Hello!

I am planning to play NL cash at my local casino after reading few books. Never played cash before. Just tournaments. I am planning to keep data of everything I do in table. However rake seems high.

5% at 2/2 maximum 10 euro + 1 euro bad beat jackpot

How much do you pay guys?

Up to 5 dollars +1 for player fund. Many pots though are 3 bucks total at NL 1/2. With five players only they'll sometimes lower it to 2 dollars believe it or not but only if we complain.

Since you pay rake in Euro, I assume you’re playing in the European Union. Rake there is significantly higher than what US casinos take. 10€ might actually be below average for poker rooms in the EU. There are some cheaper ones but also several that are much higher. I played at Spielbank Berlin last week where rake at 2/2 is capped at 20€.

yeah, I concur, this is actually a very decent rake for EU and is definitely beatable - keep in mind that games in EU are significantly softer than in US

Sounds good. I really don't have more options here anymore. 1 € bb jack scared me a little since its taken from every single pot no matter how small it is. 5% easily turns into 15 or even more in this case. At least they dont collect this with less than 6 players in table.

Sounds reasonable actually. Depends on how the game plays and stack sizes though obviously. If the buyins 40$ and everyone hits and runs would probably suck.

Us standard is 10% 5+2$ (A lot of places don’t drop 2 for bbjp for Omaha though) rake plus tips so a little less but pretty similar. Home games are usually 25$/hand but vary a lot and can still be very beatable

25$/hand... rake??

I pay 10% capped at $15. Game is 2/3, buy in $100 -> $500. Most people buy in for $300 to $500.

No flop, no drop. 24 hands/hour that go postflop = $600 rake/hour for the table. That’s $33 per player per half hour.

Certainly a lot of money, but if you’re playing 5/5+ and stacks are flying around like they should in a good home game, it’s not that much higher than what some of the more expensive casinos charge. I already mentioned Spielbank Berlin, they cap their rake for 5/5+ at 30€ = $34 for pots that reach 900€.

If there is a 10 max, how can it turn into 15 or more?

Max 10$, not 10%.
He meant 15% here.

Belexus, after reading a couple books and never playing cash before, the rake should really be the least of your concerns. Just go out and play, gain experience, learn, learn more, and take it from there.

GL

Do you guys think 5% capped at $15 + $2 with high hand promotions in 1/3 is beatable?

It includes free food and drinks - but I'm more thinking about profit, rather be all loosey goosey with my a sandwich then care about free food.

My thoughts are the cap is pretty high and with at least $2 taken from every pot then the better rate is pretty much voided.

Is this a beatable game if you have a LAG style? I'm thinking I'd have to really nit it up to make it work there.

Thoughts?

Nobody can tell you if that game is beatable unless they’ve played in it.

Just a very simple example why:
Scenario a) most people buy in for $150 and lots of pots end up HU with one player all-in => ~$300 in the pot, $15 rake
Scenario b) most players buy in for $300 and lots of pots end up with 3 players all-in => ~$900 in the pot, $15 rake

We don’t even know if the buy-in is capped at $300. Maybe players are allowed to match the big stack and we see several $1k+ stacks later in the day? Maybe players like to put on the double straddle and your standard opening size is $50?

If you can do well enough in PLO/NLH25 games online where the rake cap is like 10 big blinds, then you can probably do well enough in live 1/2, 2/2 and 1/3 euro games with a cap like 6 big blinds. Five big blinds is the usual cap for the lowest limit(s) in western Europe. Paying one more isn't a deal-breaker.

A double cap (3 vs. 6) doesn't mean a double rake in these games. One can think that one is pocketing the money above the cap when one wins a pot, as a 5% rake with no cap would be break even in the practically best games for a good player.

The only technical difference to live games is that the live games are full ring. You can play NLH full ring online also, preferably a no-hud site as so. Chico network has a lot of full ring NLH running at least at NLH100 and they accept most countries (not all USA states) and they have a free HUD (holdem indicator).

unbeatable

Yes .. What is 'everything'? Are you going to track tips too? One of the biggest mistakes a newbie makes is trying to do too much too fast for their comfort level. You say you have some tournament experience so at least you should have a lot of the basics ... odds, pot size, stacks ... under your belt.

Cash Players LOVE IT when a tournament Player sits down if they don't adjust to being able to rebuy/add-on any time.

Sit down, play ABC and see where things go. You should be able to see some spots that you question using your past experiences ... If you have the bank roll to use then follow those instincts and make some calls, push some edges that you may not in a tournament.

Remember, don't get caught up in the results. Look at how AND WHEN the chips went into the middle when doing your post session reviews. GL