High Rake Adjustments (4 Viewers)

ontheriver51

High Hand
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Obviously finding games with small to no rake is ideal, but If if you are going to play in a game with rake of 10% (5BB cap) what are some deviations from traditional strategy that can help avoid getting wrecked by the rake?

Obvious first one is to avoid small pots as the rake is a larger % of the pot, but anything else?
 
For me, it's all about minimizing the heavily rakes pots. Some things that occur to me are:
  1. Don't buy short
  2. Don't stay at the table if a large percentage of players are buying short
  3. If it's "no flop no drop," winning preflop is better than post-flop. Also, chop unraised pots in the blinds.
  4. Play fewer hands, and adjust toward preflop holdings that can flop big-pot hands.
 
I like to fade the rake by asking for alcohol, high end food and ice cream. Suggest coffee runs to Starbucks, or desert from a local place.

Seriously if all they offer is some shitty pizza and water, I don't need to play that badly.
 
The stacks need to be deep to overcome a high rake game as mentioned. You can’t be the only person with a 500bb stack, most need to as well.

Also pay attention to when the rebuys slowdown/stop. Once this happens it’s time to get out since no new money is coming in. The rake will devour the stacks on the table.
 
Obviously finding games with small to no rake is ideal, but If if you are going to play in a game with rake of 10% (5BB cap) what are some deviations from traditional strategy that can help avoid getting wrecked by the rake?

Obvious first one is to avoid small pots as the rake is a larger % of the pot, but anything else?

Start a home game.
 
More squeezing and three-betting to build pots or take it down pre (assuming no flop/no drop structure), with a tighter range weighted toward hands that can make the nuts. Offsuit broadways and aces get thrown in the trash while suited aces/kings and suited connectors get played more aggressively.
 
You need to pick starting hands that will overcome the rake, so you do have to fold marginal connectors and one-gaps preflop that might show a profit in an unraked game.

Otherwise, you probably need to just push yourself stakes wise so the rake is smaller relative to the size of the pots you are playing.
 
A corollary to what other folks have said - if the rake is high, coming to a game in the middle / towards then end when there’s more cash on the table is a way to practically play higher effective stack poker.

Also - one thing that may be obvious but worth mentioning - when you track your win/loss rate for each session, make sure to note / differentiate the rake somewhere!
 

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