I work with a boss's chip in the poker room.

My boss told me to fold all the hands and pay only the blinds.

Your salary is $10 an hour, and would you do this job?



I turned down the job. To protect my pride.

Sure, if you like reading or Watching shows on your iPad or doing something else similar on the job, it’s at least as good as any other 10/hr job. Or if you can take advantage of your tight image while playing your own money later.

Other than the obvious 'slowing' down of the blinds I'm not sure the point of your job. Did he ask you to be 'very' social to keep the game lively? Pretty much any/all poker Player will pick up on the fact that you're not playing any hands.

Most 'house' Players do actually play the game with their own money AND are also typically expected to 'keep the game gong' or entertaining. It is their job, so even though they may be at a juicy table if the Floor comes by and tells them to move over to another game their trying to get going ... then that's where he's off to.

I played in a room where I would sometimes tell the Players that the room paid me to be an action Player to 'max rake' each pot. Some of them would think about it and I even got a few comments weeks/months later too ... fun fun. GL

No way, your hourly just playing normal poker should be higher than $10 / hour. You could also find a job more worthwhile that would pay around that or more.

Depends on your definition of “worthwhile”. A lot of people would be happy to get paid more than minimum wage for a job that basically consists of chatting with other people, pushing two cards a couple inches forward every 60 seconds (on average) and playing Candy Crush on their phone.

A "House" player can be either a Shill or a Prop Player. Both shills and prop players are employees, getting paid an hourly wage to play poker, entering and exiting games at management's discretion. The difference is whose bankroll is in play.

A shill is playing with the employer's money. The results will not affect a shill's income, and the employer can stipulate what strategy the shill needs to play. Usually, a shill will play extremely tight "face-up", only premium hands and playing them straight forward, never slow playing, bluffing, semi bluffing, or taking long draws.

A card room owner or floor manager may play this way as a shill, expecting to lose a little bit just trying to keep games from breaking. It would be bad business to appear to be trying to beat the players aggressively.

A Prop Player plays with his/her own money. A Prop can play any strategy they choose, without direction from the employer.

The house player in this discussion is a shill. I don't understand how performing a shill's job functions of folding poker hands would negatively affect one's pride, any more than any other low paying unskilled job. The shill job would not have more esteem associated with it if you got to play more hands (but it would be less boring). I would turn the shill job down because it is indeed boring and a dead end, with no upside past the hourly wage, unless I absolutely needed the money and had no better income opportunities. Pride would have nothing to do with it.

I was never a shill, but I did formerly work as a prop player full time in a California card room for about a year in 2001-02, and part time sporadically in the few years before and after that. All before the poker boom, playing small stakes limit games 3/6 or 4/8 holdem and omaha hi/lo. Overall as a prop, I won at a very small rate above my hourly wage. Chump change, but not bad for an easy job.

I quit because it was extremely boring to play as a prop, having to play in bad games and sit out of the good games. Took the enjoyment out of poker for me. I took a break from poker after that for at least a few months, before starting to enjoy the game again, just as the poker boom happened around 2003.

Thanks for your great post!! 157 posts in 12 years!! Quality over quantity for sure!! GL

I would not do the job. I won't do any job for $10/hr. If I were in the market for a minimum-wage job, though, perhaps I would be interested. It's incredibly easy, but also incredibly boring.

If the OP comes back ... and if they are in SK as indicated, then that wage (I assume) would be pretty damn good! $10 'cash' does translate to around $13.50 as well. GL

Unless you can make more money doing something else, it sounds like easy money to me. Sit on your butt and watch tv (assuming there's tv to watch). Occasionally move some chips and cards. Hell with pride, that's not worth turning down a job.