Backlining is a side bet or arrangement between two or more players at a table. One of the players usually maintains the backline or pool. When any of the players in the backline wins a pot, a cut of the pot is put on the backline. The backline pot is divided at some predetermined time; either after so many rounds or hours or when one of the players leaves the game.
The amount that goes into the backline pot could be as little as one chip for each pot. In a limit game, it could be one chip for each bet in the pot. For example, in a $5/$10 game, one chip goes on the backline for every $5 in the pot. The players may agree to “half it” putting only ½ the amount on the backline if they are heads up in a pot.
The idea of the backline, other than just another prop bet, is that when one of the players is running bad, he makes some money off his "partner's" good fortune. There is one drawback to the arrangement, the backline are chips in play from the “holder’s stack and if they get short they might be betting the backline stack. You need to know the backliner has a cash roll to make good or be sure he or she has enough chips on the table to never go into the backline pool.
A good tight player should try to make a backlining deal with a loose player. The loose player may lose money overall, but he wins more pots (because he plays more pots), and so the backline accumulates a nice stack. The loose player doesn't mind contributing when he's winning, and when he's losing, and his "partner" is lucky, he gets something from it. Backlining is another, more complex form of the “save” which is the next poker definition we will look at.
