Originally posted on https://pokerwasteland.weebly.com/

The following is an excerpt from the blog of my best friend here in Cambodia, Renton555.  He posted this on the 2+2 poker forum a few weeks back, discussing the recent increase in rake at the Nagaworld poker room, or as he calls it “Clown World.”  To read his entire blog, click here:​https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-amp-challenges/renton555-former-pro-poker-player-hacks-live-games-cambodia-1739274/?highlight=renton

So they just raised the rake at Clownworld. 5% cap 20usd not enough I guess. They now take 10% until the commission reaches $5 (i.e. $1 at $10 pot, $2 at $20) then they take another $5 at 200 at another $5 at 300 (*). 

For those of you who don’t have a lot of experience playing live poker, there are basically three types of rake structure that are commonly used:

1) high percentage low cap (i.e. in Vegas for $1/$2, 10% capped at 4 or 5 is typical)

2) time-based rake (usually in the West, usually for bigger games or heads-up)

3) low percentage high cap (more popular in Asia, where 5% capped at 20 or 25 is pretty standard)

All three of these can be tweaked to achieve the $/hour that the poker room is looking for. High% low cap tends to take more from nitty lineups and also creates a meta where pots are opened for larger than 3bb so that the pot is more likely to cap out. Low% high cap gives those lineups a break but takes a ****load from very good games, which people generally don’t mind playing in regardless of the rake. 

However, the clown crew decided to have both. Now they rape the small pots and the big pots. They’ve also increased the rake at a point when their games are as inconsistent (in quality) as ever and when their competition has developed a lot of momentum. Competing private games in town take a lower commission AND offer free food and lodging AND offer promos like high hand and hourly rakeback. Meanwhile, they offer very meager comps. A once a day food voucher that frequently doesn’t pay for a whole menu item, free tea, coffee, water, and draft beer. A can of coke is $4.

When I worked in poker rooms one of my favorite pastimes was to hate on the nits who would do obnoxiously nit things like insta jesus seating the table mark as soon as a seat to his left came open, insta leave as soon as the table breaks to 8 handed, insta request table change as soon as the other table is even slightly better than their table. Having a rake like like this just encourages more of such behavior, and might even make it mandatory in many cases. 

Unless there’s a pair of Indian whales punting 500 an hour, the large majority of otherwise-winning regs will be losers with this rake 5 handed, maybe even 6 handed, and no rake reductions are granted for shorthanded play. It will discourage games from starting short handed and it will cause games to break that might have run for 8 more hours with a lineup who doesn’t mind playing an hour or so of 6 handed play waiting for more to show up. Kind of reminds me of the Laffer curve, the theory that the higher the tax rate is (after a point), the lower the state’s revenue ultimately is.

(*) They also take a staggering 5 more dollars for running it twice. Something that they should be encouraging because it extends the length of a game. facepalm.gif

Anyway rant over. I might have to find a new place to play.

Reposted with permission from Poker Triad 2+2.