Have you ever heard of poker rooms paying players buyins to play?

I overheard a player talking before a tournament, saying that the owner pays his buyins so he will come in and stir up the action.

I watch the paid player closely, and he is super aggressive, opening a lot, making huge 3 barrel bluffs regularly, but not entirely spewy. (i would consider this added value if he was raising every hand, but he was playing a common lag style)

this seems almost like cheating or collusion of some sort, sometimes i play redic aggressive, and never get MY buyin paid for!

They're called 'prop players' and it's not collusion. Just the casino's way of keeping the games juicy and generating more rake.

These 'prop' player used to be somewhat common yester-year, but not so much now.

I recently ran into one of these players, told me a tale of getting paid to "fly out to vegas", and "paid to play", and I'm sure there was more to his stories and he just kept flapping his gums. I listened to him for about as long as I could take, then quietly just paid more attention to me own game.

IMO the long and short version is this.....when a player acts strong they're prolly weak, -we've all heard this for years, and true a lot of times.
In this case when a player goes outta thier way to tell you this tale, its just another story. Another player that subcionciously has some self esteem or hiddeen self worth issue so they make thierself into something their not, but wanna be. Use your same reading skills you would apply when involved w/ a hand and use common sence.......

That is not a prop player, that is shill and that is not how shills were generally used. This sounds more like a private club. I have seen private clubs where they do a similar thing, they will "put players in" to make the game start.

Just a couple definitions because when these come up there appears to be some confusion. A proposition player (prop) is paid by the casino to come play with his or her own money. A shill is given money by the casino to play (I believe these are extinct). Generally a shill does not create action and in some jurisdictions is not allowed to make aggressive action.

Prop players generally receive an hourly rate (here its 20$ an hour at most card rooms), but the poker room does NOT pay their buy-ins as that would be a major conflict of interests.

sweet thanks for the replies, never heard of these terms before (99% online player)

the prop player was actually one of the tougher players in the field, everyone else was pretty passive or sloppy.

I feel like if the owner is adding players to the game with his companies money... the player should be more spewy! (rebuy tourney he didnt rebuy once eek)

now i see complete idiots play, "i dont play cards much" or "im just here for fun" and i wonder if they are planted by the owner. But no, they are usually just helmuth style nits that talk like noobs, think they secretly know how to play, but rly have no clue

Im guessing California with that high an hourly?

how do you become a prop player?

give the owner/manager some weed?

yep. what is it in your area? (and what is your area?)

I'd like to know how to become a prop player as well. I'm in southern california and can go to any local room. What are the requirement? I'm a huge winner, but I'd love to get paid an hourly as well.

With poker being as popular as it is, I doubt seriously that anyone will pay you to be a prop player. Maybe at a club or something but not at a casino. It might even be technically be illegal or look very suspicious if anyone found out. At the clubs a lot of dealers will just jump in with presumably house money to get the game going and get up when real players are in and circulating their money instead.

Im in NJ but I am 99.99% certain no poker room here employs props. And I doubt they would pay them 20 an hour. Cost of living isn't as high as southern Cali.

prop pay depends largely on what stakes you play, at the casino i work for there are many different tier levels for propping, ranging from $15-$40/hr

I went to one of the LA county casinos and I talked with the prop manager there. He told me that the casino normally hire props for the higher games that need players ie 40/80 limit etc. higher 7 card stud etc. So it's not like you can sit down at 2/5 NL and get paid for it.

RR is right; they are long gone in mainstream casinos.
An obscure private club might use the 'game-starter' but poker nowadays is a far cry from 20/30/40 years ago.
Consigned to history.