Blind level 1/3. Rake capped $15 at 10%. Soft game full of fishes that play about 40-70% VPIP preflop with a few tight players. Postflop, these fishes are kind of on the passive side. Not really capable of making huge moves, more calling stations but can fold. Little 3betting going on.

Because the rake is very high what kind of adjustments should I be making?

Here are some adjustments I thought about:

- Tighter opening ranges
- Opening smaller
- Have a open limping range
- Use smaller size bets in general

What do you guys think about using a smaller opening size? I would usually 4-5x it in live games but what about 3-3.5x? It would keep the rake down but the down side is that pots would be smaller when when I probably have the skill, card and positional advantage.

Play tighter and open bigger, not smaller.

damn isn't rake usually capped at 5? that's crazy

Never call river bets

Drop always, or no flop no drop? Makes a big difference. Min and max buyin? How deep do people sit on average?

Generally, you want to get to the magic number (in this case 150) as fast as possible, so I would say bigger opens, bigger bets, 3 bet a ton, never limp.

What do you mean by drop? Average stack is about 150bb. Min is 100, max is 500. Thanks for the advice.

Drop always is his way if asking if they take a rake if no one calls the bets pre flop.
No flop no drop = no flop is dealt means no take is taken regardless of other action.

Some places will rake the pot if it goes limp, limp, raise, shove, all fold.

Do they take the rake if the hand ends preflop? If they do, open tighter and bigger. If they don't, open wider and bigger (huge even, until people adjust).

Also, if most people buyin for 500 and reload, then the game is beatable, if most are buying the min, then not so much. Average stack 450 is good. Follow my advice above, and try to get the pot to 150 on the flop.

No rake if it ends preflop.

What's a good btn opening range if the blinds are playing something like 40/20/5. Everyone has 100+bb, any ace, any pair, 56s+ JTo+? Anyone this is around standard but I wonder if it's more profitable to fold some of the weaker off suit aces, maybe 22 and the weaker suited hands when the rake is so high and players are calling too loose preflop.

Yes you should fold most of what you just listed of they are calling way too wide and the rake is huge as described.

Lsnl should be making these adjustments anyway, but for you it's even more dramatic.

Since 3! Is rare preflop and players are kind of soft you want to steal selectively and with a high rate of success. 3 bet bluffs and sometimes raising limps. Your raises should be very big anyway, so bluff pretty big, understanding you want them to fold pre. That's the whole point. You are not doing this to set up your post flop wizardry.

If they just never fold pre be an omc I guess.

Taking pots down pre with hands like ak aq and tt is just fine and doesn't make you a scared player.

Hands like off suit Broadway's and lower scs are not often going to be worth playing purely for value.

Play hands like PPs that can win large pots and aren't going to get coolered much.

You should occasionally win pots by bluffing and heroing when you miss here. Don't have to be superman. Just pick the best spots so you aren't totally fit or fold.

Edit: oh yeah. The more multiway it is the less the take matters since you are getting odds.

This. You want as many pots you play to be more than $150 to cap that ridiculous rake.

This sounds a lot like some of the home games i play in. We mostly play 2-4 with 10%/20 cap, with simular player types and varying stacks, from 150 to 1500+. My adjustments in these games, vs more 'standard' casino games:

- Open big, 4-6x
- Call less pre
- 3bet more often, bigger and with a lineair range
- Postflop bluff less, but big
- Valuebet bigger too.

In other words, fold equity is your friend. Specially preflop. And be prepared to ride the variance train.

depending on how deep this game plays, be aware that you will likely struggle to beat that rake at 1/3

Yep. If that game isn't regularly filled with action players willing to call down hundreds with top pair or bluff off hundreds, don't bother sitting.