Its amazing how different rake can be in any part of the country, in fact you can say in any part of the world. Its as if it takes on its own culture with traditions and customs to follow. Out by the east coast they take up to 10% max 4 dollars in the lowest limit games plus a bad beat jackpot. But, in CA they take a drop e.g. $4 + 1, $5 + 1. What does that really mean? Maybe a Californian can answer this question. Do they always take $4 dollars per pot or is it a % as in the east coast. I also hear they take a $1 or $2 rake before a flop so when it goes SB vs BB you lose money by not chopping??? Seems out of this world to me

In California it's illegal to rake a percentage of the pot so they take a drop of a fixed dollar amount. Say $2 pre flop + $3 on the flop. Generally when you hear drop it's going to be that fixed dollar amount situation. Rake is generally a percentage of the pot though you'll hear a time charge referred to as "time rake".

As mentioned, in California a percentage of the pot rake is illegal in a card room. The amount taken by the casino is a fixed amount regardless of pot size and is put down the chute into the drop box, hence the term "drop".

When we say "the drop is $4+$1" what we are saying is that the casino is going to take $4 from the pot for its payment, and then take $1 from the pot for the BBJ. This is regardless of pot size. The *best* that we can hope for is to play in a "no flop no drop" casino - i.e., if there is no flop (i.e., the blinds chop or a single raiser takes down the pot preflop) then the casino doesn't take anything for itself.

This leads to some interesting scenarios. For example, in a 1/2 game, if there is one limper, the SB folds, and the BB checks, a casino with a $4+$1 drop will put a flop on the table, and then proceed to take all the money for the drop, leaving a pot of $0.

This type of casino *does not exist* in Los Angeles though, where the "no flop drop" can range from $1 to $2. In L.A., even if there is no flop, the casino is taking money for itself. The worst case are games like the $2/3 at the Commerce, where the modified drop is $2. If everyone folds around and the blinds chop, the SB is losing his/her $2.

What the drop really does at the lower stakes is to remove stealing and small ball poker from a player's arsenal, since we lose a large percentage of small pots to the casino.

Thats so weird, i never heard of that. Guess we are really spoiled out here on the east coast. I'm done complaining about rake. It must be really tough to beat the low limit games with a drop and makes sense to play a higher game but you need a decent bankroll for that. Thanks for the great response guys