Poker players around the world dream of playing the World Series of Poker and cashing in on some of the riches available. Whether it’s not having a big enough bankroll or not being able to get time off from their day job to travel to Las Vegas, for many players it will always remain just that – a dream. But now one company is doing their best to make it easier for everybody to get in on the action.

YouStake.com, founded two years ago after Frank DeGeorge had the idea while deployed, gives poker players the opportunities to sell pieces of themselves in poker tournaments to poker fans who can invest for as little $20. When the player scores big, the investors reap the rewards too.

“We just wanted to offer a safe platform for staking, relieving the hassle for players and provide access to a great sweat for fans and backers,” said Nick DeGeorge, who co-founded the company with his brother Frank.

The site allows players who need to sell off some action to connect with investors and offers some of the game’s best players a unique way of giving their fans a unique experience.

“For players, some of the big pros, they don’t really need to sell stakes, but they want to connect with their fans, so there’s an opportunity there,” said DeGeorge. “There’s also the other side, of someone might want to reduce their risk and help with bankroll management by selling stakes.”

When the site first launched the poker community turned a curious eye towards the startup and whether or not it was legit. DeGeorge wasn’t surprised by the reaction but knew if they delivered on the concept and provided customer service, they’d eventually realize the value it provides.

“When you see a site like this the first thing people wonder is,‘Is this a scam?”, ‘Is my money safe?”, ‘Is it real?’ I wouldn’t say it was a 100% embraced at first, we never did any paid advertising or any real acquisition efforts. We just put it out there and people stumbled onto it,” said DeGeorge. “We started servicing players and we’ve never ripped anybody off and we’ve always, everyone’s always gotten the service they’ve expected to get out of us.”

Players looking to get staked via YouStake post which tournament or tournaments they’re selling action for, what markup there is and what percentage they’re looking to sell. Before the listing is posted on the site, players need to provide YouStake with some personal information including a government issued ID and the necessary tax forms.

Players getting backed or staked is as old as tournament poker itself, but YouStake is aiming to take the entire process mainstream while adding a level of trust that the staking world, which previously operated on hand shakes and text message, has never had before.

“We definitely aim to be transparent and in doing so, with listings on the site, if somebody has outside investors we’ll put that on there, we’ll show who actually is making the investments, what are the terms, they’re shown to the public,” said DeGeorge. “We try to make sure everybody knows what they’re getting into, what are the fees that are involved, what the player mark up is.”

For those looking to buy stakes, it’s as easy as signing up for an account making a deposit, much like an online poker or daily fantasy sports site. The minimum deposit is just $20 with pieces in players available for as little as a few dollars.

“Our focus has been player marketing. If you get the known players and top players they usually come with pretty big followings,” said DeGeorge. “They can have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers, so if you get a good player and you can reach their fans through them.”

They’ve had good success so far attracting well-known and respected players to the site. Greg Raymer, Anthony Zinno, Todd Brunson and Joe Cada are some of the more high-profile players currently selling stakes on the site. In 2015, Zinno sold pieces to the $111,111 One Drop High Roller. He finished 7th for $565,864, earning savvy investors a healthy return on their investment.

Stakers who back a winning player have their share of the winnings deposited to their YouStake account where they can withdraw the money right away or keep it in action on other players.

For more information visit YouStake.com.