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There’s no doubt about it, poker is seeing a boom in popularity at the moment – you only have to look at the record-breaking attendance at the 2016 World Series of Poker.
As for the causes, there are many theories. For example it’s been around on television for a couple of decades now and the emergence of digital media has only served to spread its coverage.
People have really gotten comfortable watching the game, the emergence of online casinos has also introduced a whole new generation of players too. Starting out anonymous is an easy way to develop skills in an atmosphere that can be far less intimidating to the novice before moving on to either a live online casinos or even the real games.
Naturally, once a player becomes more serious and accomplished in the game, they often turn to tournaments for a number of reasons but mainly for the money. Tournaments also offer generous prizes, although there are usually not as high as the $8 million that Qui Nguyen walked away after winning the November’s final at the WSOP Main Event.
However one big hurdle to the tournaments can be coming up with the buy-in and stake money to compete with. This is often an issue most players except for the most successful players who may have substantial winnings to fall back on and is now giving rise to the phenomenon – investors in poker.
They are people who put up a proportion, or even all, of a player’s buy-in and stake money for a similar proportion of their winnings. Although only few backers or players are willing to provide actual figures, one famous example is Daniel Negreanu who sold 13% of his action before finishing second and winning $8.2 million in the 2014 Big One for One Drop and the lucky investor with more than an eight-fold return on their money.
However this is a risky business that’s probably not for most people. First, there’s the difficulty offinding a good player to bet on and trust. And unfortunately there are many stories of agreements not honored from both sides. Secondly, there are also complex tax implications which, unless properly handled, can lead to one of the parties becoming liable for the tax on all the winnings and not just for their share.
But, having said all this, geting it right and putting your faith in the right poker player can turn out to be one of the very best investments you will ever make.
