In the world of poker, managing your bankroll effectively can be as crucial as your skill at the table. One common practice for managing variance and risk is selling action: offering a share of your buy-in to backers in exchange for a proportional share of potential winnings. Whether you’re a rising grinder or a seasoned pro, mastering the art of selling action can open doors to bigger games while protecting your bankroll.
Here are three key tips to successfully sell action in poker.
1. Set a Fair Markup
When you sell action, it’s common to charge a markup — a premium investors pay above the buy-in for your perceived edge in the game. For example, selling at a 1.2 markup means an investor pays $120 for $100 worth of your buy-in, representing a 20% premium on your skill advantage.
Markup can be a double-edged sword. Setting it too high may discourage investors, while setting it too low undervalues your skill. To find the sweet spot, be honest with yourself about your edge in the specific game. Consider factors like your past performance, field composition, and tournament structure.
Be realistic and remember that long-term relationships with backers can often be more valuable than maximizing your markup for a single event. A fair deal where everyone feels like they’re getting value is key to building lasting trust.
2. Don’t Be Greedy
This goes along with the idea of tip #1. In addition to not setting unrealistic markup prices, make sure you are selling enough action on a percentage basis. I see a lot of players keep more of their action than they can afford because they believe in their skill. While confidence in your poker play is vital, it is certainly not the only piece of the puzzle in becoming a long-term winning player. Even the best players will go on downswings, and selling action is a way to protect your bankroll through these stretches.
Poker players can be guilty of being short-sighted in keeping their action, and not considering their long-term financial risk of ruin. Especially nowadays with re-entry format becoming so common in tournaments, players must be aware of their potential losses per tournament and extrapolate over a series or time period. Oftentimes, these greedy-type players will go very quickly from having all of their own action or a big piece of it to a very small piece as their bankroll evaporates. I’ve always believed in a steadier approach of frequent financial reassessments and managing risk exposure.
3. Realize That Not All Poker Tournaments Are Created Equal
While this one may seem obvious, not all tournaments, even at the same buy-in level, are created equal. Two $10,000 tournaments can be vastly different from one another, whether it be from a difference in field composition, blind structure, or a myriad of other factors. We should always be evaluating a given spot, or cash game or poker tournament, on a case-by-case basis in assessing what our expectation looks like and how much action we’d like to sell.
For example, a $10,000 High Roller tournament at the PokerGO Studio features a field of around 100 players – usually including the top players in the world – and uses 40-minute blind levels. These tournaments start around 125BB deep and have unlimited re-entry for the first 6-9 levels typically. Because of the tough competition, chips tend to fly around early in these tournaments and it is not uncommon for a player to be in for three or more entries. So while these PokerGO tournaments are among the best-run and most prestigious in the world, there is quite a bit of variance and a high max loss (relative to the initial buy-in).
The World Series of Poker Main Event, also at a $10,000 price point, has a field of around 10,000 players. While also including the top players, the skill in this player pool is much more diluted as it draws an eclectic group of both amateur and professional players from around the world. The last few years, this tournament has had a starting stack of 300BB and moves along at a glacial pace with two hour blind levels. It is also a freezeout tournament, meaning no re-entry is possible and a player’s max loss is $10,000.
Now while the buy-in is the same for these two tournaments, obviously they are two completely different beasts. If a player were to sell the same percentage of themselves in both of these events, then they would be doing themselves a disservice. We have to constantly adjust our action-selling based on potential loss, perceived skill edge, and frequency of the spot occurring. The best spots in poker, where a player will take a risk and keep a larger than-normal piece of themselves, come up very rarely. Assessing and adjusting our action-selling based on the value of the spot is an underrated skill as a player.
Final Thoughts on Selling Action in Poker
In conclusion, selling action is more than just a financial strategy; it’s a vital skill that can shape the trajectory of your poker career. By setting fair markups, avoiding greed, and tailoring your approach to the unique dynamics of each tournament, you can protect your bankroll while maximizing your opportunities at the table.
Whether you’re playing against the world’s best in a high-roller event or navigating a massive field in the WSOP Main Event, thoughtful action-selling allows you to manage risk intelligently while maintaining flexibility. Success in poker comes from more than just skill; it’s about making smart decisions on and off the felt, and selling action is one of the smartest moves you can make.
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