the poker tables, but you can even short-cut this process by practicing these skills in everyday life.

When observing play at the tables and to start the process of reading, you have to first ask yourself questions about your opponents:

• How experienced are they?
• What level are they thinking on?
• Do they understand all the factors that go into making a decision?

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You can usually pick a lot of this information up by just watching the first few orbits of the game. Are they making common beginner mistakes or do they seem like they know what they are doing? If you are playing poker live, listen to table talk and see if you can pick up if they use poker lingo or if they are new to the game. If you’re playing poker online then do some homework to pick up knowledge of your opponents, how long they have been playing and how successful they are.

After you have a general idea of whether your opponents know what they are doing or not, you should start taking notes on their patterns in common situations:

• How do they play pre-flop? Do they limp marginal hands and only raise with their strong hands? Do they steal the blinds often in late position? How often do they 3-bet? Do they seem to steal from under the gun often?
• Do they often check/fold if they miss the flop after raising? Do they bet once and give up on the turn? Are they capable of double barrelling / triple barrelling?
• How do they play their draws? Do they semi-bluff? Do they check/call? Do they ever check-raise?
• What happens when they hit their draw? Do they slowplay? Do they bet it hard? Or do they go for small value bets?
• How do they play their big hands? Do they bet hard? Do they slow play?
• How do they play their marginal hands like top pair/weak kicker or middle pair? Do they call once and fold? Do they call all streets? Do they check-raise to define their hand? Do they donk lead the flop out of position or check?
• Do they tilt easily when things don’t go their way?

So that’s the observation part of the game. Now add the layer of empathy. Why did they make that decision? What does this say about them as a player and their overall game? These answers will help you determine their poker personality and an appropriate strategy to use against them.

Common Betting Patterns

Now that you’ve learned some ways to improve your reads, here are some specific examples of betting patterns to watch for. Obviously these can never be 100% accurate and you should base your decisions on reads you’ve picked up from your opponents, but the following is a short-cut guide to some common betting patterns from beginner and intermediate poker players that you will see in no-limit hold’em:

Same bet size on the turn as the flop

By not increasing their bet size on the turn, this is often a sign of weakness. The feel like they should bet but are afraid to commit too much. This is often a hand like middle pair or top pair with a weak kicker. You can often raise this bet and take down the pot.

Check/call, small bet on the turn

When someone checks, calls and then all of a sudden bets into you on the turn really small this is often a “blocking bet” on a draw. They may have had the draw on the flop or they have a weak pair and picked it up on the turn. The small bet is designed to allow them to draw for cheap, so charge them more!

Check/call, check min-raise

Ever wonder how to read if someone has a set? This is a very common line for a set or other big hands. This is especially true on really dry boards like . They slowplay the flop and when you bet the turn again they realize you have something, but don’t want to bet too big and cause you to fold.

Check/insta-call, check/insta-call…pause on river…bet

Can you guess the river card? Yes, it put a third flush card out there. Guess what… they have a flush! When someone calls really fast it often means they don’t have to think about their decision. For example, they already decided to chase the flush and once it hits they all of a sudden start thinking. If the flush card doesn’t come, this pattern is often indicative of a missed draw that is now bluffing.

Min bet, min bet, big river bet

This betting line often happens in limped pots when there is a draw on board that doesn’t hit. For some reason, people will bet the minimum as a semi-bluff on two streets and then when they miss their draw, they decide to bet big to get their opponents to fold.

Pre-flop raise of 4x+ from someone who usually limps or raises 3x

This is much more common in live play and is often the sign of someone with a hand they don’t want to see the flop with. This is most commonly JJ or AK, but can also include other hands in that range like TT, QQ, AQ and even AA from a player who is scared of getting them cracked.

Pre-flop open limp from an aggressive player who always raises

You don’t see this as much online these days, but it is certainly something to watch for live. It’s highly likely that the player has AA or KK and doesn’t want people to fold.

A player who always continuation bets the flop and now checks

This is very similar to the thought process behind the aggressive player who limps aces. If someone is continuation betting almost 100% of the time and now decides to check, this is a sign of a very big hand and you should proceed with caution.

Conclusion

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Now that you’ve got a taste of some common patterns, see if you can pick up others yourself. Remember that poker is a game of observation and betting patterns will evolve over time. It’s also worth mentioning that betting patterns will also change as you move up in stakes – so be prepared to adapt when this happens. If you remain observant and learn to pick up on patterns whilst asking yourself “why is this person betting this way?” you’ll be on your way to poker mastery.

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By Donovan Panone

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Donovan started playing poker in 2004 and is an experienced tournament and cash game player who has a passion for teaching and helping others improve their game.