Wow. I just played at Hollywood Park Casino today for the fist time. Usually when stuck in L.A. I play at The Bike, and last weekend I gave Commerce Casino another try, but this was my first play at Hollywood Park (much smaller than either The Bike or Commerce).

After an horrific and very short-lived tournament experience (that's a story for another time), I decided to play some No Limit. For some reason, the L.A. casinos don't call it 1/2 (or whatever) like they do in Vegas.....the game is named for the amount of the buy in, which in most cases is both the minimum and the maximum you can buy in for. So the lowest level of NL at these clubs is $40 (with the 1/2 blinds we all are familiar with).

I could not believe the rake. They take a buck for the jackpot and five bucks for the house if the table is full. A total of $6! As has been pointed out elsewhere, they take that rake right off the top, it's not a buck for every ten bucks in the pot like Vegas. So, if there is no raise and four limpers, they take six bucks out of the pot and on the flop there is a whopping two bucks in the pot! What goniffs!

Frankly, this is a much smaller game than the 2/4 Limit games I usually play. Sure there was an occasional all-in for sizeable amount, but mostly the pots were half the size (or less than half the size) of your average 2/4 low limit game pretty much anywhere. And with that rake, I realized that unless you got very, very, very lucky, there was no chance of making any money in this game.

It was very strange because I played this level game at Commerce the weekend before and I'm pretty sure the rake was $3.50, including the jackpot. Yes, they actually had $.50 chips, and they dropped a half a buck in the jackpot slot. The house's take was three bucks. They put a $.50 chip back in the pot so every time you won a pot you got a $.50 chip!

Back to HPC.....I moved over to the 3/6 limit game figuring at least the average pot size would be bigger. So I was surprised to see that rake for this game was only five bucks total.....one for the jackpot, four for the house. Yes, the rake on the 3/6 limit game was actually a buck less than the rake for their 1/2 No Limit game. But of course they still take it off the top.

So, even though the 3/6 game has, on average, much, much bigger pots than that $40 NL game, the rake is actually a buck less!

I cannot for the life of me figure out why the rake on the "baby" no limit game is more than it is for the much more robust 3/6 limit game.

Very, very strange.

(I hope it is ok I started a new thread. Although I found references to rakes in LA clubs in other posts, I didn't see a thread dedicated to this topic).

Rob

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Based on the numbers in your post, I'd say there isn't a person alive who can beat the 1/2NL game there over the long run because of that rake.

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There isn't, for multiple reasons (the rake, the fact that most players are just hunting jackpots, the fact the buy-in is 20BB so you've got to hit your first hand to even be able to play).



Because the people who play the $40 at HPC have no idea what the hell they're doing. They don't realize it's not beatable. Hell, "winning poker" isn't a concept they're entertaining, so the effect of the rake on profit might as well be quantum physics or ancient Syriac.

Most of the people at HPC aren't there to play profitable poker. Most folks are there "to play some freaking cards". The 1/2, $40 game is a bunch of people trying to hit the jackpots and the 2/3, $100 game (which plays more like a Vegas 1/2) is full of ATK players who will chase 2-out draws to the river and don't give a thought to their opponent's hand.

An ABC player who gives credit to essentially every raise, C-bets like 10% of the time, and plays nothing but the nuts can make an easy, tidy profit.


I have my home game for challenging poker - HPC is to pay off my student loans.

Thanks to both you and Benton for the responses. I'm sure you are right.

Now, I am embarrassed to ask this because I'm sure I should know, but what is an "ATK player"?

Rob

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Don't be embarrassed, I was wondering the same thing! I thought he meant ATC (Any two cards) but I may be wrong.

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I did indeed mean ATC. Not sure what wires crossed in my head to make it come out ATK...Maybe I was thinking about Ibanez basses.

while the rake in Cali is hard to beat, the absolutely horrible play of most of the players makes it worth a try if you're in LA. I would like to have 1/10th of the money they burn in those games, I'd never have to work again

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You are probably right, minton. But you need to find the "sweet spot" where the players are so bad and the pots are big enough to overcome the outrageous rake. The $40 NL game I tried was not it. Perhaps the $100 game (2/3 blinds) would be profitable.

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Everytime I hear a nit complain about rake in vegas, other then holding back the urge to give them an atomic wedgie, I always point out rake in other areas, such as LA and over seas. When you break it down for them and show them what they get, most seem to get a better understanding. The rest, well, they just hate life anyway and there is no talking to them...

As for LA poker in general, the low buy-ins attract some of them most horrible play I've ever seen, and raping the hell out of the game with rake is a no brainer as most of the players havent a clue anyway

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Please don't blame the dealer because you suck at poker"

I cruised on the Norwegian Star in April of this year.

I'll let this picture from the table speak for itself.

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