When someone else’s money is involved, record-keeping stops being optional. Backers want proof of results before they invest, and both sides need agreement on exactly what is owed after every session.
What a staked player should track
- Every buy-in, re-entry and add-on paid with the backer’s money.
- Every cash, including bounties.
- The deal terms: percentage sold, markup, profit split and makeup rules.
- Running makeup, updated after each session.
Two kinds of staking
- Long-term deals: a backer covers all buy-ins for a period, profits are split after makeup is cleared.
- Selling action: you sell pieces of a single tournament, often with markup, and there is usually no makeup. Marketplaces like PokerStake connect players and buyers.
Markup explained
Markup is a premium on the price of your action. Selling at 1.2 markup means a buyer pays $120 for 10% of a $1,000 buy-in. Players with a strong record can charge more. The staking calculator works out what each side pays and receives.
Building a staking résumé
Buyers look for a tournament count, ROI, in-the-money rate and biggest cash. The free PokerTracking tracker builds this automatically from your logged tournaments on the Bankroll → Staking tab, ready to copy into a listing. See also our tournament tracker guide.
Try the free tool
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