The host of my weekly cash game uses the rake to play. He plays very LAG. I believe there are two reasons for this.

The first is that there is no cap on the rake so if he builds the pot he gets a higher rake.

The second is that he can reload until he felts others.

He also gets rip-roaring drunk throughout the night and plays increasingly terribly.

Is there any advice for how to beat someone with an unlimited bankroll who tries to steamroll pots? Is the only defense patiently waiting for premium cards?

Also, I get that this guy is trying to hustle me. I don't have reason to believe there is any outright cheating, but obviously he's not my friend in this situation. Should I give up on this game? It's the only game I know of right now and I can't beat online above 25NL.

Something about this seems really fishy.
I'm not exactly sure what, since in effect it is the same as me owning a casino, and playing in the poker game there.
Which would obviously be perfectly fine (assuming no shady dealing or whatever).
But still seems like there is something wrong with this.

Having said that, any game with no cap on the rake is going to be REALLY hard to beat.
Perhaps impossible depending on the % of the pot and the skill level of people there.

Try and find something else.
Or get better and play more on-line.

I second try to find a capped rake game.

Okay so you've been playing mainly online apart from this game? Either way, forget all of that when you play in this game.

It sounds like this guy gets aggressive with wide ranges pre and post flop. I love being to the right of a predictable opponent. Especially aggressive ones that will bet for me. I've had a lot of success against these types. I sit to their right, limp about the top 10% of hands, they raise, there's some calls behind, and then I 3bet big. If it's HU, I shove 90%+ of flops.

Don't play your normal game. Get relative position and trap him. Play a tight range, which you should be doing anyway in a game with massive rake.

EDIT: I guess most think this situation is shady, in which case, ignore my advice. I've never been in a private game that did not involve personal friends, so I suppose I'm naive here.

Stop playing in this game. With an unlimited bankroll, he only has to get lucky once to felt you. You have to win all the time. He's using a version of the Martingale system.

The reason is he can win is that if you ever get to the point where you do bankrupt him, my guess is that he'll renege on paying you off. It is an illegal game and you'll have no recourse to get your money.

I used to run a game. I never took a rake. You could say it was a home game, I guess. I play in a private club game with a rake. Its a capped rake. The guy who runs it sometimes plays if its shorthanded early in the night to keep the game going. He never pulls from the rake drop. The rake is capped at $5.

I would consider playing an uncapped game if it was the only game around, but never with the guy who ran it if he was openly playing from the rake.

Find a different game.

Martingale fails when the player is disadvantaged or has even odds. Player should have a massive edge. House bankroll isn't literally infinite. Also presumably can quit at any time. Martingale isn't the reason you should be wary.

The second part is what you should worry about. If this guy has decided he won't pay you if you win over $X, any edge you might have goes down the toilet and you may never realize it. You have to weigh the risk of getting stiffed.

In pretty much every club game I've played in, the host plays if there's going to be a couple of seats open for a significant amount of time. Helps fill the table. Don't think there's anything strange about the mere fact he's playing though that doesn't mean nothing shady is going on. I will say the host usually plays pretty tight since there's always another hand for them to play.

Thanks. And keep it coming. He's never stiffed me and I don't think he will. 2 weeks ago I turned $80 into $600 and then hit the road. But it's clear he is playing some strategy based on the fact that it's free money to him. Maybe it is a martingale system

Or he's just a degen.

Yeah...I wouldn't worry about the martingale piece. Still, he's just relying on the fact that even if he mucks alot, he can simply sit out and wait for rake to generate more $$ to play with.

Sounds actually like hero may be too underrolled to play this game. Look, if this guy is giving a ton of loose action Bc he thinks he can just 40/60 you to the felt...then all in all that's a good thing.

A few things:
1. Uncapped games are super hard to best, period
2. Is the max buy-in capped? Like if he doubles you up, certainly he can't just load up until he covers you again right? Because that's your primary protection. If he's loading up to cover hero every time he mucks, yeah you're getting angled and it's time to leave.

I gotta +1 this. I think a little too much credit is being given to this guy. Dude is loving life getting to get hammered and play poker for like free...

I would try to see if there has ever been any shadiness in his past as far as paying out goes. I play games where the hosts play and it seems pretty standard that the hosts would play a little LAGGY.

I've played quadrillions of the type of game you're referring to. Always be wary but it's very standard for rake to be obscene, the host(s) to play, and for them to play aggressively and poorly. This is all standard. I've never not been paid out. Only play games like this with good reputations, to be on the safer side. Obviously there is risk of every conceivable shadiness but this is the life you're choosing. Don't be mubsy. Otherwise don't play in them.

Abuse the wide-ranged spewtard as you would any other. Infinite bankroll is not an advantage for a spewer. That idea goes against every fundamental of poker.



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I think alot of poster are misunderstanding something.

while it is TRUE an uncapped game is super tough to beat, this is only a small microcosm of whats going on here.

The rake isnt disapearing into a black box under the table. its ending up BACK on the table, in the hands of a drunken maniac non the less!

Imagine if at the casino once every 30 minutes or so the staff came over, cracked open the drop box and gave all the rake money to the most drunk and horrible player at the table.

How could you seriously not want to play in that game?

This guy should not be too difficult to win pots from, however he has a sort of pseudo equity advantage in the sense that he is getting back "rebate" every hand he plays.

what is the rake %? this is a really important question and would affect my answer on if/how you should play this game

I would mentally deduct that % from the pot and use THAT new figure to make my decisions.

as far as financial solvency or creditworthiness of the game/host I cant comment on as I do not know him, but use sound judgement.

Is the rake 10% uncapped? If so, then the host is getting a 20% 'rebate/rake-back' in all heads up pots. Example: H and V play a $1000 pot. If hero wins the pot, you only 'win' $400, as $100 is raked back to the host. I can't imagine this game is beatable, and I would never play in it.

Exactly, playing with an uncapped rake is a huge disadvantage. The rake is at least 5x higher than say a Vegas room. The math simply isn't there.

To put this in to perspective. Villain ( any villain) open shoves with 76s , you have AKo, you're flipping. Villain open shoves with KQ and shows you, you have AJ, the correct play is fold.

To put it another way, the owner has to play in the game because if he didnt, the rake would eat up so much of the money on the table that the game will die very very quickly. He's playing to disguise how disgusting the rake is and hope everybody else is so willing to bust the whale that they keep playing.

Find another game.

Grunch: (means that I didn't read any replies, just the OP)

There are two very different issues in this post. The first is the strategy of playing a bad LAG with money to spew. This part is easy, just bring a ton of re-buys, call him down very light, and ride the variance train. It's a roller coaster ride, but insanely profitable in the long run if the game is clean. An unlimited bankroll does not help in a cash game if your opponents are also properly rolled and can accept the variance.

The second issue is the game. First the rake issue is ridic. If he weren't giving rake-back via his spew, the game would die very quickly. Secondly, the cavalier attitude towards the money, the unusual (fishy) approach to the finances, etc. make me very suspicious that the game isn't clean. Is it self-dealt? If so, does he seem to win with the button more than position would account for? If not, are we sure the dealer's clean? Rake amounts always correct? Checked the cards for marks?

Frankly, I wouldn't play in this game.