Proposition bets at the table
Ok...so my local card room just had all of the tables redone and now there are "poker hot spots" for each position 1 through 9. Under the "spots" are proposition bet odds payout charts. For example....you may place from 1 to 25 dollars on your spot. If you hit your flush....you get 15 to one. A royal flush pays 1000 to one. You must place your wager before you get cards and you must use both cards in order to qualify. I am still a little fuzzy on wether you have to stay in the hand all the way or if you can win without a showdown and then collect. At any rate..my question to you all is how would you expect this type of option to affect the play at 1/2 no limit? I already assume the small 2/4 fixed games will still be no foldem hold em. I just don't know how the no limit will go. This option is to be available starting May 1. Thanks for any thoughts.
this is absurd and is not in the best interest of the game. the beauty of no-limit is the fact
you can bet an amount in relation to the pot which doesn't give your opponents the correct price to play. now if you offer jackpots, proposition bets and other gimmicks, you skew the
odds and allow overlays. this is not pure poker.
This sounds interesting to me. I can't decide on whether I'd like it in the end. But a few thoughts:
1. I'd never play it myself. Casino won't offer these bets without an advantage, so I am sure they are -EV to play. If I laid 15-to-1 on getting a flush, only when dealt two suited cards, I would be out A LOT of money. Fair odds, I believe, are about 19-to-1. And the way I am running lately, 99-to-1 might be around "fair". And this assumes you keep "playing" even if you fold you hand in poker. Otherwise, this becomes an abomination.
2. On the plus side, you could quickly identify the odds-challenged and the gamblers at your table in very short order.
3. On the down side, if people are placing bets on the propositions from their poker stacks, that is more money for the house and less money for the people who go on to stack them. In general, stacks would be smaller on average at a table like this as the gamblers lose their money to the house. I think this factor is, on average, bad for skilled poker players.
@allin67 excellent points
The prop bet on any game is essentially a "sucker bet" and therefore only benefiting the house. You would have to hit very frequently to just break even, let alone win. Not many hands are playable preflop and I would assume folding kills the bet
the house advantage here is massive. if the house is laying 15:1 for you to hit a flush by river
and both hole cards must be suited, the true odds are about 65:1
rake is the silent killer in poker and is already too high in most rooms.
now the greedy bastards want even more? best to not even play in this room.