Hi Byron,

To expand a little on what Gene wrote on Proposition players. They do play with their own money, and subsequently absorb any wins or losses.

A shill player in a casino poker room would be playing with the casino's money. He or she didn't lose any of their own money when they lost, nor did they get to keep any winnings.

I was a prop player 10 years ago in Cripple Creek. A couple casinos used both props and shills, but they didn't use shills for very long, and I don't know of any casino anywhere that uses them today. To my knowledge, every Colorado casino with a poker room uses props today. If you want to know who they are when you sit down to play, just ask the dealer and they will tell you. ...by law, they have to.

Ten years ago, I was making $7/hour as a prop. If you worked a minimum of 30 hours a week, the casino also paid for your health insurance. I enjoyed the job. I was basically getting paid to do what I would have been doing anyway. I also got used to playing poker for 12 hours per session. ...it took a lot of discipline. There were often stretches of an hour or two when I wouldn't get dealt a single playable hand. It's hard to stay out after sitting for a long time and catching nothing but garbage, but you've gotta do it.

Bob