In lower-midstakes tournaments $11-55? Prob throw $75 in there as well. I know a lot of people play these on their own dime, but it does take a pretty significant bankroll of 10k+ if your abi is over $50.

Seems pretty low risk for the backer, but worth it for backee in like a 50/50 deal?

discuss.

tread water like a champion, don't get backed.

 

Originally Posted by Mr_BigQueso

tread water like a champion, don't get backed.

Play to win on your own dime and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Enough cliches for now! IF you are good enough you should not want to be backed.

 

Originally Posted by bluffslv

 

Originally Posted by Livew1re

 

Originally Posted by MastaP89

id love to be backed
pretty sure it makes sence for both sides in the scenario you discribed

exactly, id love to be given like 5k to play higher buy ins, id even give 60% back to the backer but life is full of wants and never haves!

Lets not make this an I want to be backed thread. I'm more looking for opinions on whether it would be better to work your way through the midstakes which I'm assuming most people do.. or get backed and play these awesome tournies but obviously give up half of your profit. There will be some interesting perspectives from current midstakes grinders, guys who played through them to get where they are now, and some backers hopefully. TY mastap and queso so far.

so okay i can try to give my perspective on it, i would consider myself a midstakesgrinder and im not backed so i can give you my opinions on it.
first of all there are def pros and cons for beeing backed.
a big pro is that even as a midstakes grinder you have to have quiet alot of money online (at least if you dont want to deposit and withdraw every 10minutes). Plus if your euro like me you also have to watch to get a decent exchange rate dollar/euros. therefor it is easiest for me to keep everything online as long as i dont need money for living expenses or buying something nice. And the money i won this year is quite much for a 20 year old student and it also keeps me from having a normal part time job like bartendering or working at mc donals or something, which is pretty nice. But if you play your own money you obvl have to pay attention to your bankroll and so it can be very frustrating at times where things just dont go your way ( i mean theres a reason i made this other thread i havent stopped playing 75 FO's because i dont like them ;-)
So if i were backed i wouldnt have to keep all the money online and could do other things with it like investing or just spending. Also if your not playing your own money it can help you to get through downswings easier, since you dont have to move down and stuff. And im also not rolled for 100FOs i could play them on stars but im a br nit and no where near rolled for sunday majors. So this is another thing where beeing backed would be great, because you would give yourself the chance hitting it big time by playing all the big sunday stuff.
A pretty big con is probaly that if you believe in your skills and think you can be /or are a winning player at midstakes you def give up EV by splitting all your winnings, where as said playing higher because of beeing backed would take this argument away a bit. I dont think there should be a problem with the skill you need for playing higher, because im mostly talking about majors and not 100rebuys. And these are extremely soft and by not playing them every midstakes player gives up a ton of ev each sunday we gring our asses off in the 26 FO(no like we wouldnt play them anyway but you get the idea).

So in a nutshell id say: getting backed just for the sake off it without having the opportunity to play things you normally cant is probaly a bad idea.
but getting backed so you can take shots and be a little more comfortable with all the monies and stuff is a pretty good idea.

if ur rolled for a level it probably makes more financial sense to play off ur own roll but not all backing agreements are purely financially motivated, there are other considerations such as any coaching u get etc.

I play backed for the levels you mentioned and its allowed me to go from 4.40s to midstakes in like 4 months. Plus i get to send my backer HHs and ask him any Qs etc and he's always willing to help and as a result u get better quicker, make more monies, move up levels etc

Also there is the fact that some backers may not just want to start u out in HSMTTS, instead they might 'trial' u in low/midstakes etc

IMO, playing backed for mtts $55 and under just doesn't make sense.

Let's define a midstakes grinder as someone with an abi of $25. And let's say we follow the "pro" br mgmt guideline of 200buyins. So basically you need a br of $5k to do this responsibily.

IMO, if you can't grind a roll up to $5k, you shouldn't bother playing midstakes mtts. Building your own roll teaches you a ton about the game but also about proper discipline and roll mgmt skills that you will need to when you are out there on your own.

And lets not forget, you still owe that money to your backer, its called stakeback. so I guess I rly don't understand this notion of being backed as taking the pressure off. Seems like a false sense of security to me.

If you are properly rolled you shouldn't ever really feel that pressure to begin with. If you are worried then you know its time to drop down in stakes.

 

Originally Posted by TheVillageGrinder

IMO, playing backed for mtts $55 and under just doesn't make sense.

Let's define a midstakes grinder as someone with an abi of $25. And let's say we follow the "pro" br mgmt guideline of 200buyins. So basically you need a br of $5k to do this responsibily.

IMO, if you can't grind a roll up to $5k, you shouldn't bother playing midstakes mtts. Building your own roll teaches you a ton about the game but also about proper discipline and roll mgmt skills that you will need to when you are out there on your own.

And lets not forget, you still owe that money to your backer, its called stakeback. so I guess I rly don't understand this notion of being backed as taking the pressure off. Seems like a false sense of security to me.

If you are properly rolled you shouldn't ever really feel that pressure to begin with. If you are worried then you know its time to drop down in stakes.

lol @ 5k I know it will work 95% of time but at somepoint in ur career u will experience a 200BI+ downswing (just came off one of about -250BI) and psycologically I feel you still need more money after the 200BI - in case of worst case scenario - personally I do anyway - I see alot of people posting about going pro on 2k and 50 buyins and its just not enough at lower stakes. What u have to remember is most mid stakes tnys are 500-2000 people big as opposed to 200-400 big in higher stakes and therefore variance is going to be alot worse. I went 450 tourneys without an FT and had 25ish FT bubbles it was simpy ridiculous - but it happens. Just one win in one of those would have prevented such a downswing obv but variance is a bitch and these things, although anomolies, CAN happen to you. Be prepared!!

I had a chance to be backed in February but the main reason was because I couldnt handle downswings - have family - however the reason I ended up declining it was because I KNEW I was winning player I just needed to grind it out. Fast forward 6 mnths and Im up 50k ish since and have saved giving out 25k in winnings.

For some people it can work but for players who have alot of capital but are still backed I just cant see the logic. I know the highest buyins can become v expensive but if you have the right roll in 1st place. Obviously the coaching and support you recieve would be worth it but im sure for a few hundo you can buy someone elses services.

 

Originally Posted by TheVillageGrinder

IMO, playing backed for mtts $55 and under just doesn't make sense.

Let's define a midstakes grinder as someone with an abi of $25. And let's say we follow the "pro" br mgmt guideline of 200buyins. So basically you need a br of $5k to do this responsibily.

IMO, if you can't grind a roll up to $5k, you shouldn't bother playing midstakes mtts. Building your own roll teaches you a ton about the game but also about proper discipline and roll mgmt skills that you will need to when you are out there on your own.

And lets not forget, you still owe that money to your backer, its called stakeback. so I guess I rly don't understand this notion of being backed as taking the pressure off. Seems like a false sense of security to me.

If you are properly rolled you shouldn't ever really feel that pressure to begin with. If you are worried then you know its time to drop down in stakes.

These are the types of responses I'm looking for, ty. The question is being backed for midstakes, not playing sunday majors etc. although since those are weekly tournaments it wouldn't affect your abi that much.

U can still go on a huge drought playing micros only, but I'm sure if you really grinded em they aren't worth it. Unless ur flat azz broke, I wouldn't get backed for micros, and if you did, I'd quit and grind them on my own...but if you want to play higher stakes like 50rs, 100rs, 1ks, majors really quickly then yeah backing makes sense.

 

Originally Posted by bef99hwk

U can still go on a huge drought playing micros only, but I'm sure if you really grinded em they aren't worth it. Unless ur flat azz broke, I wouldn't get backed for micros, and if you did, I'd quit and grind them on my own...but if you want to play higher stakes like 50rs, 100rs, 1ks, majors really quickly then yeah backing makes sense.

the question was mid stakes backing.

 

Originally Posted by TheVillageGrinder

 

Originally Posted by bef99hwk

U can still go on a huge drought playing micros only, but I'm sure if you really grinded em they aren't worth it. Unless ur flat azz broke, I wouldn't get backed for micros, and if you did, I'd quit and grind them on my own...but if you want to play higher stakes like 50rs, 100rs, 1ks, majors really quickly then yeah backing makes sense.

the question was mid stakes backing.

I know I said both...if ur flat azz broke, yes, then I'd quit after my first big score. If u wanted to move up quickly, then no. So, I'm guessing this is ONLY midstakes, then yes, bink, and then no it wouldn't make sense.

 

Originally Posted by Dead Money Dom

i took a midstakes deal (max $55 freeze) because i was broke and didnt want to grind up from 100 bucks.

playing vs. watching people play made it an easy choice.

Would love to hear more on this dom. How long did the deal last? Did you just do it until you build up enough money to play on your own? Did your deal eventually move into higher stakes when you hit some scores? If you don't mind elaborating that is..

I understand being broke makes it an easy choice, I am not fwiw, nor is this thread about me accepting a deal or not.

 

Originally Posted by Gags30

People get backed for mid stakes for various reasons. Some people are broke and can't afford it. But some get backed to hopefully get moved up in stakes by their backer. Also, a lot of times players are mentored by their backer and this helps the mid stakes grinder get better, and eventually move up (whether it be on their own or with the backer)

plus, less varience for the player, and who isn't looking to minimize varience

come on gags 1time ! :D

well i guess it depends.

if you have zero funds then getting backed is a must.

BUT

if you're good enough at poker to be a winning player (hence why a backer would back you) then you're good enough to turn a very small amount into a very large amount on your own dime.

its all about BR management imo... move down when you're running bad and move up when you're running well.

take 50 and turn it into 500

take 500 and turn it into 2K

take 2K and turn it into 5K

take 5K and turn it into 15K

etc

etc

etc

no need to be backed