Progress Post #15: Bronchitis sucks, Propping and Staking

So as of now, I'm still coughing out my lungs. Almost literally.
It seems I came down with a viral infection, and my lungs are inflamed. Therefore I have Bronchitis, and cough mucus out of my lungs an average of 30 times a day. Fun times.
At least it's better than pneumonia.

I got my rakeback on FTP and busted it trying to sat into the FTOPS ME. On the other hand, I've been killing this other site called PokerWorld. It usually has 500 people logged on at once.

Pokerstars usually has 100,000.

Gives you an idea how small the site is.

Since my last post
Live Cash Games: +$40
Online Cash Games: +$1837
Tournaments: -$389
Net since last post: +$1,488

Winnings this year to date.
Live Cash Games: +$3,109
Online cash games: +$784.93
Online Tournaments: +$2084.32
Net winnings this year: +$5,978.25

I'm trying to bank 10k by the end of the summer. We'll see if I get there.

I'm propping on Pokerworld. A prop is someone who is paid to play. Online poker rooms do this by offering high levels of rakeback. It actually makes perfect sense for them. And I'm loving the 75% rakeback I'm getting. Still I think I'd prefer Full Tilt, as the game selection is infinitely better.

Usually only small rooms offer propping. Bigger poker rooms have enough players that there is no need. They usually still offer rakeback though. Check the blog archive for details on rakeback.


I've also started trying out staking. It's interesting. Staking is when one person fronts a buyin for another into a cash game or tournament. Assuming the "Horse" or staked player wins, they split the profits in a pre determined agreement. It's a massively +ev scenario for the Horse who has no risk. The staker is offered the ability to earn money on his money, assuming he stakes good horses.
Usually the staker requires "cake" which is kind of like a loan. It's best explained in an example.

Staker A stakes Horse B into a $30 tournament. Horse B busts on the first hand set over set.

Due to their agreement, Horse B owes Staker A $30 in cake. However he is not required to pay this unless Staker A stakes Horse B again, and Horse B turns a profit.

Later Staker A stakes Horse B into a $50 tournament. This time Horse B wins and takes down $5500, at an agreed 50% split.

First Staker A gets back $50, which is the buyin. Then he gets $30 in cake, to cover previous busted stakes. Then they split the remaining $5,420 at 50% each.

Cake is meant so that stakeing a +ev player will always be +ev for both the staker and the horse.

Jeff has started staking me online into some tourneys on FTP. To date I've turned a profit for him, albeit a small one.

I've also started trying out staking on Parttimepoker.com although it's rather hard to build a reputation.

I'm gonna try to grind out a hundred a day for the rest of the summer. We'll see how it goes. Obviously, I can't post a winning day every day, but a $200 day would count for 2. School starts back up at the end of August, so assuming I grind 100 a day, I should have won around $7.5k

Wish me luck, it always helps.


See you across the felt.
Bryce