How high a rake is unbeatable?

[NYTyler]

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How high a rake is unbeatable?
A rake that is higher than your winrate is unbeatable.

Oh, and 10% of $500 is not $25.

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OMG sorry...you are right...i meant to type 5%...my bad.

[pzhon]

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Is this [5%] rake so high that it is really unbeatable?

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No, that's not close to unbeatable given typical bad players. In online microstakes games, the rake is also 5% and effectively uncapped since the pots rarely reach $60. If I recall correctly, that takes about 7 big blinds/100 out of the game per player, and players can still win 20 big blinds/100 or more, depending on the level. Winning 20 big blinds/100 means beating the table average by about 27 big blinds/100. Full Tilt even rakes the NL $10 games 10%, and that is beatable, just not by as much as if they had a normal rake.

More money may be taken out if the pots tend to be larger, when large raises are routinely called in several places, but you are probably better off playing against people who play large pots, so these games should still be beatable.

A $5/half hour time charge at a table with a $2 big blind takes 15-20 big blinds/100 per player, assuming 25-33 hands are dealt per hour. That's still beatable, even when you take out another 4 big blinds/100 in tips, since the players are terrible on average.

[Jimmy The Fish]

I wouldn't think that a 5% rake could be considered unbeatable. I'd much rather pay 5% to $80 than 10% to $40. Yeah, it sucks that it's a 5% rake all the way up to $250, but it shouldn't be unbeatable.

Higher rakes hurt the looser players disproportionately. Looser players put money into more hands, and therefore contribute to the rake more often. If there aren't enough loose players at your table to keep the gator fed, look for a different table.

[Max Raker]

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There isn't a magical number where it becomes unbeatable. If your edge over the opposition is greater than the rake you will win.

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No, I think their is. You can calculate (or guess) a rake rate at which point you could not beat the game even if your opponents played with their cards face up. That would be unbeatable.

Granted you could imagine players that are beatable with almost any rake like if they raise 99% of their stack preflop and fold when you re-raise them. Against realistic players though their will be a point at which the game is unbeatable.