EdmondDantes says

How do you monitor each other's play? And why not just pool your bankroll and split everything evenly? Are you trying to reduce variance or just take the sting out of a losing session so there's less likelihood of a session being a bummer?

Edmond

07/10/07

Anonymous says

Very interesting. How long have you been doing this experiment?

07/11/07

Landlord79 says

Cutting down losses is the main goal. We've just starting experimenting w/ this and hope to have some good reports after our trip to Tunica next weekend.

07/11/07

Mr_Taterhead says

Nice read!! I am definitly in favor of the concrete guidelines compared to the loose guidelines your buddies use.

TUNICA!!!! LET US GOGOGOGOGOGOGO

07/12/07

Landlord79 says

So far the insurance thing has worked against me as I've been the winner and my buddies have been the losers. I'm down about $170 on insurance for my last 2 road trips. I'll try to keep a running line going on this blog thread, so check back a few times a month and I'll update on how it's going.

07/23/07

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Poker is a game of ups and downs that we commonly refer to as variance. For periods of time, whether they be days, weeks or months, players can run really hot or really cold. I’ve seen absolute morons walk into a home game and destroy the room because the cards just hit them square in the face. The average players complain about how bad the new guy is playing, but the truth is, you want him to come back and keep playing like he is playing, it will all average out in the end once variance has corrected itself. And when that happens, the good players will be the ones holding the fat wallet.

Are we completely subject to variance? Do we have any control over poker’s natural swings? Most would say yes, we have no control and lady luck is holding all of the cards, all that we can do is get our money in good and hope that the cards hold up. Eli Elezra has a great saying that I love to quote, “In poker you can only make the best decisions you can and let the cards take care of themselves, while understanding that the cards do not always take care of you.”

Truthfully, until recently, that is exactly what I thought until some friends of mine were talking about sharing their wins and losses. I don’t mean to say that they were cheating, heck, they don’t even sit at the same table most of the time. This isn’t a totally new concept, tournament players do these kinds of staking deals all of the time to help smooth out their swings.

My 2 friends had a very loose method of splitting their profits & losses, not based on math, but based on fairness between friends with some other loose guidelines worked in. Basically, if both players profited they would split the profits down the middle. If one is a big winner and the other a loser then the winner simply covers the loser’s loss. If the winner’s profit is small and the loser has lost a buy-in, then the winner simply buys gas and dinner. Like I said, some very loose guidelines.

Sounds good to me, but I like more concrete guidelines for insuring and I also want to put out some guidelines for choosing who you should or shouldn’t be insuring.

Insurance Agreement:
1. In a win/win situation – Both players agree to share 30% of their wins.
Example: Player 1 wins $500 and Player 2 wins $100.
($500 x 30%)-($100 x 30%)= $120 going to Player 2 from Player 1 to help share the profits and smooth out some variances.
2. In a win/loss situation - the winner agrees to insure the loser with the lesser of 30% of the winner’s profit or 50% of the loser’s loss.
Example: Player 1 wins $500 and Player 2 loses $200.
$500 x 30%= $150 and $200 x 50%= $100 Since the lesser of the two is $100, player 1 only covers half of player 2’s loss.
3. In a loss/loss situation – Everybody loses!!!!!
4. In a loss/break-even situation – The loser can’t drag the break-even player down into the negative.

Who to Insure:
1. Someone of comparable skill and ability playing at the same limits.
2. A verifiably winning player.
3. Someone with a comparable bankroll. (#3 may not be as important when you are just making short-term agreements, but is very important with long-term agreements.)

I’ve just started fleshing this concept out, so any further thoughts would be welcome. I don’t use this insurance online, I just use it at casinos when I’m playing live and can utilize more hand reading skills.