Getastake.com Noob Blog

I started a question thread at www.getastake.com (GAS) when I first started using the site. I asked every question I could think of. Mike was kind enough to answer all of my questions. Some of these may seem silly, but I wanted to include every question a NOOB might have.

There is a lot of information to process for newbies. I was unfamiliar with staking, much less specific rules for this site, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

I put my application for staking up, and was approved. This process is in place to ensure that you are trustworthy. You can be a lousy poker player and still be accepted. What matters is whether or not you have a "clean" past.

I applied for my first stake. It was an offer from Admin to run 4 x .25 Sit and Gos (SNGs). Admin staked me and I received a private message (PM) from StakeManager asking me to verify that Admin shipped me $1.00 via Poker Stars.

I clicked the button stating that I had and a Rail thread was started for me. A rail thread is where you post your results. Different stakes will have different requirements. Some stakes require first hand, swing hands (where your stack is affected by 20% or more) and bust hands. Others might just require bust hands.

I played my 4 SNGs and made a profit. I finished the stake with a bankroll of 2.42. The rail thread keeps track of your bankroll, so everything is automatic. I closed the rail, using the button at the very bottom of my rail thread.

I received another email from StakeManager. It told me to send Admin 1.71 (His original 1.00 plus 50% of the profits, 0.71). It also told me to send 0.04 to GAS for their 5% cut. I made 0.67 without putting up a dime of my own money.

Obviously, this was on a micro scale, but the math is simple moving up. Had it been a $10 stake, I would have made $6.70.

A couple of questions that may come up: What is makeup and what is stakeback?

Makeup: You don't return all of a backer's initial investment, due to losses. If you run another stake for them, that money is taken out of your final bankroll before profits are figured.

Stakeback: The backer's funds are returned before determining what the profits are. The percentages are then run from the remaining money. This is a standard practice.

Sometimes a stake will be offered with no makeup. In that case, the horse assumes no risk.

I'm going to stop this here for now, it will need editing.