Team Investing Question

RJT

Well-Known Member
#22
moo321 said:
Why is that? Bankroll has nothing to do with skill.
But it has everything to do with profitability. With a 10k bankroll you really aren't giving any incentive for you players to play. Their hourly earnings are going to be so small that McD's workers will be earning a kings ransom by comparison - especially when you consider that the investor wants 70%.
Consider that you don't want to take too great a risk, so at the very highest you are going to play 0.5 kelly. This means that you are going to have a unit size of $19. Say $20. Your spotters would have to back count for this to be profitable at all and even then, you're not looking at it being overly high on expectation. Why would anyone want to play for you? What's their incentive? It's certainly not money.

RJT.
 

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#23
moo321 said:
Why is that? Bankroll has nothing to do with skill.
With a $10,000 BR,what would youe expected earnings per hour be?I'm guessing not much more than $10. Your investor gets 7,leaving you with $3,if your expenses are zero.Assuming you have any skill,you can make $3 an hour with a $500 BR,so why would you need an investor?
I'm thinking anyone that would go for such a deal hasn't the required skill in the first place.If they did,they'd know what a lousy deal it is.
 
#24
I have us making near $17-$35 depending on how much risk he wants to take. But with a 10k bankroll and only 4% risk, I have us making at least 17$ an hour.
 
#25
RJT said:
But it has everything to do with profitability. With a 10k bankroll you really aren't giving any incentive for you players to play. Their hourly earnings are going to be so small that McD's workers will be earning a kings ransom by comparison - especially when you consider that the investor wants 70%.
Consider that you don't want to take too great a risk, so at the very highest you are going to play 0.5 kelly. This means that you are going to have a unit size of $19. Say $20. Your spotters would have to back count for this to be profitable at all and even then, you're not looking at it being overly high on expectation. Why would anyone want to play for you? What's their incentive? It's certainly not money.

RJT.
Safe risk is 1% max divided between two hands. zg
 
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#26
IloveBjs said:
This is not a joke.

I'm going to be honest, my investor is not the smartest guy I've ever met. (except Ive never met him) He is willing to just send me 10k and have me play with it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really is true.

My thinking about the 10k bankroll is that I could play it, and if I won, then I could use him to finance future teams for much more of a BR.
Thats good rationale. Have him call me. zg
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#27
shadroch said:
With a $10,000 BR,what would youe expected earnings per hour be?I'm guessing not much more than $10. Your investor gets 7,leaving you with $3,if your expenses are zero.Assuming you have any skill,you can make $3 an hour with a $500 BR,so why would you need an investor?
I'm thinking anyone that would go for such a deal hasn't the required skill in the first place.If they did,they'd know what a lousy deal it is.
Where are we getting $10 an hour from? A 400 unit bank yields $25 units, and just back-counting spreading 1-8 you should be able to win 1.5 units an hour (according to Blackjack Attack).
 

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#28
moo321 said:
Where are we getting $10 an hour from? A 400 unit bank yields $25 units, and just back-counting spreading 1-8 you should be able to win 1.5 units an hour (according to Blackjack Attack).
Something in there doesn't sound right to me. U sure? What game r u talking about?
 

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#29
moo321 said:
Where are we getting $10 an hour from? A 400 unit bank yields $25 units, and just back-counting spreading 1-8 you should be able to win 1.5 units an hour (according to Blackjack Attack).
So why don't you invest $10,000 with them? You'll be making over $20 an hour on a rather paltry investment.
Or is it only good in the abstract?
You want to spread $25-$200 on a non-replenisible bankroll?
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#30
shadroch said:
You want to spread $25-$200 on a non-replenisible bankroll?
Is a 1-8 spread back-counting with a 400 unit bank considered aggressive? I'm pretty sure that's under 5% risk of ruin. I thought that was the approach recommended in blackjack attack, but maybe that's considered aggressive...

And it wouldn't be a non-replenishable personal bankroll, it would be a team bank.
 
#31
If u both are on the opposite coasts then how would u know about each other n about the profit or loss in game? First you should know about each other.... U should make one joint account which will be convenient to both of you...
 

RJT

Well-Known Member
#32
moo321 said:
Is a 1-8 spread back-counting with a 400 unit bank considered aggressive? I'm pretty sure that's under 5% risk of ruin. I thought that was the approach recommended in blackjack attack, but maybe that's considered aggressive...

And it wouldn't be a non-replenishable personal bankroll, it would be a team bank.
I personally consider a 5% ROR to be very aggressive. I try to never play with more than a 1% ROR if possible. Losing the entire bankroll 1 in 20 times is insane!
And from what i can see here it is a non-replenishable bankroll. Unless the investor intends to add more to it as the year goes by......

RJT.
 

JoeV

Active Member
#33
Bojack1 said:
I must say your plan here seems destined to fail. Its either a joke or just real naive thinking on both parties. First problem being I know of no investor willing to put up a high risk investment with small return potential, especially with strangers, and on something they know nothing about. Sounds fishy. Also giving the investor anything more than equal share is foolish. It gives those who don't know a false sense of empowerment and will lead to disputes on team direction and leadership. Plus with such a small investment as a bankroll there will be very little pay for the players, thus leading to very little motivation to play. Lets face it nobody likes to work for free, and make no mistake about it, it is no longer playing for fun when you have an outside investor that you don't know personally looking for his money, its work. There also needs to be some pretty meticulous record keeping if things are to run on the up and up. It doesn't sound if you're up to it or if you even want to.

My advice if you care to listen is this, if this is a real opportunity and not just a message board joke, pass on it. Play your own game financed strictly with you and your partners money. If you don't have enough money to play, practice playing until you do. Its hard enough to keep a team together without outside investors, let alone with an investor with no understanding of his investment. After you learn more about the game, and that means the money management aspect of potential investors, than maybe you could look into that avenue of playing. But before you even talk to an investor you should already have an agreement statute in place that covers all aspects of players and investors rights and expectations. That way all potential investors know right away what the deal is and if it will work for them, and it eliminates those who are just blowing smoke and wasting your time. Good luck with it.
This sounds like good advice but is kind of general. Like what is a reasonable split for investors and player? When would you detemine is a good time to split up profits? And what kind of terms should you set in an agreement beforehand? Do you personally have or had such agreements with outside money people? If so how did it work out.
 

Bojack1

Well-Known Member
#34
JoeV said:
This sounds like good advice but is kind of general. Like what is a reasonable split for investors and player? When would you detemine is a good time to split up profits? And what kind of terms should you set in an agreement beforehand? Do you personally have or had such agreements with outside money people? If so how did it work out.
As far as my personal experience and that of other similar teams, the split was always 50/50 for players and investors. It doesn't matter if the investors are players or not the split always remained the same. Of course if there were multiple investors each would get their proportionate share of the 50%. The same with the players share. Each player was paid according to hours played, and in our case position on the team. We would determine when to split up money, or breaking bank, based on a money goal. There was a backup plan if it in fact it was taking too long to reach that goal. Basically we would set a money goal and then through E.V. set a realistic amount of playing hours to reach it. More times than not we would hit it before the allotted time, but in the rare cases when we did not we would split any profits we had when we reached the time deadline. These were the basic guidelines presented to the investors. That and the minimum timelines we would secure the investment before it could be withdrawn. We would also have the guidelines of the teams expectation and playing rules to give the investor an educated estimation on return. Also all expenses not covered by comps came off the top before the split. We also reserved the right to perform or have performed backround investigations on all potential investors. To be honest it works for some to operate teams in this way, but not for the majority. If its a small amount and you know and trust the investor and vice versa it can help get your game off the ground. But as soon as your able its best to be independently financed. There are some big name teams operating with investors right now, but to be honest they aren't too profitable. Having a big name front the team helps get investors, and even with big losses keep them coming, but most starting teams don't have that luxury. The most profitable teams that I have known finance their own play, I suggest that route for most.
 

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#35
moo321 said:
Is a 1-8 spread back-counting with a 400 unit bank considered aggressive? I'm pretty sure that's under 5% risk of ruin.
I don't have a sim, so I don't really have a clue, but, if so, I just can't see that would give rise to 1.5 units ($37.50/hr) profit/hr like I think u said.

Perhaps, if u specify at what counts u enter and leave and at what counts u bet how many units, and maybe at what game with what penetration, somebody could sim it for u/us.
 

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#36
RJT said:
I personally consider a 5% ROR to be very aggressive. I try to never play with more than a 1% ROR if possible.
Well, keep in mind an optimal bet will give rise to a about a 13.5% ROR I think.

After all, it might take 300,000 hands or more for a flat betting $5 player to lose $10K.

It just seems for a card-counter to play to a 1% ROR would mean such a small amount of profit unless ur bankroll is absolutely huge.

But whatever works for u is right!
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#37
I'm just going according to Schlesinger's numbers. He is describing a ramp where you are coming in with a 1 unit bet at +1 and spreading to 8 at +5 or better.
 

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#38
moo321 said:
I'm just going according to Schlesinger's numbers. He is describing a ramp where you are coming in with a 1 unit bet at +1 and spreading to 8 at +5 or better.

No big deal but I can't seem to find it.

But, no, I don't think 25-200 backcounting a 8D with a $10K roll is aggressive.

Absolutely nothing to back that up lol.

I just can't see 1.5 units an hour but, again, nothing at all to back it up.
 

RJT

Well-Known Member
#39
Kasi said:
Well, keep in mind an optimal bet will give rise to a about a 13.5% ROR I think.

After all, it might take 300,000 hands or more for a flat betting $5 player to lose $10K.

It just seems for a card-counter to play to a 1% ROR would mean such a small amount of profit unless ur bankroll is absolutely huge.

But whatever works for u is right!
Yes optimal betting will give you a 13.5% ROR, but then you've got to remember that Kelly betting doesn't take certain things into account. Firstly it doesn't care if you lose all of your bankroll. Personally, despite the fact that my bankroll's replenishable, i'd be totally gutted if i lost my entire stake. Also Kelly doesn't care if you have to bet less than the minimum. I do. Then you have to think that Kelly (to bet optimally) would have you betting fractions of a unit, which you can't.
You are never going to bet optimally. In fact reducing risk is the name of the game. Look at the old MIT teams, they played a little less than 0.3 Kelly and they made a mint. Ian Anderson has no less than 1000 units at any one time - far less than full Kelly. I don't have figures for the Hyland team, but you can bet they play a lot less than full Kelly. The really sucessful players all play substancially less than full Kelly, it's just accepted that full K is too high a ROR.

RJT.
 

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#40
RJT said:
Yes optimal betting will give you a 13.5% ROR, but then you've got to remember that Kelly betting doesn't take certain things into account. Firstly it doesn't care if you lose all of your bankroll. Personally, despite the fact that my bankroll's replenishable, i'd be totally gutted if i lost my entire stake. Also Kelly doesn't care if you have to bet less than the minimum. I do. Then you have to think that Kelly (to bet optimally) would have you betting fractions of a unit, which you can't.
You are never going to bet optimally. In fact reducing risk is the name of the game. Look at the old MIT teams, they played a little less than 0.3 Kelly and they made a mint. Ian Anderson has no less than 1000 units at any one time - far less than full Kelly. I don't have figures for the Hyland team, but you can bet they play a lot less than full Kelly. The really sucessful players all play substancially less than full Kelly, it's just accepted that full K is too high a ROR.RJT.
I pretty much agree with all u say.

Trust me, I play with belts and suspenders. And then some. Basically, I hate losing alot more than I like winning.

I'd never recommend anyone playing beyond his comfort level.

All I ask from anyone is they have a clue of what their ROR is for the game and penetration they r playing, the spread they are playing with, and the bankroll they are playing with, be it replenishable, semi-replenishable, trip bankroll, session bankroll or all the money they have, and are willing to accept a lower win rate if that ROR is less than optimal.

As u say/imply, the worst thing anyone can do is over-bet a bankroll because they are greedy, undisciplined, ignorant or whatever.

All of which is why I enjoy counting in my own way, except for the called-for betting :)
 
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