How to pick good Horses to stake at GGPoker in 2024
Now that GGPoker no longer allows SharkScope, these are the best ways to determine if a Horse is worth backing.
The GGPoker staking feature is one of the best innovations in the recent online game. It's good for the players because they can take shots at bigger games and good for the operator as it boosts liquidity.
There is one minor bump in the road in the form of GGPoker recently prohibiting SharkScope from tracking results on the site. This means that a backer cannot see the profit of the Horse, only their turnover in PokerCraft.
There are still things to look out for, however, that can hint as to whether somebody is a good or bad buy.
Set markup restrictions
First of all, be picky about markup. If somebody is selling at 2.0 it means they are claiming they have a 200% ROI in the game they are staked for. Few players are this good and the ones that are usually don't need staking for the $10.80 Bounty Hunter. Even markups of 1.4 might be ambitious. Try and get that markup as close to 1.0 as possible.
More importantly, don't back players who have oversold. If a player wants staking for a $10 MTT and has sold 70% at 1.6 that means they have already collected $11.20 (plus rakeback) and are playing for 30% of themselves. The player has locked up a profit already and is now playing for a low percentage of themselves - how motivated will that person be? Staking has to be a win/win, and this player might start demotivated because they are not playing for much of themselves and have already made a profit. They could blind out and still be up.
The best events to buy for are PKOs because GGPoker staking requires you to register at the start. PKOs are the one format where it is more profitable to early register than to late register. The only time you can stake somebody after the start is Day 2 staking, which we have already covered.
PokerCraft Profiles
As mentioned earlier you can no longer see the SharkScope for a player, so you won't know their profit. However, a player's PokerCraft can reveal plenty.
First, it shows turnover, which is at least the sign of a Reg or a Rec. A turnover of $100,000 is not an indicator of profit, but it is an indicator the player is high volume. A turnover of $600 is usually a new player. High turnover is usually a sign of at least a break-even player.
PokerCraft shows ITM percentages for all their players. A good ITM percentage would be between 15 and 20%, depending on the format. Anything lower would suggest a weak player, anything higher might be a sign of an overly tight player.
PokerCraft also shows the most recent results for a player, which are not much of an indicator of the type of player they are as variance plays a huge role. A recent run of bad results might suggest the player is a bit tilty. The only other useful thing to see is the recent results might show if the player satellited into the event they want staking for, and thus might be a little out of their depth.
A player who puts their SharkScope graphs and names for other sites is usually a good player, proving profitability. However, they could always be lying so be skeptical. Players who put screenshots of their biggest wins are also usually more likely to be better than those who do not (and these are harder to fake).
Finally, one of the best ways to make a decision is to watch them play. You can bookmark a player you want to potentially stake regularly and find where they are playing to watch them at the tables. In the absence of profit figures, this might be the most important way to assess their ability.
