About 6 weeks ago I found a raked $1/$3 game here in Orlando.
Over 5 short-ish sessions I am up about $1050 mostly due to $850 on the first night when there were a few bad players and 1 insane maniac. (Beyond LAGtard.)
The other nights have had some weak players and a few better players. My up nights have been due to good cards and good play and down nights mostly bad beats. (Including a flopped set of aces losing to runner-runner quads.)
The 2nd night I found out the rake is 10% up to $15. I knew this was high but decided to keep playing. Now, I am trying to decide if it is possible to beat this game in the long run. My 20 hours so far is not a very good sample size.
Any suggestions? How hard is it to beat a $15 rake?
I play in a raked $1/$3 game. $7max with a $1 high hand. I think it is pretty stiff, but the action is great.
Let me say first of all, I wouldn't play in the game you describe unless then action was unreal. It would have to be the weakest/most passive table ever playing like a 5/10. (bet/raise/pots sizes/stack sizes) for me to be interested.
My theory is that a steep rake can be beatable if the table adjusts its game.
Hear me out on this one. I will get to the original question.
If the game started (at its conception) with a low rake, and the players are action players and they buy in a ton. (no-limit buy-ins, and people straddling are helpful here),
then a crazy poker economy at the game will emerge. The game will grow and the game-runners will up the rake, and naturally have to look for ways to induce action.
They will look for bigger whales. And nitty mice will be squashed out.
The tighter on money players will give way to the looser on money players. If it survives, gradually the game will find an equilibrium. This process of upping the rake can continue until the player base cannot sustain it.
If a high-rake game is running strong, the players will likely be mostly spew-tard whales, and the game-runners will have to un-limit their buy-in/re-buy amount.
The game will naturally have bigger pots, thus the percentage of the pot raked will be less.
A $7 rake out of $70 is far more noticeable than $7 taken out of $250.
So you will see huge straddles, huge 4 and 5 bets. You will also see a much larger player pool. One that very few games could sustain under the radar of the authorities. Bust-out seat need to be refilled.
Games like this do exist and thrive! The amenities are usually un-real, waitresses dealers, everything tops.
A player set on winning these types of games must adjust their strategy completely in order to win.
So finally, lol.
I feel a high-rake game can most certainly be beaten if some or better yet all the above conditions are met, and you completely overhaul your strategy. The variance would be huge, but if you get almost all your money in either PF or on the flop and stack off huge to igno-donks with superior hands you can most definitely beat the game in the long run.
If the money being taken off the table is being replaced, hopefully by others, then the rake has far less of an affect.
