vegas props

[el Jefe]

I think this is the proper term -- casino employees (off duty dealers?) that play in the poker room.

I was playing in Vegas for the first time last week and during a daytime sesssion at the Luxor (4-8 half kill) it quickly became apparent that almost everyone at the table knew each other and all of the dealers in the poker room. I was ok with this as the game was pretty loose-passive and just figured them for a bunch of locals playing their regular game -- except many were quite young. After an hour or so another obvious regular (all the dealers and some players greet him when he comes in) sits down to my left and says to the guy sitting to his left "are you working or playing?" In very hushed tones the player to his left says "working"

my questions are: is this a standard occurrance? are these guys playing with house money? should I avoid games like this in the future?

later that night I was playing at Binions and brought it up and there seemed to be some disagrement over whose money was being played (house or tips) and whether or not you wanted these guys in your game. FWIW the guy that was 'working' was by far the loosest player at the table.

what do you all think?

thanks.

-Jeff

ps. the live low-limit games in Vegas are every bit as good as advertised. Thanks 2+2!