07-18-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Advice For House Or Prop Players

Question:Hi,

Is there a poker strategy for the house-player. I got paid $18.75 an hour to play poker in the casino. I only play up to $8-$16 with a kill pot. These includes all the game. I always play tight to protect my hourly pay, 'cause we play our own money. Do you have some advice on what's the best strategy for us? I really appreciate if you do.

Thanks.

Harry

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

Answer: For the new players, let me explain what a prop player is. The cardroom needs to have players to get games going; no players means no games and when there aren't games going, no players show up; they are in catch 22. So to solve this problem, the cardrooms will pay players an hourly rate just to show up and fill a seat. The players play with their own money, keep wins, take losses. Along with the hourly rate comes some stipulations, like you have to play at a certain limit. For example, they wouldn't give you $50/hour to play at $3/6 holdem.

Now for the advice... From my experience, every house or prop player I have played with has been a rock. The difference between a rock and an expert player is that the rock isn't playing ideal poker. The rock isn't playing enough hands in the right spots to take advantage of the errors made by the inexperienced opponents. I think it is fine to get your $20/hour, but you could double that if you learned to play ideally for the game.

Most of the prop players that I've played with take the attitude that they are there to just get their hourly rate from the cardroom and they only play huge hands preflop in hopes to preserve that rate. I wouldn't take that approach. Get a good bankroll for the $8/16, probably $2000-3000, and actually beat the game. Those 4/8 structure kill games can be very wild and profitable. (For the readers, a 4/8 structure refers to the chips used: $4/8, $8/16, $20/40, $40/80, $100/200, etc.

People like seeing more chips on the table and play looser, as opposed to a $3/6 or a $30/60 for example which only uses a 3/6 structure. And a kill game is one where if a player wins two hands in a row, the next hand doubles in stakes and the winning player has to post a blind -- which also makes the game looser.) My guess is that you know how to play the big cards well, but need some fleshing out on how to play the middle cards well. Often times if you flop a big hand with something like T9 or J9, you can win a rack or more in those games. Also, for the kill pots, I think usually people tighten up more for them and the killer usually always calls the raise.

My approach is to play very aggressively in the kill pots. If I can't raise the hand coming in, I don't play it. These kinds of things will be uncomfortable for you if you are thinking about the money though, which is why the proper bankroll is the biggest tip I can give you. Lastly, I don't want to just say, "play good poker!" but that is what it comes down to. Learning how to beat these games requires some finesse. I would list a bunch of texas holdem tips here, but I'm working on an article for these types of games right now, so check back in a couple days and it should be up.

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