As online poker grows in popularity, so does poker staking – an increasingly common arrangement between a player and a backer where the backer funds a player in exchange for a cut of that player’s profits. An overwhelming amount of top online pros, especially tournament players, have private staking arrangements.

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In addition to private backing deals, there are several websites that connect groups of backers and players looking to be staked. To find out if staking is something you’d like to try, read through some of the commonly asked questions below.

Why Do Players Want To Be Staked?

This is probably the commonly asked question about staking. If a player is good enough to profit, why would they need backing? Poker, especially tournament poker, can be a high-variance game. Online tournament fields are increasingly deep and tough, and players can go for quite a long time in between large finishes. For some players, the natural ups and downs are too stressful; other players may just want to try their hand at some larger buy in tournament they’re not currently bankrolled for. Examples aside, it comes down to a simple decision: people are willing to give up a share of their profits to reduce risk.

Why Do People Want To Back Players?

Again, a variety of reasons: Some people find it entertaining – it gives them a rooting interest in a player. Some people do it as a hedge against their own playing. At the end of the day, most people do it because they stand to make a decent profit with just a little research and patience.

What Do Staking sites do?

Staking sites provides a custom, highly automated system that allows stakers to find, research and screen potential players, and a parallel system that allows players to offer specific parts (or all) of their play up for sale. Staking sites systems should make the designing, assigning and tracking your stakes a relatively simple task.

Staking sites also provide the largest community of backers online, a unique opportunity for talented players with proven results who are looking to reduce variance or move up a level.

Finally, Staking sites forums provide access to thousands of other members who will share information with you, help you learn the ropes, and make fun of you when you post bad beats.