Staking a friend question

twonine29 · #1 07-16-2007, 02:33 PM

I'm 22 and my buddy is 23. He didn't go to college, doesn't have a steady job, and has little to no disposable income, but is a good/honest guy overall. I've played poker with him for the past 4+yrs and he's always one of the best at the games. Most of the players I've played with consider him the best player at the table.

He isn't the smartest guy in the world or the most responsible, he just has great card/ppl instincts. The only time he's tried to play online, he turned $0 into $450 starting with freerolls, then lost it all in a day playing $1/$2 NL.

I wouldn't trust staking him money if he was playing at his house, however since he's got nothing better to do, I'm inviting him to stay with me for a couple days to play. I plan on just buying him into some big field/small buyin MTT. I figure even if he doesn't cash in any of em, the most I'll lose on him is ~$150.

What should the % be if he does end up cashing/winning? My first instinct was to have it:
He pays back all of the buy-ins first, then whatever profit is left we split 50/50?

Is this about right?, or should the numbers be different?

I know this situation is basically all risk for me with minimal reward, and all reward for him with virtually no risk. But the risk isn't all that big for me, and I wanna help the guy out, because i've been making money from online poker consistantly for a while now, and I think he's a better player than me, just he has no money/little responsibility

JP OSU · #2 07-16-2007, 02:46 PM

Usually for such a short term deal you might give yourself a little bit more, but if you're just trying to help him out that deal is fine...

Highn · #3 07-16-2007, 02:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
just he has no money/little responsibility

[/ QUOTE ]

Without bankroll management you won't help him out by staking him, it'll just be a waste of time for the both of you.

Hawklet · #4 07-16-2007, 02:54 PM

1% interest / day [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Dunkman · #5 07-16-2007, 03:09 PM

Don't stake friends, especially degenerate ones. It makes it all sad and stuff when you end up having to kill them.

BT2 · #6 07-16-2007, 03:41 PM

answer this: would you buy yourself into a tournament if the prize pool was cut in half?

that is what you would essentiallly be doing if you split it 50/50. no matter how good you are it is -EV. if you are paying for the entire buy-in, and there are not special circumstances, (like you played half the tournament then had to leave) then you need to take more like 95% of the prize and he gets 5%.

the alex · #7 07-16-2007, 04:28 PM

Short term, you can go 60-65% and every time you do this keep a tally and run makeup on him.

illini43 · #8 07-16-2007, 04:34 PM

If he has a problem with money management, having him play poker, even though it might win you some money, is not a very good idea for him in the long run. If you really want to be a good friend, you should help him find a job and help him save his money. I honestly think having him play poker isn't going to help his current situation all that much. Even getting a minimum wage job would be better than what you are planning to do.

Silent A · #9 07-16-2007, 04:48 PM

Good poker player + no money management skills <<< bad at poker + good money management skills.

I have this image in my head: he wins the Sunday million and you each pocket 50-100k. He proceeds to blow it all and you make it grow a little. Now he sees you living happily with the money he feels he won and he's miserable on top of everything else. See: Stu Unger for the rest of the story.

Extreme of course, but giving easy money to people like this probably isn't a good idea, unless he's willing to let someone else manage it for him.

Out of curiosity, does he realize that he's bad at money management? Or does he just think he's been unlucky? If he acknowledges his short comings, there might be some hope. Otherwise ...

twonine29 · #10 07-16-2007, 05:25 PM

Thanx for the replies guys.

Those who say this doesn't make sense for me from an +$EV standpoint are right, but I'm not too worried about that. Like I said, I'm going into this thinking at most I'm going to lose $100-$150 helping out my buddy. I wouldn't go farther than that in the short-run, because I can see how money problems can screw up friendships. He wouldn't hafta pay me back the entry-fees unless he cashed, and I would keep track of the entry-fees in case there was a next time later on down the road.

If he did happen to win a decent amount, maybe I would offer to help him manage the part of it he wants to keep online to play. He trusts my judgement, so something like this may work.