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Staking offer. Is this too good to be true?
Thoich
Member Posts: 75
So I am currently travelling round Asia and couldn't resist spending a night in Macau. This resulted in an interesting sequence of events, and an offer that sounds too good to be true.
I played in a tournament and got chatting to a Danish guy around 40yo. We ended up heads up together, he won. We went for some drinks after, and decided to go to another casino to play some cash. The lowest stakes were 25/50hkd (2/4 sterling). I said I wasn't comfortable playing these stakes and he offered to go 50/50 on a $3000HKD buy in.
We went out to celebrate and he ended up offering to stake me to play the $25/50 games. The arrangeent would be that he puts up 100% of the bankroll, and we split the profit 50/50.
At first I thought it might just be drunk talk, but we have been exchanging emails and he wants to start a trail month where he puts up $50,000HKD (About 4k).
Although this sounds like an amazing oppurtunity, there is a part of my thinking if it sounds too good to be true then it proably is. I mean, what sane person offers to put up 4k for a guy he has just met at the casino?
I would be very interested to hear people's thoughts on whether this seems legit, or if I would just be getting myself into an uncomfortale sitation?
Also any advice from anyone with experience staking or being staked would be greately appreciated. Does this sound like a fair deal? and what are the most important things to sort out in a staking arrangement before going into a deal like this (besides the money)?
Thanks.
Comments
I guess worst case scenario is you lose the lot and he wants the money back and gets debt collectors to sort you out!! But if you've met him face to face then you'll have an idea for his character and whether he's the sort that would do that.
I can offer to stake you 50K and split the profit 50/50 - but what if you lose? is that a no win no fee offer?
Contracts in staking are very important to get right
A reasonably well known player in the UK is famous for doing something similar to this, he did it for many years in fact.
He would approach several recreational players before a Tournament.
"Hi, I watched you play the other day, you play pretty good, are you playing the Tourney tomorrow night?"
"Yes, that's the plan"
"OK, tell you what, I'm looking for some decent players to invest in, I'll pay 100% of your entry fee, & you get to keep 50% of anything you win, how does that sound?"
"What? A total freeroll? Yes please, great thank you."
"OK, meet me just before before the Tourney starts, I'l have the cash with me, & we'll get you paid in. 50/50 split of any winnings, right?"
"Right"
"Booked"
And of course, the trick was.....
Mr Staker would turn up late the next night, or even not at all, instead turning up a day later. And if "his player" had cashed he would ask for 50% of the winnings. And if his player had not cashed, he might not even bother showing up.
He relied on human nature & naivety. The player assumed the Staker was good for the money, & paid his own entry fee, believing that Mr Staker was good to his word, & that he was being staked.
In fact, one of the 861 Analysts got "stung" by this chap a few years ago.
Danish poker pro you say?
40's you say?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Hansen
xxx
Sounds a bit weird mate the whole situation with this guy.
I would probably stay clear of it and just play of your own money.
You have already won a few £ and so as he so you can leave it on good terms.
Other thing is playing 25/50 do you think you could play optimally given the set up?
Enjoy the holiday!
In all seriousness I would echo what people have said about proceeding with caution. Don't be flattered into thinking that this complete stranger is only interested in your Poker playing abilities. That is not to say that you are not genuinely a good player and maybe he has spotted that and has plenty of cash to splash around - but for certain there will be some other motivation also at play here. Like Ryan suggests it could be something as simple and benign as just a lonely guy being a bit overly enthusiastic about making a friend, but this is the best case scenario and even then you are putting yourself in an awkward position where you are essentially exploiting his loneliness for your own financial benefit so my advice would be do the safe and decent thing and politely excuse yourself from any further correspondence or 'relationship'. And worst case scenario you could be getting yourself into something a whole lot more difficult to get yourself out of.
I once found myself in a strange situation like this in Vegas. It didn't involve staking but was a similarly 'too god to be true type scenario'. I was playing in a cash game and some guy who had been at the table for about an hour and who I'd exchanged a couple of laughs with just flat called my river bet with the 2nd nuts - he had pocket Aces on a paired board with an Ace on it for Aces full so would have only lost if I was holding specifically pocket 66's (or whatever the pair on the board was) and so very few players would legitimately just call there and as it happens I had a lower full house so if he'd re raised me he would have got my whole stack. I was genuinely shocked and asked him why he didn't re raise and he said something like 'because we 're mates aren't we' and looked genuinely hurt and offended that I didn't realise this and share the sentiment (we had only played together for an hour). Later in the session he started following me out when I went for cigarette breaks (asking for one of mine - he didn't have any of his own) and at one point he showed me a photo on his phone of a girl in a revealing (to put it mildly) pose who he said was his girlfriend. Now this girl was stunning in a very explicit adult movie star type of way and then he said she had two friends with her who looked just the same and asked me if I wanted to join them in their room for a 'party'!!
I made my excuses and left and while perhaps I shouldn't have looked a gift horse in the mouth because if genuine that would have been one **** of a 'party' but there just seemed no way that this whole thing could have been genuine - I just aint that lucky.
If its cash he's giving you, i would check its not fake and he's trying to launder it through you.
Gl