Does the promise of staking mean you can take shots outside your bankroll?
Bryn Kenney revealed he had half his net worth in a single tournament, did the fact he could easily get staked afterwards make this a safe bet?
Last weekend on the Joe Ingram podcast we got a glimpse into how professional poker players have a very different relationship with money than everyone else. Bryn Kenney was discussing his record breaking $20,563,224 cash at the Triton Poker Million and revealed not only did he start the year $3.5 million in makeup he also had half his net worth in that one tournament.
It was such a jaw dropping revelation it prompted the normally shy and diplomatic Shaun Deeb to suggest it was both a degenerate thing to do and potentially unethical if Kenney could not pay off his side bets:
This clip is just sad. It’s scary he says he had half his bankroll on his piece of the tourney and then made a ton of massive side bets which I’m guessing equaled or were greater than the amount he had of himself so if he lost and got scooped on bets he couldn’t pay. #freeroll https://t.co/qbGr6ux5So
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) October 18, 2019
The high stakes community, including David Peters, Timothy Adams, Jason Koon and Adrian Mateos, all came out to defend the integrity of Kenney from what were baseless accusations from Deeb about potentially stiffing people in side bets. To an outsider, however, the 'degenerate' suggestion is still worth pondering. We all learn in poker about the importance of bankroll management so putting half your net worth on the line seems ludicrous for anyone, especially a professional.
The staking Plan B
I don't think I could ever really defend anyone putting half their net worth into a single tournament, even if they are an elite player like Kenney. However, the fact that Kenney is an elite player does change the context slightly of playing for half his net worth.
Life as a poker professional does not provide many backup plans, in fact some may argue that it is an opportunity cost that leaves you with a gap in your CV. However, within poker the promise of staking does mean some players can take a shot at a big game and have a Plan B if it goes poorly.
Putting half your net worth into a single tournament remains a pretty silly thing to do, but Kenney and potential backers know that he can make it back. Losing it all would still be devastating but he would have no problem getting staked into all the games he was planning to play anyway, and eventually would win the money he lost back. That is not something a modest player can do, which is why it is even less advisable for the average person to essentially gamble for half their net worth, because there little chance of getting it back.
A lot of professionals started their career by taking a massive shot like that and sadly a lot more otherwise talented players never made it in the game because of poor money management. Many of the big tournament wins we see in poker are never quite the celebration we think because the player in question was in makeup when they won. Ironically at any one time your average $5 SNG grinder has a higher net worth than half of the Super High Rollers.
So gambling half your net worth is not quite that big a gamble when you have the ability and reputation to get staked afterwards, but it's still a bad idea.
Have you ever taken a massive shot like that? Let us know in the comments:
