I'm from Milwaukee and wanted to get some perspective about the new time rake system that's just gone into place. The new system implemented is from a 10% up to $6 to a $6 rake every 30 minutes for 1/2 NL (Buy-in 100-300) and $7 for 1/2 PLO/PLO8 (Buy-In 100-500) round by round.

I find these rates very high and makes it difficult to be profitable. 6BB/hr is a lot for the casino to take. I think the only time the game might be profitable is over the weekend. Thoughts??

Here are the other games in the casino, each of these are within 2 hours of me:

Hammond Horseshoe (2 hours): 10% up to $4 rake + $1 (Bad Beat) Have everything, but no call ahead. 30 tables.

Madison (75 minutes): E-Poker (might get shutdown, but probably not until 2013)
10% rake up to $5.
PLO $3 rake: 1/2 Sat @ 7PM and .50/1 Wed @ 9PM. NO CALL INS. 8 tables.

Dells (2 hours away): 10% up to $4. 2 hours call in. 12 tables.

Oneida (2 hours away): 10% up to $4 rake, 2 hour call in, 10 tables. 1-3 NL is only regular NL game. 2/5 NL occasionally


I plan on playing more home games because of this change. Your insight is greatly appreciated.

You are screwed due to the monopoly that Poto has. They bought the political muscle to shut down the idea of a Kenosha casino so that they could preserve their monopoly.


The gas cost alone will eat up your profit. Besides, only at the Shoe will you find as large a variety of games to choose from.


Poto has you right where they want you, and there isn't much you can do.


I find that home cash games can be very profitable, and I would suggest networking to find some more of these. Good luck.

One question to think about then would be how many hands per hour do they typically deal there.

Ugh, with rake like that they should at least be buying you breakfast or cabfare

I'd complain to the floor manager, pick up a suggestion/review form from the front desk, and leave. Wouldn't go back until that policy changed.

They're only doing this to try to increase profits, so if the player base disappears and their net income per day goes down they'll eventually change it back.

There are automatic shufflers so I would say about 15 hands every 30 minutes.

isnt horseshoe 5 + 1?

on all 1/2 and 2/5 NLHE games, yes. upstairs (5/10+ NLHE) us time-charge though.

Thanks for correcting me on that.

I plan on playing tonight for the 1st time w the 6$ timed rake. I think overall its the same amount of rake if you are at a usual 1/2 table w some action. The difference is if you find yourself at a nitty table where pots never seem to be of decent size.

If you average 30hands/hr and average rake per pot at 4$ then its pretty close. But this is if there a full table. 9 handed its almost better overall. Lets hope they keep the games full and the list short.

I will report back how this change effects the game. if it does at all.

Didn't they also change the tables from 9 to 10 handed? I wonder if there will be as much pre-flop chopping.

Ok heres what i noticed.

People pick up and leave when new dealer comes in rather than waiting for their BB to come around. we had 3 ppl leave at a dealer change once.

The rake kills ya til u have a stack then its not a huge deal. I hovered around 250-200 for the longest time. i was kinda card dead tho. So i'd win a small pot n then pay some blinds n then new dealer comes in n im back down. I counted for 3 downs that we played 11, 11, 12 hands. There were some decent sized pots which made ppl have to tank a little bit. However in every one of those tanks the clock was called on the player tanking. I understand why this is done.

The interesting thing that happened was a dealer pull aside in his tray to see what the difference is in rake and on his down he pulled aside 71$ that would have been dropped under the older rake structure. However as a table we only dropped 48$. It comes down to table dynamics. If you have an active table, which i did tonight, then the rake is better at time. Also when u get short handed the time rake is way better than the old way.

Taking breaks is more costly now. Now i dont take a walk every few hours or so. If you need to take a break of any significant time >5 mins you might as well take a dinner break.

Considering this area for a job opportunity, is there any live scene at all or is anything worthwhile a couple hours drive as posted in the OP? Thanks

Too bad this thread is so dead. Just moved back to the Milwaukee, WI area and been hitting up Poto on a regular basis. 1/3NL definitely gets some good action on the weekends. Made a quick $400 there on Sunday afternoon. Watch out for the dudes on tilt though haha.

I've been having good success at Dells, specifically on holiday weekends, feeding off the tourists. Nice Sunday tourney, $90 buy in, $180 first Sunday of month.