Why GGPoker's staking feature is a game changer
Being able to buy and sell action in the GGPoker client removes 99% of the headaches that come with staking for tournament poker.
One of the most contenious aspects of poker is staking. It is the cause of some of the biggest fallings out between players and there is usually at least one staking related scandal every year.
Nine times out of ten a dispute occurs not because of ill will between players, but instead a lack of transparancy.
I'm late to the party by almost six months, but the in-house staking feature from GGPoker all but eliminates staking issues from the game. I have only just started playing at GG because of the upcoming World Series of Poker, but I am already addicted to their staking feature.
It's really simple. Before a tournament starts, you have the option to sell a piece of yourself or buy a piece of somebody else. The staking offers are made in the main tournament lobby for that event.
You can sell up to 90% of yourself in the tournament, with a markup between 1 and 2. You can also cap the amount any single person can buy, which I suspect if mainly for Twitch streamers who want to sell pieces to their fans for a fun sweat more than anything. You can give a little information about yourself (people tend to put their Sharkscope results from other sites) and when you sell a piece you agree to make your GGPoker winnings viewable. It shows turnover, not profit, unfortunately.
If the horse wins, the agreed percentage goes to their backer automatically without any money handling required.
An end to staking disputes?
I personally love it because it's quite fun to just buy small pieces of people when I am unable to play myself, but the game changing element is in its transparency, it eliminates most staking disputes.
Horses cannot oversell themselves in the client (they can privately oversell to other people but that doesn't affect you if you bought in using GGPoker). They cannot do a runner with the backer's stake or profits. There is no makeup involved so no issue there. The exact agreed percentages will be paid out when a player wins something. If the horse doesn't play the stake is automatically credited to the backer. Horses can lie about their results on other sites but not on GGPoker. The only dodgy thing a player can do is accept a stake then chip dump to another player, but that is unlikelly.
Upcoming innovations are expected too, including delayed sit in (so horses can get staking but register late) and a staking chat feature so you can rail your horse in a more social manner.
I think this feature is going to come into its own for the upcoming World Series of Poker Online and I would be amazed if the other operators do not try to implement something similar. If you are an experienced backer/horse it takes a headache out of the process, if you are new to staking this is a great way to dip your toe in the waters.
Do you use this feature? Let us know in the comments:
