Support

Questions, problems or ideas: we read every message.

Common questions

The same answers are in the app, under Settings.

• Which game style should I pick?

  Pick by where the money goes.

  Everyone bets into one pot and the winner takes it (poker, most card and dice games): Pot game.

  Everyone bets against a dealer or the house (blackjack, baccarat, roulette): Banker game.

  Everyone puts money in once and someone wins it all later (fantasy football, brackets, squares): Pool.

• What's the difference between Pot, Banker and Pool games?

  Pot game: players bet into a shared pot, hand by hand, and the winner of each hand takes the pot.

  Banker game: each player bets against the bank, which pays winning bets and collects losing ones.

  Pool: no hands or turns. Everyone puts money in, and you award the whole pool once it's decided.

• How does the bank work, and how do I pass it?

  In a Banker game, the bank covers every bet: it pays the winners and collects from the losers, so its balance goes up and down with everyone else's. The bank can be one of the players, someone who isn't betting (like a friend backing the game), or everyone sharing it. Whoever deals the cards doesn't have to be the bank.

  To hand it to someone else, tap Pass on the bank banner between hands (or ⋯ → Pass bank). The new bank accepts first, and everyone keeps their balance.

• How does settle-up work?

  When you end the game (⋯ → End game), Staks works out each person's result: what they ended with, minus everything they put in, rebuys included. It then lists the fewest payments that square everyone up, like "Mike pays Dana $40".

  Pay each other however your group likes, tap Mark as paid as you go, and use Share results to send the list to your group chat. Games counted in Points show the results only, with no payments.

• Everyone paid one person up front. Does that change anything?

  There's no setting for it, and you don't need one. Staks assumes nobody has paid anyone yet, so it lists the fewest payments between people.

  If everyone handed their buy-in to one person, that person simply pays each player the "ended with" amount from the results (someone who lost everything gets nothing). Or they can hand back everyone's buy-in and follow the payment list. It comes out the same.

• Can a player make more than one bet, or add to a bet later?

  Yes, in a Banker game. Once a player has bet, tap their name to add to one of their bets or make a new bet (up to 8 each). Each bet gets its own result.

  For games that bet in stages, like a blackjack double or split, Three Card Poker or Ultimate Texas Hold'em, tap Keep betting once everyone has bet. Each player then taps Add to bet, New bet or No more. Tap Go to results when you're done.

  In blackjack: Double is Add to bet with Double It, Split is New bet with Same as Bet 1, and Insurance is a new bet. For a surrender, mark the bet Lose and tap its amount, then Half back.

• What does the lock next to a bet mean?

  The bet is in. It can always be added to, but never lowered or taken back without approval, just like chips pushed across the line at a real table.

  In a Pot game, if someone raises after you've bet, it's your turn again: call (the Call button fills in the amount), raise, or fold. In a Banker game, tap a player who has bet to add to a bet or make a new one.

  To lower or take back a bet, use ⋯ → Undo or change a bet.

• How do undo and changes work, and why do they need approval?

  Mistakes happen, but money should never move without the people it affects knowing. During the current hand, ⋯ → Undo or change a bet asks for approval. In a Pot game, everyone in the hand approves, since the pot is shared. In a Banker game, the player and the bank approve, since each bet is only between them (with a shared bank, everyone). Nothing changes until they all do, and anyone asked can decline.

  Once a hand ends, its bets are final, so fix an earlier mistake with a Transfer. Every request and approval stays in Game History.

• What is a Transfer?

  A Transfer (in the ⋯ menu) moves money between any two people at the table, including the bank. Use it for side bets, tips, or fixing a mistake from an earlier hand. Both people approve it first, and it can be undone later the same way.

• What does Sit out do?

  In a Banker game, Sit out skips the current hand for a player, before they bet. They aren't in that hand's results, and they're back in automatically for the next hand. (In a Pot game, the same button is Fold.)

• Can someone leave early or buy back in?

  Yes. ⋯ → Leave the game lets someone go with what they have. They settle up at the end like everyone else, and can come back anytime with Rejoin.

  A player who runs out can Rebuy: they put more of their own money in, everyone else approves, and settle-up counts it as part of what they bought in.

• Does Staks hold or send real money?

  No. Staks only keeps track. It never holds, sends or receives money, and never asks for bank or card details. At the end it shows who owes whom, and you pay each other on your own, with cash or whatever app your group uses.

• Where are my games stored, and how do I delete them?

  Only on your phone. Staks has no account and sends nothing to us.

  Removing a game from Recent games (swipe left, or Clear all) only takes it off that list; it stays in Game History. To erase every game, delete the Staks app from your phone.

• Is Staks on Android?

  Not yet. Staks is coming to iPhone first.