September 12, 2011

Poker Prop Strategy – Who wins at Poker?

If one were to believe all the bragging and showboating that goes on at various message boards and online poker forums, one would think everyone does. The sad truth is different though. Obviously, it’s a mathematical fact that there are more losers than winners in poker. In live poker, breaking even or losing about 1 BBs per hour is considered a rather impressive accomplishment by most experts, at least at the lower stakes.

The most popular low-stakes live poker games are obviously the $1/$2 Limit Holdem ones. According to some, no one really wins at these stakes though as funny as that may sound…There are multiple reasons why these stakes-levels seem to be populated exclusively by recreational players. First of all: the poker rake is a huge factor at the live tables. Then, there’s the natural variance of the game, which – given that players at this level generally do not possess large enough bankrolls – is sometimes able to single-handedly wreck bankrolls. When one adds the gas costs plus waitress toke and who knows what other sort of expenses that come with the turf in live poker, the picture becomes clear: it is quite impossible to beat these games in the long-run.
If we move the entire equation over to the realm of online poker, several of these toxic variables disappear from the get-go. That is exactly why some players – usually those who are able to break even or lose only marginal amounts in live poker) manage to pocket a BB an hour here and there. That’s what makes multi-tabling a winning proposition for many of these guys: by multiplying the slight edges they’re able to generate, they end up with an acceptable trickle of profits.

This is where poker propping comes into the picture: even the worst poker prop deals manage to pretty much do away with the poker rake completely. For many a marginally successful player, the dropping of the rake from the equation means a sky-rocketing of the profits. Some of the poker prop deals go further, and by offering a rakeback percentage which exceeds 100%, they reward players for the time they spend at the table. If you’ve heard stories about how marginal losers have managed to turn their game around thanks to a poker prop deal, this is your explanation right here.
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