Hi I wanted to get feedback in regards to rakes in Florida. The casino I play at has a standard 10% rake with a $5 cap. They also take out an additional $2 per pot that go towards the high hand that is rewarded every 30-60 minutes. Would it even be worth playing 1-2 in this particular scenario? Would it be realistic to make any good money playing with these rules. I consider myself above average, but I am not a pro since I earn a descent wage at the company I own. I was thinking it would only be possible to make money playing 2-5 with this stakes which most local casinos don’t always have open down here. Please let me know what you think and if it is even worth playing 1-2 with these crazy rakes. Thanks!

It is definitely beatable. I've been playing 1-2 in Central FL now for about 4 months getting back into things after a 7 year layoff. Your biggest opponent is the rake. TAG it up, pick your spots well and knock it out of the park when you hit your hands. Don't be afraid to lead out with the nuts.

My days with big wins (500+) were pretty much the days I flopped sets.

Ive only played 2/5 and 5/10 in 2018 but here is 606 hours of 1/2 mostly played in S. Florida with $5+$2 rake. Id say, Yes, its pretty beatable.

Which program is that? Thanks.

Run Good

I think it’s going to be a major struggle if you’re only above average at that level. Unless you run really well of course. You need to be a lot better than the average player at 1-2, not just above average.

Thanks. I might give it a try, because, umm, my graphs don't exactly look like that.

Yeah you should definitely be the best player at the table when you sit down and smart enough to not play against anyone who is close to you out of position. Go after the easier money.

You don't have to be the best player. Just have to know how good you are in relation to the players around you. Proceed carefully.

Also make sure you are playing when the high hand promos are at $600. You need to hit those occasionally to recoup the rake. Be certain you don't start chasing high hand hits with hands like 26 suited.

What were you doing playing that many hours at 1/2? Was this all time waiting for a 2/5 game? 600+ hours is close to 1/3rd of the year....

That's over about a 2 year period. About 165ish hours was during one month. I believe it was Dec 2016, when a couple of my 2/5 friends told me it was close to impossible to beat 1/2 due to rake and a prop bet was born. I crushed the bet and took $1500 from them on top of the money I made that month.

You can pretty much not concern yourself with the $2 promo drop because as you noted, the vast majority of it is just returned to players in the form of high hand promos. For example, I was playing at Hialeah earlier this week and they were giving out $1,000 every 20 minutes. As a full-time player, the promo drop should be theoretically neutral to you over the long term since you'll win your fair share of high hands over the course of a year or years. (Rather than the prospect of maybe winning a once-in-a-lifetime BBJ.)

So what you should concentrate on is how your local room takes the universal $5 rake. Again, as you noted, it is 10% to $5, but some rooms are no flop no drop while others will rake $3 ($1 + $2) at $10 regardless. An absurd example of this is in a $2-$5NL game at Magic City in Miami, if you just steal the blinds, the room takes $3 and gives you the remaining $4.

However, far more important than how the room takes the $5 rake or the neutral ev $2 promo drop, is your ability to play poker. And you really don't even need much ability to be successful (at least in South Florida), you just need to take the game seriously. I am a glorified rec player, playing 12-15 hours/week at some of the worst times to play (weekday mornings and afternoons), and even I do quite well.

I consider high hand bonuses to be basically rake back. You can maximize your odds of hitting them by playing at the times of highest rewards to lowest traffic, like early Saturday afternoon etc. My rooms in Orange City and Daytona moved it from noon to 11am on weekends now. If you're nut peddling, it isn't that hard to hit them. I've hit two over 250 hours for 600. Aces full, playing both your cards qualifies.

Waiting to hit high hands is a major variance and not always something good to rely on, since I don't play poker full time. I was playing a couple years back and hit a few high hands and was averaging over $50/hr in 1/2 and reached over $1000, but with one had session that was lowered to $5/hr and I stopped playing, since I didn't feel it was worth the time. Would any of you guys recommend playing 2/5? I played it a while back and feel like I am better now. Plus I would have days where I would make over $1000, but again also had major down swings. What I wanted to know was what is coming out of your hourly earnings with the 5+2 RAKE on 1/2 tables? Thanks and look forward to reading more insights.

The guy who averaged $23/hour seems attainable as I was averaging $50/hour, but that one bad session had so many bad beats and left a bad taste in my mouth. Thanks!

Meant one *bad session lowered it.

Some of us would kill for a rake that was only 5+2.

No one is saying to "wait" for high hands or to play outside of your game to get them. Only that your hours that you play can be scheduled in accordance with the times that you have the best odds to hit them for the most money.

At 1/2 your toughest opponent is the rake. So your play should reflect that. If that bothers you that much, go play 2/5 if you can.

Live poker moves at an incredibly slow pace. Getting to anything near "the long term" can take years. If one "bad" live session makes you consider quitting the game, maybe your bankroll isn't ready or live cash games aren't for you. Multiple buy in swings above and below your "true" win rate are going to happen. No amount of study or talent will prevent that.

Very impressive! Im going to try to achieve $20/hour in 1/2 NLH

Thanks for the chart and advice. My goal is make enough to play WSOP

Since the $2 promotions rake is returned to the players, I'd consider that a wash or a non-factor. Over time, you're bound to hit some high hands. The $5 rake is not so great on $50 pots and not a big deal on $250 pots. So play style should help dictate how that works out for you. So, in my view, the rake is not unbeatable at 1-2 NL. But something like 2-4 limit, which you see a lot down here, forget about it.

Definitely agree. My room doesn't have the no flop no drop. So stealing the blinds is probably -ev. 1/2 is a home run derby, not a complete game of baseball.

BBA, hang in there, work on your game, and keep your bankroll healthy. The rest will take care of itself. Youtubers are there to sell their channels and peak your interest in poker, not dissuade you by telling brutal truth. I personally love Doug Polk and the others because they have fish believing that they found the magic pill to beat people who have put in the time playing hundreds of thousands of hands.

jesus. what is the buy in cap where you were playing?

$300

After 2 sessions im up over $650 in 5 hours. My car got keyed randomly or maybe someone I won money from. Sucks bc they went all out. Only in South Florida

Also worth noting is some Florida card rooms the max buy in is 200 and the average person is buying in for 50 or 100 making it that much tougher to beat the rake

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