Backing into the (Oklahoma) Money

The former Rev. Good Chuck in Fort Worth wants to play in the $1,000 Red River Roundup main event, being put on by the mighty-noble-legendary Winstar tribe of Thackerville, OK. We all know he\’s a pretty good player in few-hundred dollar tournaments, so he\’s looking to try his hand at something a little bigger.

But he also wants to do it with a little backing love. He has a potential investor, and he\’s trying to figure out the best, most sensible deal for both parties. His initial thought is to allow the backer 30 percent for $500, or 50 percent for $800. As you know, we learned a lot about backing deals during the WSOP, specifically that the \”you buy me in and get your money back + 50 percent\” isn\’t necessarily the standard. So anyone got any thoughts on this?

Good Chuck is a good guy and a quality player, with proven mini-success in small tournaments. He cashes regularly, knows how to make final tables, and has the ability to pull it off and/or blow it when he makes the final three. His objective here is to hedge his bets in an attempt to smartly manage his bankroll, and to show his potential backer friend that putting him into tournaments could be a fun way to earn a nice return … decent chance of a small payoff, small chance of a sweet windfall.

Chuck Pettigrew evaluating play at the 2005 Lodge TOC

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A couple other possibilities Good Chuck (an accountant by trade) is thinking about: offering Good Backer a deal where Chuck refunds him $500 if he doesn\’t cash … and/or a sliding scale where the deeper he gets, the the cash payout goes up, but the percentage goes down. These little addenda sound interesting, but might just confuse matters. Winstar, by the way, is hoping for 1,000 entries, which would make the prize pool a cool $1 million. But they don\’t expect, as of now, to sell out. Still, the winner should expect to receive somewhere close to 23 percent of the overall prize pool.

UPDATE: It appears this is a $1,000 +100 tourney — $1,100 to play. So how does this affect what\’s mathematically correct and morally righteous? I could swear I figured all this stuff out during the WSOP, but as I tried to explain to Chuck everything I knew, I could tell the numbers weren\’t adding up.