I'd like some opinions please...

The racetrack near my home has had slots for a while but they just started a new poker room. They spread $1-$2 & $2-$5NLH. Because poker is new to the area, the games are ridiculously loose at the moment with 6-7 players seeing many flops. I've only played there a couple of sessions and made a killer amount each time. I've been playing many, many years and I consider my skills way above average. Even my wife, who has only played 40 times in her life, is beating the game handily as well.

So the only problem is the rake. They are taking a $1 at every $10 with a max $6 rake in the $1-$2. Obviously, in a non-ante game rake is not nearly as important a factor. My BB/hour rate is much higher in this game than online so the question of playing there or online is relatively a no brainer.

But it still drives me nutz to see an amount of $150 an hour being taken off the table. I dealt for 5 years and I used to shake my head in wonder when I would deal low limit stud ($1-$3 & $1-$5) with a $4 max rake because over the period of the night you could see all the chips going down the rake slot. Only the very best players walked out of there with a profit.

At this new place, again, you can literally watch the stacks get shorter and shorter as the game goes on.

So my question is, "Is there such a thing as too much rake?" to a player with a great edge? The profit per hour aspect makes it easy to choose where to play but I feel violated paying so much. I know this is simply a mental thing but I'd like to hear a few opinions. BTW, they're raking so heavy because there is no other game in town and they admittedly say it.

Am I crazy to let this bother me?

Poker rooms are in business to MAKE $$$. They have to show that they are bringing in X amount of $/sq. foot to remain a viable service for the Casino. A poker room has a lot of expenses for a Casino: dealers, chips, servers, floor people, tables, tv's, etc....

Your rake isn't great, but not awful. Hell, some places I have played take 10% up to $10 at 2/5 and above + BBJ.

Wow only $5?

At Hustler and other rooms in LA it's $5 + $1 for the jackpot. I still make a substantial hourly rate even after the rake and tipping the dealer $1 a hand when I win, and tipping the floorman, valet, etc. so I don't really let it bother me. Could I make more hourly with a lower rake, or without tipping? Yeah, but you know sometimes you just have to pick your fights. On the other hand they spread a $50 buy-in NL game with $1 blinds with the same rake. I haven't played in it, but I have my doubts as to whether that's profitable or not when 3-4 players are being raked off the table every hour.

A friend told me in Monte Carlo they were raking something ridiculous like 20+ euros a hand when he played there.

I think the rake you describe is ok.
At the Crown in Melbourne the rake at 2/3 is 10% capped at $6 which has recently gone up to $8 cap. There is also an additional hourly time charge of $5 an hour. The max buy in is $200
I'm not sure what the commission is at 1/2
On the 2/5 tables the rake is 10% capped at 6 bucks plus a $10 time charge.
Where I used to play in Queenstown NZ the one table of 2/5 was a min buy in of 50 and max 200. The rake wad 10% capped at $20!!!!!! It is possible to win but just not worth the time.

10% til $6 cap is pretty standard. Juicy games make up for it even though it does suck watching that money dissapear.

Ocala Poker & Jai-Alai's rake averages 15% since they rake $1 for every $10 while rounding up for halves. Lower stake games remain juicy, but the rake's remains prevalent until 5/10. 15% up to $6 is steep and ironically common, but 20% with a $10 max would be the breaking point.

Like someone already said in LA cardrooms there's $4+1 rake/bbj for 20NL, 40NL, and 100NL games. What's amazing is in the rooms that offer 20NL, it is by far the most popular game. The rake is more than twice the blinds and people flock to it.

The $1/$2 game at my local casino rakes 10% capped at $10, plus $1 for BBJ. Its frustrating seeing that much money leave the table every hand, but the game has still been profitable.

Wow, now I don't feel so bad.

I dealt at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun from 1998 to 2003. Foxwoods was $4 max on this limit and Mohegan stole a bunch of business by only taking $3. And as of a year ago, they weren't much higher than that. Most of the games had gone to time ($5 per 1/2) which I prefer with a good dealer who can get out 30+ hands and hour.

I guess I'll just have to live with it. The game is so loose that I've found myself actually tightening up a great deal and only playing a few hands per hour. But I win such a large part of those hands that I guess I pay far less rake than most.

Local room to me is 10% $5 max on all poker games, with another $1 going into the BBJ if the pot is $20 or greater.

While it's a lot, and the room is still new (7 weeks I think now), some players are starting to get a little smart and raising enough to push a player out but not drive up the cost of the rake. Additionally, here in PA they take 55% of it for taxes, and a recent newspaper article said the casino I'm playing it is doing $118k / day in gross profits off table games alone after paying all winners. Obviously poker only takes the rake, unlike the $25 hands of BJ that go 24/7, but knowing that of the $118k you're only seeing $53k post-taxes as a casino owner / operator, and that money has to cover expenses, promotions, marketing, etc... you quickly see why the casino's are trying to rake in as much as they can.

Judging from what I've seen here, I'd say the rake in one of our casinos is actually pretty decent?

Forget about currency, stakes are 5/5. Rake is 5%, caped at 40 max. Pot for max would have to be 800. Everything more is the same.

Seems like anyone who plays there can be satisfied.

What say you?

1-2 Rake:

SB instantly gone before cards are even dealt ($1 to BBJ).
$2 to rake if there is flop.
$3 more ($2 for rake, $1 to BBJ) if the pot breaks $30.

I think 3-5 is the same.

That ^ is an extremely high rake, unreal imo.

If that is decent, I do not even want to see what you consider bad. That rake is pretty high for that stake. I would imagine that quite a few pots in that game hit at least 20. That is a lot coming off the table.

My room has the same rake for 1/2 ($300 max) and 2/5 ($1000 max), which is 10% ($5 max) plus $1 for BBJ in pots over $20. Looking forward to moving up to 2/5!

sick bump.

10% 5 max + 2 BBJ here. I think 2 is 2 high for the BBJ, but it was fun when all 3 of the bad beat jackpots in my room were at $750k.

How much rake is too much?

Depends on deep the stacks are and how bad the players are.

Really tough to give you a definite answer.

Also, it's near impossible to give you a true sample size answer either.

Come to the star at Sydney haha.
2/3 (100-300$) Rake 10% capped at $10. Plus $5/hr.

Don't wanna start a new thread so I'm just posting it in here.
At my local casino in Switzerland the rake at 2/2 looks like this:

No Flop, No Drop
Potsize from 20 CHF = 2 CHF
50 CHF = 4 CHF
100 CHF = 6 CHF
150 CHF = 8 CHF
200 CHF = 10 CHF
300 CHF = 12 CHF
400 CHF = 14 CHF
500 CHF = 16 CHF
Running Twice = 5 CHF

Does anyone think it still makes sense to play there or is the rake just too ridiculous?

What's the max BI?

300 CHF, 150bbs

Any rake is beatable if the Vs are bad enough, but that is almost 5% uncapped with full stacks. If it plays very loose with lots of giant pots, it's prob beatable. If it's very tight, so you can win a lot of pots flopless, you're prob also good. In between sounds iffy.

It's likely going to be very loose with big pots, which makes it pretty annoying that it's practically uncapped.
thanks for your reply.

New to live here, sorry for bumping an old thread, they said the rake is 4-1 on the no limit game, what is the 4-1? I have heard 10% rake, but 4-1 is what exactly? I haven't headed down there yet, but what is usually considered good/bad rake for 1/2, 2/3?

X% (usually either 5 or 10) of the pot, up to a maximum of $1, with a $1 drop for promotions (bad beat jackpot, high hands, etc.) that go back to the players, though in a very high variance way.

4 plus one is pretty good in most poker locales. If it's 5% up to $4, and no-flop, no-drop, it's even better.