This is a true story.

[jsbjoe]

The online rake for heads up play is unbelievable. I tried playing $5/$10 heads up, and my opponent and I both made default buyins of $100. I got stuck, rebought twice, played on for about an hour (maybe an hour and a half, no more), and was down $150.

I looked at my opponents stack and added it up with mine. In less than an hour and a half, the rake had dropped so much that, if I went on to bust my opponent, I would not even break even !!!

I sent the following email to our good friends at Full
Tilt and Poker Stars:


Dear Customer Service Person,

A few days ago, I was playing an opponent in the $5/$10 Heads Up Limit Holdem Table. I had some misfortunes, and in short order was down $150.

We hadn't been playing too long, certainly less than 90 minutes. I took a look at my opponent's chips (he had started with the $100 default buyin) and added them to mine. What I saw simply amazed me:

IF I WENT ON TO COMPLETELY BUST MY OPPONENT, I WOULD STILL BE A LOSER IN THE GAME. HE WOULD BE BUSTED, AND I WOULD BE DOWN THIRTY TO FIFTY DOLLARS (or even more, if it took a while to bust him).

I would like someone from upper level management to comment on the rake in this game (the $8/16 and $10/20 games are also gimped by the extreme rake). Please send a reply.

Thank you very much.