Theoretically yes. But we don’t live in a theoretical world. Most people will lose more because of it. It also forces you to play during optimum promo times or again you will lose money to it. And just hope you’re on the right side of variance. I’d rather have the money pushed to me in pots I win vs being forced to bet three bucks I will hit a high hand that particular hand, but that’s me. Either way that ship has sailed.

[QUOTE=cltrich;58446356] This is not true for several reasons.

In most jurisdictions (likely all except for Nevada), casinos can take some of the promo money for administrative expenses.

Also BBJs and most other promos are more likely to be hit by players in smaller games where more people go further in the hands before folding. And even in a particular game, the promos are more likely to be hit by loose players than by tight ones. Both of these mean they generally benefit bad players more than good ones.

Finally, if you win a big jackpot, you will be expected to give a big tip to the dealer, or else likely get treated badly after that. And you will almost certainly have to pay taxes on your win. If you can show other gambling losses that year it may knock your taxable income down, but you can't deduct the money you lost in prior (or future) years in which you contributed to the promo fund without winning a jackpot.

[QUOTE=chillrob;58446518] You are kind of splitting hairs. I guess, so can I.

If promos are hit more by loose players because they play more hands, those loose players are also putting more money down the jackpot drop. I tip (usually 3-4%) when I win a jackpot/high hand etc., but when I don't the pot is a dollar or two smaller, so I imagine I (obviously not consciously) tip a penny (or even a fraction of a penny ) less each hand than I would if there wasn't a jackpot drop. Also, you need to pay taxes on all your winnings (minus all of your losses in a particular year), whether you get a 1099 or not.

As far as the administrative fees you mention, since the pandemic, I have played in Atlantic City, Jacksonville FL, MD, and WV. If they are deducting this kind of fee, I am unaware. I realize the fact I don't know (in part because I've never asked) doesn't mean it doesn't happen there. I'd be curious if you were aware specifically about any of these places. I guess if that happened and for example, they dropped $2 and 10% went for administrative fees, that would be equivalent to an additional 20 cents of rake.

The only place I have heard of doing that is California. To the best of my knowledge, all money must be returned to players in Vegas, ac and Maryland at least, not sure about other places.

My understanding is they definitely keep some of the money in Washington state casinos.

[QUOTE=cltrich;58451425] That may be true for individual players at the same game, but games filled with looser players (usually higher stakes games) are also more likely to hit jackpots than games filled with tighter players. So, let's say $2 is taken from each pot in a 3/6 LHE game filled with loose players. Many people see each flop, so the jackpot is more likely to hit. The same $2 will be taken out of a 20/40 LHE pot where only 2-3 people usually see the flop (and people also are more likely to drop out before the river) so the jackpot is less likely to be hit, giving less value for the $2.

It's not really possible to tip 99 cents at a poker table. Maybe you skip tipping once out of every 100 smaller pots you win, but I find that unlikely.

True, you are supposed to pay taxes on poker winnings, but most poker players are net losers in any year they don't win a big jackpot. So they will have to pay taxes the year they win the jackpot, while not being able to claim their poker losses from other years.

Again, you are really splitting hairs. I guess if two tables were running, one with a $5 and $2 drop, and the other with a $5.01 rake, the one without the jackpot would probably be better if everything else were the same, even the speed of the game despite the dealer needing to change a white chip to 100 pennies every hand. However, my original comment was based on the argument someone made that a $2 jackpot drop made a $1 rake increase a 14% increase ($5+$2+$1)/($5+$2) rather than a 20% in ($5+$1)/$5

My tipping point is that there are probably hands where for example, I win $198 so I tip $1, but had I would have won $200 my tip could have been $2. Obviously, this would not be a conscious choice, just the pot looking a tiny bit smaller making it less likely it gets to the threshold where I feel I should tip an extra dollar.

Let’s say I am running for office in a state legislature. The state has a 3% income tax. The incumbent that I’m running against voted yes to a bill to raise the state income tax to 4%. I go out and make speeches stating that my opponent voted for a 33% increase in the state’s income tax. My opponent claims that since the average taxpayer in the district pays 15% federal income tax plus 3% state income tax, the proposed increase was from 18 to 19%, which means he only voted to increase taxes by 2%.

You are a fair-minded fact checker. How do you rate each of our claims - true, false, misleading, etc? Hopefully the analogy is clear - an increase in rake from $5 to $6 is a 20% increase in rake regardless of what the promo drop is, just as an increase in state income tax from 3 to 4% is a 33% increase, regardless of the federal income tax rate.