I haven't backed anything really major but I have put up the money for friends in small tournaments around my school campus, usually around $20. It's nice for me because if I bust out and one of my friends comes in the top 5 (usually 20 players or so) I get my money back and then $60+ more.
Being the backer is nice, but I couldn't imagine having to pay a backer in a bigger tournament though.
Take Steve Dannenmann for example, his friend backed 5k of his 10k entry and in turn got half of his winnings, something around 2.25million.
If you look at it though, (and I hope I am getting this all right) Dannenmann won something like 4.5million for second place. My guess is that he had to pay around 1.8 million in taxes, leaving him with 2.7 million. So by the time he gave half to his friend he ended up with only like 1.35million.
Personally I don't think I could risk giving up that much money, because 1.35 million isn't that much in the big scheme of things.
I don't know much about backing though, I'm guessing not every situation is that extreme and that in most cases, backers don't get 50%. I think someone mentioned earlier they took 10% from TP one time, which wouldn't be so bad.
-Tim
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