Sorry if this should be in the beginners thread but I've been playing quite a few years and never saw this until recently and none of my local card rooms offer it so just wondering what it is.

winner of the pot if its a certain size gets the rock which is a kill so the next pot becomes a kill pot.

if thats what you are talking about.

It's where the winner of the pot automatically straddles on the next hand. For instance in a 5-5 plo game, the rock will be $10 (typically taped together or held with a rubber band and will be used for the straddle. When a player wins the pit, "the rock" will go to the winner and will be used for the next straddle.

Also, this isn't limited to plo. The rock works just as well in holdem or any other game where you might see a straddle.

I've found the rock straddle offsets the value of position. Being on the left of a loose aggressive player is typically considered the best place to be but with a rock straddle, you'll be early to act preflop a lot. Being on the right of a loose aggressive player is typically considered the worst place to be but with a rock straddle, you'll be late to act preflop a lot.

So action starts to the left of the rock or still to the left of the bb? The games I play only allow utg straddles so sorry this is all very new to me

Left of the rock. So if the button has the rock, SB acts first preflop.

Sometimes to the left of the rock, sometimes it starts under the gun and you act in turn, I'm sure there are more variations. Exact details can vary by casino or by what the regular players have negotiated or local gaming regulations allow. Best to ask for details when you encounter it.

Locally the rock is used as a straddle in turn; ie the person who has the rock can't use it until UTG.

Sounds like a "kill" in some places. In our room, our limit games get half-killed when someone wins 2 pots in a row (2nd pot has to be more than blinds and have a flop to qualify). For a 10-20 game, the winner posts the kill amount of $15 and instead of 10-20 they will play that hand 15-30. Action starts UTG but if the kill player is UTG is starts UTG+1. The game stays a kill until that player doesn't scoop.

In Omaha hi/lo, we do the same kill if a player scoops the hi and lo on 1 hand.

Your room probably has its own variations. Best to ask the rules ahead of time. Normally if there is a kill/rock involved it should describe it on the table sign.

Kills have endless variations as well. I dealt a game with a leg up, kill, and a rock once. It was something like the way Guito described it, it stayed in the person's stack until they were UTG.

Basically, they're both ways to encourage action and bump up the stakes while keeping it listed as a lower stakes game. They're run differently everywhere so don't be ashamed to ask about it when you sit down.

Just a quick note to the nits: if you ask about the rock, and then don't want to try it, you might as well get a bright neon pink shirt with "NIT" emblazoned with sparkles.

It's one thing to say no from the beginning. Make up a story about how you turned a $500 win into a $200 loss the last time you played with a rock. NBD.

But if you appear curious and people describe it in positive terms, you appear like a super killjoy when you say (explicitly or implicitly) "no that sounds like too much gambling."

It might be possible to tilt the entire table if you pretend to be interested and ask about the rock, while knowing that you are going to say no to it.

We have a home game where if a player wins 3 or 4 in a row then the rock is permanently increased .. so the game can get quite big during a session. This is similar to a 'kill' but keeps going forward.

The rock is usually house money and then goes to the Dealer at the end of the night in our home game. GL

Love the rock. In our room, it's a typical $10 (1/3 NLHE or 1/2/5 PLO) that is a "fake" chip -- not like the actually chips in play. Goes to winner of every pot and is straddled the next hand regardless of position. Play starts to the left of the straddle.

The only time I don't like it is when some of the more gamble-crazy players are in the game and they would straddle every hand anyway. But it's still fun and I always approve.

Starts at left of the rock preflop as in other poker games. Rock straddle then the first guy to the left of the person who straddles and goes around to the straddler for an option.
Postflop starts from the sb after the betting is completed at the preflop

Thanks, I googled the question and it brought me here.

Sounds good. I used to play in Central America, where you could straddle and re-straddle from any position .... so this sounds like a good idea to me.

Is it spread in any Las Vegas rooms ?

Aria 5/5 PLO with $10 rock.

in effect it should tighten the game up as the rock has no value. all it does it makes the opening bet higher in relation to the blinds. unless they changed the way it works since ive seen it long ago and they stopped using it as the players wised up and complained.

Yes, the rock is just a 'tricky' way to shorten the effective (bb) stacks while possibly attracting a larger Player pool to the 'lower' stake. 'Good' poker dictates that you need to tighten your range since the dynamic of the game usually attracts action players ... like PLO really needs more action!

It also opens up the door to some 'backwards' positional thinking .. perhaps. If you have an active Player who takes down a lot of pots it may be wise to sit on their right since they will be the effective button for 'a lot' of hands PF. GL

and a bad position can mean you wont beat the game.

Aria has it with 2/5/10, with the 10 being the rock. The 10 is taken out of the very first pot won when a new table is started. If a player wins a pot and wants to leave they can take the 10 out of the plastic case that holds it as it's live money. If that happens, then the rock is taken out of the next hand played.

At Aria the rock is held by whoever wins a pot. On the next hand, they are last to act pre flop no matter what position they are in. First to act is whoever is to the left of the rock. After the flop comes out players act in normal order and the rock is irrelevant minus it adding 10 to the pot.

At Aria the buy-in is 500-1500. It's a fun game and pots can get really big. It is not uncommon to have regular pots in the 2-5k range and I've seen pots up to 20k. This game is also now filled with pros.