You said you stake ~50 guys, it seems most are MTTers. How many cash game players do you stake? What levels (understand if you dnt want to answer this specifically)?

It seems you've focused your updates (on the poker side) on your MTT horses, can you give some kind update on your cash game horses?

glgl

god how did I miss this, gonna start now - should be interesting.

Do you ever get requests from horses for favors for them doing really well? Recently had two situations like that, one from a guy that made us a lot, binked a liveament and wanted to leave, was in some minuscule makeup and asked for us to erase it for his good services. Another who binked a lot recently asked if he wont get some sort of bonus. I understand its a bussiness deal and I dont owe them anything besides what the contract is, however I do want to maintain good relationship and PR, while not setting up any precedens, how would you approach this situation?

besides this, what I always found really motivating is having a weekly/monthly leaderboard for all the horses (well, guess that only works if everyone plays about the same stakes) with entries to higher buyin MTTs.

I would imagine having incentives(like whoever profits most in your stable every month gets a better cut) may make you long term money, but giving handouts when asked for seems like a weird move. interested in zimas thoughts.

we currently stake 1 cash guy and he plays 100nl 6m. he has been with us for a long while now, and just steadily grinds and makes money.


We have staked cash guys in the past, and most havent worked out. not sure if its us picking them badly, or just small sample/BF messing some stuff up.

we are looking into a few cash guys atm, but am just so picky with this stuff cause past history. sure we pass on some good cash guys who we really should back, but am ok with that.

Its kinda funny when horses ask this. are they gonna give you a rebate on the MU they get into?

I give some xmas bonus' and stuff of that nature, but its a business. I try and help the guys out when they need pre cashouts for stuff, so think thats enough of a service for them. if people grind hard and are working on their game and they just arent winning, thats fine. we will help with bills and rent.

I really dont think we have had 1 guy bink a mtt and then leave us and ask for a bigger cut of what he should get. I know i have let them keep their fpps in the past (all fpps are apart of the deals) as a small bonus. i would hope the guys we stake respect that we are running a business and wouldnt ask for handouts after they bink.


A lot of the time horses are in MU for so long and they are so relieved to finally get out of MU and make both sides some money. A lot of horses have strong loyalties (it seems like) and genuinely feel bad when they are in MU for so long. this makes elio and I feel good that we picked the right people with the right character, but they gotta remember that we treat it like a business and we know bad runs can happen. Its hard to keep your feelings out of it all though when you chat with the same people each day/go through the swings/real life struggles.


Black Friday really put a damper on a lot of stuff we did like this (prizes etc). I used to run some sngs for horses with prizes, or top earners each month would get to play the million as a 1 time 50/50 no MU deal etc (few other things of this nature). I am gonna bring it back soon. its hard a lot of the time to make a contest fair across the board since we stake at so many dif levels.

Excellent thread so far, Thanks for this Zima.

Thanks for the reply, I agree with that 100%

why do all thes americans have a combined poker/health-fitness goals thread lol.

why not?

because maybe you are already fit

Have there been situations in the past where you've deemed a horse deep in MU to no longer be +EV in the games that they play? What happens then? Move down stakes/continue to coach?

we havent encountered this yet.

Time: 55 mins
Miles: 2.86 miles
Calories: 474
Steps: 5445

feel good about my "workouts". still struggling a bit with the food aspect. getting back onto the same routine i was on pre holidays, so think i will have my eating under control very soon.

Stable did pretty meh today. think we broke even, which i cant really complain about. keep having a few close calls which hopefully will turn around soon. Already getting excited for this weekend as Sunday will be one of the bigger buyin days we have had in a while.


I think as far as graphs go, i will just post sunday graphs. those should be the biggest swings and most interesting. hopefully this sunday graph will be better than the last 1.

not sure if its been covered zima but how deep are your pockets? the 30k downer last sunday not hurt you at all? do you still play the majors online?

Do you think it's wise if you're sweating how the stable is doing on a daily basis? Sounds like it would be more stress than it's worth.

Top 5 best value MTTs on stars iyo?

What have you done to people who have stolen from you?

Do you do anything other than manage the stable? Any side projects?

What %age of applications do you think you accept?

What do you think sets your stable apart from the other stables?

the 30k "downer" sucks, but doesnt effect anything on a day to day basis really. there have been worse sundays. its hard to really keep track of the swings, but i know our biggest swing was pretty big. as the stable grows in abi, i am sure the swings will get bigger. i can remember the first 5k downer me and pageh went on, and i was scared to death. now this 30k downer doesnt even register for me in terms of worrying. our "pockets" are pretty deep. Elio does well on his own playing and we have been doing this staking thing for a while and have built up a nice bankroll. people are doing profit chops while this is going on and some of the bigger guys we backed have left us, but we made a good chunk off them.

i dont really play much online anymore. i dont really enjoy online play and dont put any time into getting better. i would like to think if i put in the effort i could be good, but meh. staking is where i have settled down into and it seems to be going ok

What else am i supposed to do rather than daily sweats? (i workout once a day, then just do staking stuff) i mean, i gotta keep a watch over the stable and keep into tune with how everything is going. if i know how each horse is doing/feeling it makes things a lot easier to manage.

I used to search every horse every day and have them all on my search screen and just watch FTs as they happened (usually put them in the background as i was doing emails er whatever). the only day i do this on now is sunday since so many mtts get 10k+ to first. when me and pageh656 first started backing together, i can still remember sweating some 12 180 ft's and i can vividly remember the first time a horse won a 12 180 for like 594 er whatever. i was so excited cause i just won $150 for doing basically nothing. as time goes, i am sweating less and less. i still enjoy watching though, and always pull FT's up that horses are at (esp the ones in MU)


Dont really want to get into what we do to people who steal from us.

I dont really do much else other than manage the stable. its pretty much a full time job. If i was back in the states living in my home town, i would be playing the live games around there. I am hoping me and elio can get into some other business stuff together in the future, but for now staking really takes up most of my time.

we prolly accept about 5% of the applicants we get.


I am not to sure what sets our stable apart. i would like to think me and elio run a professional stable and are reasonable in all our dealings. i am sure some past horses would say otherwise, but we cant please everyone. I just try to act as fair as possible in all situations, and i think people appreciate that. i have seen a lot of friends fail in the staking business so i try and avoid those traps as well. i think the main thing that keeps me and elio going is that we understand we are running a business. a lot of time stakers get too caught up with staking friends, or being to nice etc. this doesnt mean i am not friends with a lot of the guys we stake. at some point though, there is a line that is drawn that we are business partners with the people we stake. and that line has to remain clear at all times.

It seems to me that you do more of the work when it comes to the day to day running the stable,taking on new horses etc etc.......

Do you mind if I ask then ,what %%% do you bring to the table when it comes to you and your partners total bankroll for the business?

Did you ever know that your my hero?

That your everything I wanted to be?

Anyone else read this and get a shiver down there spine?

meh, dont really want to get into this part of my and elios deal.

^^^

These are my favorite two posts, enjoyed reading so far

Sound like Gangsters.

GL with the challenge Zima! I used to be a small member of your stable Getting into or maintaining a healthy lifestyle is great for your game and all other aspects in life. Wish you the best of luck with your challenge!