Poker Staking & Markup Calculator
Price a piece of any player, find the markup that is actually fair, and build a sellable package in seconds. Every formula is spelled out below.
The deal
ROI is what the player earns per buy-in on average. It is an estimate — treat any figure above ~20% with heavy skepticism unless it is backed by a large, verifiable sample.
Methodology — the exact formulas
- Cost of a piece:cost = buy-in × share × markup. The share is the fraction of the player's action you buy; markup 1.0 means you pay exact face value, 1.2 means you pay a 20% premium. Cost per 1% is simply buy-in × markup ÷ 100.
- Investor break-even ROI:a backer receives their share of the player's cashout and pays share × buy-in × markup, so they break even when the player's ROI equals markup − 1. Above that line is investor profit; below it is loss. The backer's own expected ROI is (1 + player ROI) ÷ markup − 1.
- Fair markup (seller): we use the common 1 + (share × ROI) heuristic. Keeping the whole edge means markup = 1 + ROI, which leaves buyers break-even; keeping a fraction of the edge (default 50%) sets markup lower so backers retain real expected value. This is a pricing convention, not a law — it assumes your ROI estimate is accurate, which is the shakiest input here.
- Package totals: each event contributes buy-in × entries of total buy-in, of which % sold becomes face-value action and (face × markup) is what backers pay. Blended markup is total backer payment ÷ total face value sold. Your out-of-pocket is total buy-ins − total backer payment, which can go negative when you sell enough action at a high enough markup.
- What this does not model: ICM and deal-making in the actual tournaments, staking makeup (carried losses a backer recoups from future wins), taxes, and site fees. It also cannot judge whether an ROI estimate is real — that is a statistics problem, and small samples prove almost nothing.
How poker staking and markup actually work
Staking is simple at its core: a backer buys a percentage of a player's action in one or more tournaments, pays that share of the buy-ins up front, and collects the same share of whatever the player cashes. Markup is the only wrinkle, and it is where most disputes start. When a player has a real skill edge, selling action at face value would hand backers a free profit, so the player charges a premium — a markup of 1.2 means backers pay $1.20 for every $1 of buy-in equity. That premium is the price of buying into someone's edge, and pricing it fairly is what this calculator is for.
The single most important number for a backer is the break-even ROI, which equals the markup minus one. Buy at 1.15 and the player must average a 15% return on investment just for you to get your money back. That framing cuts through a lot of noise: a 1.3 markup is a bet that the player sustains a 30%+ ROI, a bar very few tournament players clear over a large sample. The buyer tab turns any deal into that break-even figure and, if you feed it an ROI estimate, into your own expected return.
Setting a markup you can actually sell
Sellers face the opposite problem: charge too little and you give away your edge, charge too much and no one buys. The fair-markup heuristic splits your estimated edge between you and your backers. Keep the whole edge and markup climbs to 1 + your ROI, but that leaves buyers break-even in expectation, so nobody wants the action. Leave backers a meaningful share — half your edge is a common, genuinely fair split — and your package sells because there is profit in it for the people funding you. The seller tab computes both the ceiling and the fair number, plus the ROI your backers can expect at the price you set.
The honest catch, which this tool states rather than hides, is that your ROI estimate is almost always the weakest link. Tournament results are so high-variance that ROI needs thousands of games to become statistically meaningful — the same significance problem our win rate calculator quantifies for cash games. That is exactly why real-world markup clusters between 1.0 and 1.2 no matter what ROI a seller claims: backers rationally discount numbers they cannot verify. If you are early in your career, price near the bottom of your range and let a growing sample earn you higher markup over time.
Building and posting a package
Most action is sold as a package of several events — a festival series, a Sunday schedule, a Day 1 with re-entries. The package builder totals the buy-ins, the action you are selling, and what backers pay, then shows your net out-of-pocket after the markup premium lands in your pocket. Sell enough at a high enough markup and that number goes negative: you are freerolling the series before a card is dealt. The copyable summary formats the whole package as clean text you can paste straight into a forum staking thread or a tweet, with the cost to back 1% already worked out for your buyers.
Whether you are buying or selling, treat staking like the high-variance investment it is. Backers should spread small pieces across many players and events rather than load into one; sellers should remember that a backer who loses with you is deciding whether to fund you again. Sizing every stake as a small slice of a dedicated roll is the same discipline our bankroll calculator applies to your own play, and the variance simulator shows just how long a +EV deal can run underwater before it comes good.
Frequently asked questions
What is markup in poker staking?
Markup is the premium a backer pays above the face value of the action they buy. A markup of 1.2 means a buyer pays $1.20 for every $1 of tournament equity — so a 1% share of a $1,000 buy-in costs $12 instead of $10. The extra $2 compensates the player for their skill edge. At 1.0 markup there is no premium and buyers pay exactly face value.
How much markup should I charge when selling action?
A common heuristic ties markup to your true ROI: charging 1 + ROI captures your entire edge and leaves buyers break-even in expectation, so most fair packages sit well below that — often 1 + about half your ROI — so backers keep a real profit and actually want to invest. In practice most staking changes hands between 1.0 and 1.2 regardless of claimed ROI, because buyers heavily discount unproven results. This calculator suggests a markup from your ROI estimate but flags that the estimate itself is the weakest link.
How do I calculate the cost of buying a piece of a player?
Cost = buy-in × percentage bought × markup. Buying 5% of a player in a $215 tournament at 1.1 markup costs 215 × 0.05 × 1.1 = $11.83, of which $10.75 is face value and $1.08 is the markup premium. Our buyer mode does this for any buy-in, share, and markup, and also shows the ROI the player must hit for you to break even.
What ROI does a player need for me to break even as a backer?
Exactly the markup minus one. If you buy at 1.15 markup, the player must average a 15% ROI just for you to get your money back; anything above 15% is your profit. This is why paying 1.3+ markup is a bet that the player is genuinely elite — few tournament players sustain a 30%+ ROI over a large sample, and small samples prove almost nothing.
Is staking markup the same as the seller's profit?
Not quite. The markup premium is cash the seller collects up front regardless of results, which lowers their own risk in the event — sell enough action at high enough markup and a player can be freerolling before cards are dealt. But the seller still keeps their retained share of the action, so their total expectation combines the up-front premium with the equity they did not sell. The package builder shows your net out-of-pocket after backers pay.
Why do backers distrust high markup?
Because ROI is extremely hard to prove. A tournament player needs hundreds of thousands of hands or thousands of tournaments before their ROI is statistically distinguishable from break-even, so a backer buying at 1.3 is trusting a number the seller usually cannot yet support with data. Smart backers treat markup above roughly 1.2 as a red flag unless the player has a large, verifiable sample — the same significance problem our win rate calculator quantifies for cash games.
How should I bankroll staking as an investor?
Like any high-variance bet: buy small pieces across many players and many events so no single bust hurts, and never stake with money you cannot lose. Tournament variance means even a genuinely +EV backing deal can lose over dozens of events. Size each investment as a small fraction of a dedicated staking bankroll — the same discipline our bankroll calculator applies to your own play.
Related tools
Convert tournament chip stacks to dollar equity. Chop math.
Simulate downswings from your win rate and standard deviation.
Track your roll, set stop-losses, know when to move stakes.
Interesting spots. Solver-grade analysis.
Occasional strategy emails: one interesting hand, broken down with equity, range vs range, and the GTO answer. Free, unsubscribe any time.
Unlimited AI hand reviews and every cheatsheet — PRO from $9/mo