There is only poker room near where I live. Two days ago they increased the rake in their lower limit games (3-6, 6-12) from $4 to $5. This was done, they said, so that they could make it easier to hit a jackpot.

Are these games still beatable if you're a reasonably good player?

3/6: no
6/12: yes

When is the $5 dropped? In increments (like $2 at the flop, $1 at $40, $1 at $60, $1 at $80), or all at once? I'd assume you'd average $400 rake per 100 hands, or 33.33 BB/100. A winning player will play tighter and splash around less, so they may pay 3 BB/100. So i think that's beatable; just don't replace a minimum wage job with it.

Talking about rake... how do you calculate if the rake is beatable and when do you know if you should keep playing?

The rake is collected all at once on the flop. And, I should add, if it/they are beatable, should you make any adjustments in your play?

my guesstimate is that the 3/6 is not beatable and the 6/12 might be beatable for 2 or 4 dollars an hour.

I agree that 3/6 is not only unbeatable, but you will likely lose quite a lot. That's prolly close to 10 BB/100 in rake you are paying so it would need to be a game where literally everyone else is playing 70+% of their hands to even break even.

6/12 brings the rake closer to 5 BB/100, so you can def make a little money if the games are super soft. If it is a total fishfest where everyone is playing 70+% of their hands, you could prolly make 1 BB/hr. But if it's not, BBB's estimate of 2-4 dollars/hr sounds right.

Thanks bro...good to know.

Are online game also unbeatable for those levels?

Well...better work at mcdonalds then play low stakes...

online there is some combo of rakeback/bonus on most sites, which helps out. it still depends on how fishy the game is and how highly raked it is. if you have a specific site/stake in mind then let us know

Well i'm playing mostly on Stars... What would be a good lvl to play at? Lets start with this question... Beside the high stakes like 20\40$, is there any stakes that are profitable? If yes, then on which stakes and on which sites?

I hear people say limit hold em is dead... Is it even worth my time to play in limit games or should i play others forms of poker? Id like to at least beat the game for 1BB\100 ...

I would say at the min. 10/20 on stars. at 5/10 and 3/6 the rake is 2.46/BB and 2.6/BB. At those stake the regs are decent enough that your edge is going to be so small and variance going to play a big part in how you run for 100k+ hands. However I always found 2/4 to be the sweet spot since all the SNE grinder at min are grinding +3/6 and the rake is higher at 2/4 than 3/6 so every good regs avoid 2/4 and the line up at it are pretty weak.

You think 10\20$ is a good game? Is the competition much harder then 2\4 and 3\6 or is it worth my studying hours to try to beat it.

Funny enough i found 2\4$ to be my best poker results. Would it be fair to say that 1\2$ should be avoided? I'm actually getting my worst results there...

I've got 20\40$ games near where i live. I don't know much about the competition. But is live limit poker usually softer then online?

So if the edge is so small at 3\6$ and 5\10$ why are regs still playing it? Maybe its called poker addiction... Hey i'm making 18$ an hour doing construction work. I think i won't quit my job for the low limit games...lol

Coming back to the other question i had, is there another poker game i should focus on instead or limit?

yes live is a ton easier than online. its actually beatable.

no dont quit your job. poker is dead. low stakes is a massive rake trap. high stakes takes a big bankroll and lots of skill. you missed out by 10 yrs. too bad.

jdr -- thank you for the thoughts here. i'm assuming this has been discussed to death in the past, curious if there is a standard amount that is thought to be too much to be beatable?

if you are raking out 3BB/100 and suggesting that is beatable ... could 5BB/100 be beatable?

at 20/40 if we are paying $7/half hour, am I right in my math if that comes out to approx 1BB/100? (i'm assuming about 33 hands per hour)

thank you for the thoughts ....