Backing deal - what's fair?

[Windbreaker]

I'll make up names to make it easier.

Sandy and Paul are pretty good friends. Sandy and Tracy are cousins. Paul does not in the same city as the Sandy/Tracy.
About 15 minutes before the $650 WSOP ME satellite begins, Sandy asks Paul are you available? Paul says ya, why? Sandy says, Tracy wants to play the WSOP satellite but we have to go out for dinner. Can you take over when we go?

Paul says sure...why not. Paul didn't ask for a cut and only expects to play for an hour or so. Tracy says she'll give 5% if she ends up winning a seat. Paul was like basically sure..whatever.

Tracy starts the tourney and doubles up early and ends the first break with 6200. This is about double the chip average at this point. This is when Sandy and Tracy leave for dinner. Before they leave, they indicate to Paul that it may longer than he expects since it's a big family gathering. Paul didn't think too much of it.

Long story short, Paul continues to play for another 7 hours without a word from Sandy/Tracy. No clue where they went, but just kept playing. Paul goes on and won the seat.

Sandy/Tracy tells Paul the dinner took longer than expected, and when they returned home, there was a power outage and obviously can't log on.

Originally Tracy was planning to play in the ME and take a 12k package, now because of recent down swing will just take the 11k cash.

How much should Tracy give Paul?

[Talking Poker]

Wow..... That's a tricky one. Per their agreement, she only OWES him 5%, but honestly, I think just about anyone would offer considerably more than that. Their agreement also said they would be gone an hour or so and Paul ended up having to play a LOT longer than that. Yes, Tracy doubled up early, but you don't win a tourney in the first hour... For the most part, Paul did all the work.

I really think splitting this right down the middle is fair. Using even numbers that everyone should be happy with: Give Paul $5000, and Tracy has still turned her $650 into $6000, which isn't bad at all for one hour of play and the having someone else do the rest. Remember, without him - even if she didn't go to dinner at all, she would have turned $650 into $0 because of the power outage.

Yeah, he deserves AT LEAST 5 grand, IMO.

[juiCe[3x]]

I agree with TP here. Paul did most of the work and played the hard part of the tourney. Sure she played and got him a good stack but the first hour is generally the easiest.

[Windbreaker]

Ya I got screwed in the deal. I'm Paul in the story and didn't even ask for anywhere near 50% of profit. I didn't even get 2/3 of what I asked for. All I know is money does things to pepole.

The cousins of my friend are sort of online pros, as this is their only source of income. They're basically mid stakes grinders. I dont play as high as them as I know theres areas I need to improve in my game and I dont like the increase in variance.

The sad part is Im pretty sure Im a better tourney player than them..and could improve their game. (eg. Ive watched them play the bigger sunday tourneys and they never resteal without a real hand). Restealing was a huge part of this satellite win and I dont really think they appreciate or understand the fact that if it wasnt for me they would have end up with nothing.

Oh well....shame on me...I just wont deal with them again or without a proper agreement before hand now.

[badblood44]

To be completely fair (playing Devil's Advocate here), how much of a factor to your performance was the fact that you had no risk in this situation? If you lost, you were out nothing. Could this have led to you making properly aggressive plays that you wouldn't have normally made if the $650 investment were 100% your own?

Now please don't get me wrong, I'm confident that winning that seat in 7 hours of play is quite an accomplishment. In fact, if it were me, I'd flat out give you AT LEAST 50% since you did most of the work. I'm just asking out of curiosity.

PS: Hope you at least got $2k

[Windbreaker]

I played very aggressive in the tourney not because of the zero risk element....I played aggressive because it's a satellite that pays equal to the top. My resteals came with proper timing - eg. loose raiser and I have position or my reraise push was so deep that only a monster hand could call me. I play the situation more than the cards. I was never called all in for the entire tourney. I was lucky no one ever had aces or kings in those spots. I would not have played as aggressively if this were a normal paying structure.

Before this tourney started, I was 10 tabling low limit tables to clear a bonus. I abandoned that when I took over. I only played this tourney the rest of the night.

And no, I did not even get 2k. It makes me a bit pissed...but there's nothing I can do but learn from this.