What is a Prop

"Prop" is an abbreviation for proposition player. A prop player is someone who helps start and maintain poker games. Props use their own personal bankroll to play with and are solely responsible for their own wins and losses. Do not confuse "prop" with "shill". A "shill" is backed by the house and uses "house" money for their bankroll.

On-line poker rooms will offer various bonuses to props that are willing to support (start and maintain) their poker tables. It will often vary from 90% of your rake back* and sometimes, special short term deals come along as high as 165% of your rake back. Or you may also be paid on a pennies per hand dealt deal. It all varies from site to site and so do the seating rules.

The Benefits of Propping

Students of the game recognize this additional propping income as an opportunity to instantly improve their hourly expectation while beginning poker players appreciate having a way to earn a little extra cash as they get more play-time under their belt.

Generally speaking, props choose the table limits, playing schedule and minimum hours or hands per week that they're comfortable with. However, sites will often offer extra incentives to props that put up a lot of hands per week or play higher stakes. It really varies.

If you thrive on shorthanded play, propping is right up your alley. The shorter handed you like to play the better because the money you earn in rake back in this situation can be outstanding. If you want to do it on a full time basis, about 25+ hours per week, multi-tabling, earning $1,000/week in rake back is easily achieved.

The Downside of Propping

Propping is not for the faint of heart. You are expected to start tables with only 3 players and Heads Up play is usually encouraged but not mandatory. Hence, you really need to get your shorthanded game into good shape.

The whole object of propping is to try and play break even poker and collect your rake back at the end of the week. Although this may sound easy, it is not. You will often be starting tables against other props who are extremely well seasoned, shorthanded players. In fact, you will run into some of the very best low limit players on the net. Although you receive your rake back, usually on a weekly basis, during the time you are playing it is being collected off the table and it is sometimes very difficult to overcome the rake during shorthanded play. In heads up situations, it is not unusual to see both players lose.

You will also be playing at sites that have very low traffic (few customers) and you will have no game selection. You will often just be sitting on an empty table waiting for other players. Hey, if they had awesome traffic, they wouldn't need you and wouldn't be getting the big bonus bucks.

As a prop player you will not qualify for first time depositor bonuses, reload bonuses and special promotions that the sites offer to their regular customers. However, from time to time there are exceptions to these usual site policies and often separate prop incentives are offered.

No matter how brutal the beat you have just taken on a table, you must always remain polite in the chat box. If you lack self control in this area, propping is not for you.

In my vast experience of propping, there has yet to be a site that offers any loyalty to their prop programs. Be prepared to move from site to site. You can wake up in the morning and find your site has dropped it's propping program or significantly altered it, without any warning. Quite often, this happens because the site is naive or misinformed when they initially set up their prop program deal. The worst is propping a site for ages, you help make it successful, then they drop the program. They no longer need you.You are simply a commodity to be bought and dropped and that is the reality of it. I certainly wish the successful sites would show a little more "class" in this area.

Still Interesting in Propping?

I do not run a propping program but I will put interested persons in touch with the right people. Send me your name via email.

Words of Advise to Site Owners Considering a Prop Program

Hiring a propping team for your site will not make it suddenly flourish. You will need to bring the customers or the props disappear as quickly as they came. Sites best suited for a propping team are ones that already have a modicum of business, wanting to expand it in certain areas.

Be warned, many sites offer excellent propping opportunities and in many ways attracting good props to your site can be almost as difficult as attracting customers.

In order to attract the props to your site, on mass, you will need a stellar initial offering for a limited time period. It is very wise to publish, in advance, what your rake back incentives will be over a long term period, especially if it is your intention to decrease the rake back percentage over time. Props get left with a really bad taste in their mouths when sites just start decreasing the pay scale without any warning. They will be much more inclined to show loyalty to your site if pay decreases are known in advance.

Regrettably, the word "prop" has negative connotations amongst many customers and sites always demand confidentiality in this area. I can well imagine the difficulty prop managers have screening players in this regard. Expect a bad apple or two will slide through. On the other hand, you will have many very professional props at your tables who will help police and report bad behavior/breech of confidentially to their prop managers.

The more regularly you can pay props the better staying power they will have on your site. As site owners, you know the rake will eat up even the best players at low stakes, especially during short handed play. I highly recommend paying props on a daily basis if possible. If you pay on a weekly basis, expect many props to go broke, sit out and wait until pay day to get into action again. Also, good accounting methods to props will be of strong value. Props really like to see what they are earning in bonuses everyday, especially if there is minimum hand requirements or bonus hand incentives being offered.

I believe it important for sites to recognize there are two very distinct groups of props.

The top group of props I call "The Starters". These "Starters" are the meat and potatoes of actually getting your games rolling. They are generally semi/full time players with good bank rolls and staying power. They are generally fearless players, for the most part, who thrive on shorthanded play and they will often move on to the next table once it fills with customers. They will be the smallest player group, responsible for the majority of total hands played from the group at large. It is important that when you do bottom line analyses of the prop group benefits to your site, that you recognize that this group of players will likely have cost you the most monies during their shorthanded play, however, be very careful not to overlook that they generated you a full table (game) and they are no longer likely participating in it. This group of players recognize their value to a site and want to be paid for it accordingly. They know that low stakes poker against fellow props is a long term losing proposition and they need the extra value added bonuses to make a proper income. An on-going program for this group of 130% will keep them at your site on a fairly loyal basis given a few customers. Anything less and they will wonder, looking for the next best deal.

The above group will also be extremely helpful in giving expert software feedback to you. They have played multitudes of sites and know what's good.

The second Group of props I call the "Fillers".

These are props that are usually recreational or part time players. They recognize the value of rake back and want to take advantage of it. They, however, despite the requirement to play shorthanded, seldom do. These players will start jumping into your tables once they become 4 or 5 handed. They are valuable in getting your tables filled up and maintaining them. Although rake back is important to this group of players, less seating rules is far more valuable to them.

Props want your site to be successful and they will remain loyal to you if you treat them as humans and not as commodities to be bought and sold. If you get a successful prop team working your site, do not meddle with it. Even successful sites benefit from always having game starters on hand. Let the program fade by attrition.

 

*rake back - can be calculated many ways, here are 3 of the most common methods.

Rake Rebate = Rake dropped divided propportionately by the monies you contributed to the pot.

Rake Share = Rake dropped divided by the number of players dealt into the hand.

Pennies Per Hand = A penny amount, predetermined and awarded for every hand you are dealt. E.g. 3/6 limit poker may award you .12c/per hand dealt.

 

By Lynne Milner, December 2006