A close friend asked me if...

[PhatPots]

that is an absolute no. These are people who can only see the upside. But what will they say when you tell them you lose the $1000 if you go on a bad streak?

If you don't need to be staked, then why be staked? You should explain to them, that you have money to stake yourself.


I thing this situation is similar to a friend who sees you have a successful business and says he wants to be a partner in the business. Are you going to give him a chunk of your business because he is a friend?

[roy_miami]

If they truely want to gamble the $1000 I would offer to "gamble" it for them for 3 or 6 hours of my time while having a few beers. If you turn it into $5k, cashout and take $2500 each, if you lose it, its all on them. $1k is probably not enough to jump right into 100/200 so I would probably start at 15/30 or 30/60 and try to "step" up when/if I double. Just make sure they understand that even the best player in the world can lose $1k pretty easily even at 15/30, so it truely would be a gamble.

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
If I would take a $1000 from them and play online for them and give them the profits (less %10 for my troubles)

First a little history on me. I play in some of the highest online games day in and day out grinding out a good living. I have a sufficient bankroll and need no staking.

I have offered him and his wife advice, or a roadmap, as to how to become a winning player and it goes in one ear and out the other. I have no fear of them reading this thread, even though I have told them about this forum and the knowledge that they could gain from it, they have never visited 2+2.

These are good friends whom I don't want to hurt, yet am unsure as to how to answer their question about playing with their money on my time.

Thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously this makes no financial sense for you so the real question is simply, how do you tell them no without hurting their feelings?

Although they don't realize it (because, hey after all, you're going to be making 10% on the deal!!!) they're actually essentially asking you for a gift. Financially, you'd be better off just giving them a thousand bucks and leaving it at that.

But that explanation can be difficult to those who don't understand poker or the poker economy.

Try this instead: Tell them that you aren't willing to play with friends' money. Their is a very real risk of losing the money and you simply aren't willing to run that risk with their money and possibly your friendship. Even if they say they are willng to take the risk you tell them you simply aren't willing to take sucha risk. If they are a little pushy about it, let them know that you believe that the pressure of playing with their money and being afraid to lose it, would probably cause you to play poorly.

If they don't want to hear that, just bottom line it: I don't think friends should be involved in each other's finances, there is simply too much risk of hard feelings.

--Zetack