[fatshark]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm just suggesting that there can be negative feedback loops that can relatively quickly erode the number of patrons at any card room. It's not hard to see how this happens either. If the rake is raised, most of the regulars and astute tourists will find other places to play. If, over the course of a month for example, the number of players at a card room drops by a third, that will have a pretty large impact on that room's reputation, or 'feel' if you will.

Imagine you went to a bar that you normally enjoyed. Only today, drink prices were jacked up, and the place was dead. You went back a few more times to see if things changed, but everything was still expensive and not much fun. Pretty safe to say you'd quit going to that bar, right? It's likely that if enough people felt the same way, that bar would go out of business.

Card rooms are subject to the same market forces as the above bar example. The only reason defunct card rooms hang on longer than they should is that there is a significant overhead to renovating a poker room into another raft of slot machines.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only problem with this is that many tourists which the casino are going to target after increasing the rake do not notice the rake at all. I have heard hundreds of times: If the casino isn't playing in the hand, how do they make money on it? Then someone will say, haven't you noticed the dealer taking chips out of the pot and droping them down the retractor? Ummm......no but now I see what you're talking about, and then continue to play without another mention of it. They usually don't even ask how much. The ones that do ask will usually say that they are saving money by playing poker, as many would drop much more on Table games/Slots/Clubbing and such.