i'm interested to hear peoples thoughts on using debt financing, such as a bank overdraft or small bank loan (2-3k), to finance a roll for a small stakes cash game.

I have recently been asked to stake someone for a live roll, he is a winning 50/25NLreg who has cashed out and spent his roll and doesn't want to spend a gd chunk of his final year (we are college undergrads) grinding it back up. There is a super juicy .5/1 and 1/2 game that runs at our local casino, it plays really deep and really ******ed. Needless to say he would turn a much larger profit there than any amount of hours he could put in online.

I told him that I don't do staking for many reasons, especially at the moment as i seem to be depleting my roll every time i log on. However I've played at the casino a few times, once or twice with him, and there is potential for him to make the roll back in one sitting (i once cashed out 17.5BI after a 6 hour session).

I understand equity financing has it place for higher stakes, cash is less accessible, bigger risk etc, but what about using bank loans etc. to roll yourself for a small game you know you can crush?

As students we've never taken out a loan etc. so i dont know enough to advise him that it's a great idea, but at least in theory it seems like a small risk for alot of reward. Worst (EXTREMELY unlikely) case scenario is that he bustos and has to spend his frist few graduate pay cheques settling up with the bank. However i believe that ~ 80% of the time he finances a roll within a month or two and pays the original debt back with minimal interest payments.

borrowing 3k to spend on your hobby would be fine even if you had no chance of making money. The down side is not bad at all so go for it.

$2-3k is a fairly insignificant amount of money. I understand staking when it comes to nosebleed tournaments but at this level it is a pretty horrible idea. Someone who can't come up with that little has somehow ****ed up. Don't ever get involved with people who are **** ups.

This is also a good way to ruin the friendship. I have no idea what kind of return you are hoping for but if it is small then you are putting your friendship at risk for chump change. If it is significant then he is going to resent you as you are making a mint off such a small loan. Either way it is just bad.

yeah thats why i don't do staking, especially in this scenario.

But i can understand his frustration when he sees how easy the game plays but can't play. So i figured this was the best way forward, but he didn't seem convinced.

Why can't he get his own credit card?

i think you misunderstood. i'm enquiring about it in general, for him. wanted to see what the finance minds thought of this idea and whether it was silly for a student to take out a 3k loan to finance a poker investment, or if it was even feasible given the lack secured income.

I mean, Henry loses that amount in 3/6 LHE no problem, so it's obviously an insignificant amount.
http://www.pokertableratings.com/sta...search/henry17

On a serious note, I know tons of people who were in college that would have a difficult time coming up with 3k that were about to be making 50k+ in 6 months. If your friend is a significant liability or a bad poker player I'd just tell him that straight up, if he isn't then I would probably feel pretty comfortable staking him in a small NL game at the casino. Just settle up after every session and you eliminate a lot of the risks that occur.

Personally, I understand his reluctance. There's a certain stigma about going into debt to finance gambling. I would think someone who has at least some hesitation about doing that is more likely to be responsible than someone who dives headfirst into it.

Oh. In that case it is fine. I thought you were going to get the credit card and give him the money. Which is why I said it would ruin the friendship.