An “Only in LA” Story - The Dealer Stall and the $1 pot!

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Any rake/drop based on pot size is definitely illegal under current California law. But I believe you can get around this a bit by triggering the drop on an event not directly related to pot size. If you feel you need to take the full drop all at once, I'd make that trigger a called bet post flop. But it may be possible to take the drop in pieces (e.g., a called bet post flop takes half the drop, a second called bet takes the other half). The Normandie actually did something like this a few years ago.


[/ QUOTE ]

I know I’m kind of reviving an old thread here but I’ve seen Rick talk a number of times about how to improve LA rake and I just had a thought that might help. At Ocean’s 11 they have a separate low limit room with 1/1NL and 2/4 limit. They have the standard CA auto rake except that they don’t take any drop, other than the jackpot, until the pot reaches $7. So if 4 people limp in the 1/1 game and check it down to the river, no drop is taken.

This contradicts what you said above and I’m not sure whether what they are doing can be structured legally or if they are simply doing it anyway. I believe it's been set up this way for a while though so I would tend to think it's legit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. I've been down to Ocean's 11 a few times lately playing the bigger games. Next time I go I'll have to check the small room out and see for sure. If it is a drop based on pot size, then it will be the first time I've seen it since 1987-1989 (the 5/10 holdem drop trigger was $30 back then, although they took the jackpot drop of $2 before the hand began).

Generally, inside LA County things have always been enforced more strictly. For example, in 1995 Hollywood Park tried a "live" button drop (drop counted toward a call or raise) but when the LA Sheriff came back from vacation he made it a dead button drop.

At times I think card club owners/managers could fight the LA Sheriff's narrow interpretation of CA law and come up with a better system. At the same time I believe they may be sort of happy with the way things are and simply don't realize how much they lose when very small action pots are raped by a full drop.

~ Rick