Most smart poker players these days sell, or at least swap, some of their action ahead of big tournaments. There are a few marketplaces that facilitate such arrangements, including the poker forum Two Plus Two.
On a casual flick through the board earlier today, I came across a thread started in the staking section by Mick Graydon, who is one of Ireland’s most successful poker players of recent years. In what he described as a “last minute” decision, Graydon said he was selling 25 percent of his action to this €1,100 Main Event.
Graydon made a very persuasive pitch, linking to his Hendon Mob profile, which shows live cashes of more than $500,000, and then to his online tracking profile, which shows more than $3 million in tournament results.
“I’ve played over 20 EPTs so plenty of experience with big live mtts,” he added. Having pressed publish, he could then sit back and wait.
But he didn’t have to wait very long. Within 11 minutes of dangling his line into the pond, a poster named Habermau5 wrote: “1% for the sweat”. But after netting that tiddler, Graydon soon found a huge flounder on the hook only 18 minutes later. A poster named DBerglin (who seems very likely to be the Swedish player Dennis Berglin) wrote: “rest/24% sending stars”.
Even by the standards of the staking piranhas, this was very rapid and very successful–a measure of Graydon’s standing. His 25 percent was gobbled up in two bites.
And now, with only 35 players remaining of the 544 entries, Graydon is demonstrating what fine value for money he is. He’s sitting in the middle of the pack with around 340,000 chips, with at least €3,600 locked up. (Blinds are 5,000/10,000 at present.)
As Graydon was sitting out while a hand played out, he explained that he fairly often sells action for live events as a way of cutting down on tournament variance. He also revealed that he didn’t actually end up selling the full 24 percent to Berglin as he had made other arrangements even before Berglin’s swoop.
“He’s got five percent,” Graydon said, adding that he doesn’t know the stakers personally but was happy to give them the sweat.
During a very high number of those 20 EPTs he’s played, Graydon has had a small plastic dog as his card protector–a toy that has carried through numerous countries and at least a couple of continents. But the dog today is absent.
“I lost it,” Graydon said. But he wasn’t weeping. “I’ve done all right without it, mind,” he said. Maybe it was the dog holding him back.
Graydon’s biggest single live score was €67,200 for a final table appearance at EPT Deauville in 2012. With €130,410 up for grabs for the winner of this event, maybe BIGMICKG (and Habermau5 and Berglin) are heading for even bigger things.
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