Can someone give me a standard range for what I could expect to see being charged for rake at a 1/2 home game? I know they serve some food, and it's not just buddies. Thanks a lot.

Very location specific. Anywhere from $5 max to 10% uncapped.

Thank you. It ended up being 10% capped at $7($1 of that goes to the hourly high hand, $20 to the winner every hour). Was fun getting queens all in on the flop vs 2 open enders and they both hit a queen for the straight, haha. Should be a money maker in the long run.

If you have a 1/3 NL game running twice a week and 2/2 PLO game going twice a week, how much would you be making on rake? (10-12 hr games)

You need to know how many players per table you will have, how many hands per hour you will average, the average pot per hand, and your rake percentage and cap (if any). Then it is a simple calculation.

Eneely hit it on the head. Also, you can safely count on raking more per pot in PLO than in NLHE.

But you also have to account for the fact that you are going to deal fewer PLO hands per hour than you will NLHE.

Yes, you would need separate estimates for PLO and NLHE. You might also have fewer players or not spread it as often.

So about 3 weeks ago I went to this 1/2nl game which raked 10% $5 cap. I found out they make over $100,000 a year. I figure the entrepreneur and poker player I am, that I should start my own game. I know what poker players want, and know enough players to get some games running. I would have dealers, supply pizzas and home cooked meals, and am thinking about having free beer/liquor and maybe having a hot bartender who could make pretty decent tips (there are a few millionaires that were playing.)

I asked my friend about it and he said they would prob. just call the cops on me because i'd be cutting into their profits. I live in a non-sketch place so nothing physical would ever happen to me. What is the next step to making my thought becoming real? Am I wrong to want to compete for business here?

TYIA

Lol if they ring the police just give them the night of the week that the other douchebags are running their thing. Fight fire with fire. Either that kidnap their children.

And also, no. You are in no way wrong for wanting to cut in on their profits. I want to cut in on the copper racket going down at work but don't have the men or position to get into it properly.

That has got to be an incorrect figure for a 1/2 game I would think. Unless they are running several tables at once with looong sessions I'm inclined to say that is a tad high. Also, from seeing several people I know try and fail to cut into this type of deal, you are statistically bound to fail. I know one guy who said exactly what you did, the home cooked meals, the hot bartender, the dealer and massage girl... The problem was he could not generate a big enough game to sustain himself, and was in the red almost immediately. You don't want to be paying out of pocket for amenities when your game is in its infancy. The fact that you'd try to take business (players) from another well established game will not go over well with anyone, players included. Just my .02

Also, if you're in the US, this is almost certainly illegal in your state.

I run a game every week and have never even thought of taking a rake despite the fact I could probably generate $30-40K a year if I did.

The reason for me is simple. It's just not worth it. I understand the risk of getting caught is probably minimal but if you do it will cost you way more than whatever you could possibly make running a small raked game. It's not the legal defense costs that I am most worried about it's these three letters, IRS.
You get caught and they can prove you ran game for profit and didn't report the income, you're screwed.

As I already said, I think the chances of getting caught are probably slim but if it happens you'll wish you never did it.

This thread belongs in the club game containment thread. I'll move it there, with an expiring redirect. So look for the discussion there.

there is a few people who $10 straddle. Normal button raise is $10+ so you can imagine how huge the pots get on the flop/turn. I've seen 1k pots at this game and ive only been going for 3 weeks.

I would host some 2/5 maybe once a week also, and then 1/2 maybe twice a week.

How much does a casino make off a 1/2 NL rake per hour? Full ring.

Based off of my dealers....130-150 an hour. That figure might be slightly off as our game runs extremely big. The majority of hands are max raked.

Just one table!!??

That's per table. We have 1-2 per night, 2 nights a week. That's a 5.00 max rake. 4 (house) +1 high hand

Some of the games here in Atlanta rake 10% up to $15, and that's at a 1/2 game! Here I was btchn' bout the $9 rake you usually see. If it weren't for PLO and PLO8 I just don't think there is any way that you could profit play NLHE with rake $9+.

That being said- I am enjoying playing some of these underground games way more than I ever was at Palomar in San Diego. There is a lot more game selection out there, generally a better class of people, and playing poker is actually fun for a change.

Well, many $1-2/$1-3 NYC games are raked too much, but at one place they only rake 10% to $6 and the game plays deep after the first hour or two. When you factor in the travel time (1.5-2 hours each way) and expense ($30 or more in gas/tolls or bus fare) of going to Parx/AC, where the rake is $5, and they dont provide any free snacks and not all of the tables play deep, I think players really get a better deal playing there.

You would never go to AC to just play for 3-4 hours after work, but some of these guys do just that, sometimes staying a lot longer - trying to get unstuck, obviously. The game last night (Saturday) went until 8am.

Plus they have Netflix for after the second loop of sportscenter is done.

On that note- why the hell does sports programming always have to feature so prominently at the poker room? Listening to a bunch of grown men fawn over star athletes with page after page of memorized statistic about a game I don't care about always tilts me to no end.

I totally agree. The on and on about what a coach should do the next game, what a player needs to do the next game, the endless analysis...it gets very old. I know some people lap this stuff up, but for me, just give me the important sports news, then shut up and show the game.

Wow. Of all the dealers I use, two of whom are professional dealers, I don't think I've ever had an hour raking $5 max that exceeded $130. I'd say $5 max should get you $110-$130. An absolute base is $100: if you can't rake that average hourly for your turn in the box, you won't be coming back to deal. I'm an average dealer at best, and I always rake $110+.