I'm playing in Nice France in a week, I usually play 2/5 and make around 45/hr live poker. This game is 5/5 4% uncapped rake. I know this is a large rake but I have been reading that these games are unbeatable in the long run because of the rake. Would it not just reduce my hourly rate by 4% compared to if there was no rake? Can someone explain this to me please. Thank you

If won 1 pot per hour, and that would be your winrate, you would reduce your hourly by 4%, yes.

But that's not how it works.

A closer model is you win 100 pots per week, and lose 90 pots per week. The difference is 10 pots, which make up your winnings. Now if you rake 4%, it not on the 10 pots profit, but on all the 100 pots you won, so 4 of the 10 pots are raked away.


Another way to look at it: When you are in a pot with weaker players, you are averaging an edge of 0.5% - 5% usually. If the rake is 4% in each pot, your edge melts to potentially zero. (Holdemmanager stat, average all-in EQ, for example, to see something similar).



But it's still beatable if it's fishy enough. If your winrate is insane, you can just wait for premiums, and still win more than the rake eats.

Ohhhh, okay I understand now, thankyou