THE ENTERTAINER
What kind of business are professional poker players in? the sentiments that a poker pro is some kind of hustler are common among pros, and suggest an attitude that playing poker professionally is akin to operating some kind of confidence game.
When I was playing poker for a living, that’s not the way I looked at it. I thought of myself as being in the entertainment business.
It was my job to entertain folks to give them a good time, to provide them with a reason to give me their money. I think I gave value for the money.
I think it might depend on where you play. In Las Vegas or Los Angeles, you don’t have to depend on regular players to get a game up-Los Angeles has a large population and Las Vegas has lots of visitors.
Out in the bookdocks, however, a pro has to ensure that the supply of players doesn’t dry up. I’ve always tried to help any opponent who wanted help.
That doesn’t mean offering unsolicited comments at the table, but I don’t hesitate to offer a thought if it’s asked for.
I’ll even explain the reasons for my own play if I’m asked (I do that away from the table).It has seldom hurt my action at all to do any of that.
In fact most of the time I think it helps me, because then I know what a particular opponent thinks I have.
If you’re going to play poker, whether for a living or just for recreation, make sure you’re having fun. There’s no real point to it if you’re not.
PROP PLAYERS
One way to make a living as a poker pro is to work for a cardroom. Some cardrooms use proposition players (called prop players).
A “prop player” works a regular shift in the cardroom and is used to help start games and fill-in when a game gets short-handed
He’s paid a wage to fill up a chair at whatever table needs a player-but he plays with his own money. A prop player differs from a shill in this respect. A shill plays with house money, not his own money.
A prop player differs from a shill in this respect. A shill plays with house money, not his own money.
I’m not aware of any cardroom that employs full-time shills, although some do use dealers on break to shill for short periods to get a new game started.
It’s certainly possible for a prop player to lose more than his wage in the course of the shift.
Of course if you do that very often, you won’t be working as a prop for long-not because the cardroom cares whether you win or lose, but because you’ll just run out of money.
Prop players cannot pick their games. They have to play in whatever game is short of players. This often means games that just aren’t very profitable.
A game with good table conditions will usually have a long waiting list of customers wanting to play in the game.
However, if you’re skilled at playing in short-handed games and can shift gears and just play tight when the situation calls for that, then you can probably do fairly well as a prop player.
Working as an employee of the cardroom has some added benefits in the form of such things as health insurance and verifiable employment for creditors.
