Hello,

in my room, the rake isn't dropped when a game starts with 4 players. Once we reach 5 players, the game is raked including when multiple players leave and we get back to 4 players.

We rake 5% capped at 3bb.

We are currently changing things up and are wondering what is common as far as rake reduction for special circumstances.

Some of our players call for rake reduction when we get back to 4 players, and in some cases we drop it down to 5% capped at 2bb.

Once a couple of players wanted to start the game HU but only if the rake was 5% capped at 1bb.

I was thinking we could have a standard rule where rake is 5%, capped at 2bb for 2 players, 3bb for 3, 4bb for 4, 6bb for 5+....

Thoughts?

Normal rake is 10% to $5 (on 1/2 and 2/5 NL and also 4/8 LHE).

If the table is 6 handed or less it's 10% up to $3. Technically the players have to request the reduction but a lot of dealers will call for it on their own.

If a table started 4 handed it would still be raked. Also pigs would be flying and hell frozen over. It's often hard to get guys to start 6 handed and these low stakes.

It boggles my mind that the rake is not written down and posted in a public place in every room.

My room has the rake posted. It doesn't matter what it is - the main point is that there's no ambiguity, errors are verifiable on camera, and that you don't need to ask for rake reduction when the game goes short.

In my room if they are starting a game short they will often let them start it with no rake just to get it going....games are a lot easier to fill up once you get cards in the air so doing what you can to encourage them to start is a big help

Dealers in my room are given a reduced rake schedule so if a player asks for a reduced rake we have a standard we reduce it to based on the number of players .... but if the players ask a floorperson they have the discretion to go lower than the standard if it makes sense in the circumstances.

That's the idea here, to have a systematic approach to rake that I could print out of have available on our site.

This gives the floor the flexibility to tailor the rake to the situation.

If you are trying to get a game going you might want to go lowerer than usual to get it going. On the other hand in a small room late at nightyou get short handed with no expectation of gaining ground .... and you have a dealer on overtime maybe you want the game to break .... so you don;t reduce the rake...

Even on overtime, it's hard to imagine the room not making money. Twenty hands an hour at $2 rake, they still rake $40 an hour. But then, nobody ever said poker floormen were the sharpest knives in the drawer.

These games aren;t necessarily raking anything..... if you are raking a percnetage of the pot (as opposed to so cal system of taking the rake up front) short handed games can tie up a table and dealer with tiny pots and chops for hours while players chug free cocktails at the rooms expense. Now in this case a rake reduction may not actually men anything in real $$$ .... but these players don;t think that way and when told that they can;t have a reduction they get up and leave even though they are barely being raked to begin with.....


But even more inportant even if you give a $2 rake .... it might be you would have been willing to go lower in other circumstances ... such as when you think if you keep the game going a little bit you will get more players...

My room has an automatic rake schedule. No need for players to ask for a reduced rake. Rake is 10% up to $5 max at 7 handed or above.

6 handed - $4 max
5 - $3 max
4 or less is $2 max

Reduced rake is usually fine. In my rooms there's a $1 drop for 5-handed and shorter. The limiting factor for a game starting is not people thinking the rake is too high but that there are very few people willing to play short. If people won't play 3 for $1, they probably won't play 3 for $0.

Giving the floor discretion as to how much to charge creates more problems than it solves. People will complain and threaten not to play unless they get the rake they want, which they know is up to the floor to give or not give.

It also creates a whole bunch of conflicts of interest, like the floor giving unraked games to the people he's banging and reduced rake to the people he likes and then refusing to reduce rake to people he dislikes so that the house won't see a drop in overall revenue.

Most charity rooms near me go with the $6 max .. but they go by a "Players minus 1" rule for reduced rake.

6 players .. $5 max
5 players .. $4 max
4 players .. $3 max .. although most dealers will only take $2

There is one room that will actually bust tables late in the day if it's not to their benefit to stay open. Room operators are on a 'max' income of $900 per day (at 45% of the rake) ... So once the room hits $2000 in rake (on $15K in chips max) there is no incentive to stay open other than the charity makes more money.

Very rare to see a casino shut a table down but I hear it's happening more often with labor costs in mind ... I don't think there's any 'union' influence in this room either. GL

I always love it when the 2/4 table gets down to 5 players and they ask for a reduced rake, when they've already gone for 2+ hours without building up a $30 pot.

Ditto here. If a second table wants to start with 4 or less Ill let it go rake free till 5th sits. However in the opposite direction at end of night I hold to the above.

The biggest thing you have to decide is whether or not its scheduled rake or if you max until a player asks for reduced. Once we hit 9 players we do max as players leave until asked for reduction...which never takes very long.

We do not ever shut down early unless we sell out and the games die. We always try to let the dealers and floors make as much as possible for the day. As far as I know Detroit Metro rooms rarely do this.

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At casinos near my home the rake is 10% capped at $7, <6 players rake capped at $5 for 1/2 & 2/5. At my winter home in another state the base rake is 10% capped at $5, <6 players rake is 10% capped @ $3 for 1/2 & 2/5.

You always have to ask for reduced rake and it's a pain in the ass because they call the floor, the floor comes, the floor approves the reduced rake and then usually within 5 min either the game breaks because it's short handed or enough people join to make it full rake again.