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Sold Action

Selling a percentage of your tournament buy-in to a backer for that share of the profit.

What is Sold Action in poker?

Sold ActionSelling a percentage of your tournament buy-in to a backer for that share of the profit. Sold action is the practice of selling a percentage of a tournament buy-in to a backer (investor) in exchange for the same percentage of the profit. Players selling action typically charge markup (above face value) when their expected ROI justifies it. Sold action is standard in tournament poker, especially for higher buy-ins where bankroll requirements exceed a single player's available funds.

Formula

Backer pays: buy-in × percentage_sold × markup. Player invests: buy-in − backer_payments. Player nets: (final cashout × percentage_owned) − net_invested.

Example

A $1,000 tournament with 50% sold at 1.2 markup: backer pays $1,000 × 0.5 × 1.2 = $600. Player invests $1,000 − $600 = $400 net, retains 50% of the cashout. A $5,000 cashout returns $2,500 × 0.5 = $1,250 minus $400 invested = $850 net profit to player; backer profits $2,500 − $600 = $1,900.

How StackEdge uses Sold Action

StackEdge tracks Sold Action automatically from your session log and surfaces it across the analytics dashboard, alongside related metrics — broken down by game type, venue, stakes, day of week, and time of day. See the full analytics suite →

Related terms

  • BankrollThe total amount of money set aside specifically for playing poker.
  • ROIReturn on investment — average profit per dollar of tournament buy-in.
  • VarianceThe statistical spread of your poker results around your expected win rate.
Sold Action (Poker Glossary) — Definition + Formula | StackEdge