How to become a poker prop
You may have heard that poker props earn nice salaries and all they have to do is play at the room that hires them in order to walk away with the goods. Naturally, you build an interest in becoming a poker prop yourself, and why shouldn’t you? There are winning players who used to be long term losers before they became props and tipped the balance the other way.
The first thing you need to understand about poker props is that they do not receive an actual salary. What they get is an exceptionally high rakeback percentage, often more than 100%, which means not only do they not pay rake but they actually get back more than they generate. Another thing you need to keep in mind when you decide to sign up as a prop player is that propping means responsibility. The room doesn’t hire you to provide you extra value, it does because it needs your services. Therefore, you’ll have to sign in with your shift manager every time you go propping. You’ll have to stick to certain limits, and you may even have to leave a juicy table behind if the shift manager says he needs you at a different table.
Poker props cannot join waiting lists and they cannot gang up on a table. They need to start their own tables whenever possible, and generally do their best to provide action, even if that means they’ll have to play tight and short handed most of the time. Every poker room which hires props has a set of restrictions binding them. Most of them don’t give prop players sign up bonuses or any sort of bonuses that regular players are entitled to. Poker props won’t be able to participate in promotions either.
Signing up as a poker prop is relatively easy. Just seek out a site which offers rakeback and prop deals, pick a deal and register. The site will not be able to tell you the name of the poker room you register for, for objective purposes, but you’ll learn that as soon as you sign up. Make sure you read the reviews offered by the prop deal provider though. These reviews are not your usual dime-a-dozen poker site reviews, they contain highly relevant information and your choice should be made based on that information. The restrictions that prop players are subjected to are different from one poker prop deal to another. One poker room may deny you a sign-up bonus, the other one may well give it to you. It is 100% up to the poker room what sort of restrictions it instates, so finding the type of poker prop deal which suits you best is indeed a question of careful research.
Once you find a suitable deal, signing up for it isn’t any more complicated than signing up for square rakeback. Not everybody is suited to being a good prop though. If you’ve a bad temper and you make a habit of berating your opponents through the chat feature, propping is probably not for you. You are hired to serve the other players not to argue with them, so adopting a professional attitude is of utmost importance. Get used to playing short handed. As a prop player you’ll play at many short handed tables.
One more thing before you make your decision: poker props may be the 'hired hands' of the poker room, but the money they wager at the tables is their own. Make no mistake about that.
