Cash Game Home Game Rake (1 Viewer)

Is 25% too much to give back?


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WRGBET

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Keen to get your thoughts about rake sharing with regular players. Only applies to players who loose two consequetive sessions.
25% of the rake from the third session goes to the biggest loosing player.
House discretion used when multiple players loose similar amounts.

Keeps money in the game and helps loosing players bounce back.

House provides two alternating dealers + food + drinks + smokes (and credit when needed).
5/5 game. Round of each.
Rake 5% cap $15

Is 25% too much to give back?
 
All I’m going to say on the matter is that the one live raked “home” game I used to play tried to do rake sharing and it ruined the game. When I ran online games during early quarantine, I stuck to doing rakeback proportional to number of hands played rather than by how much people lost.

From my isolated experience, players were less pissed paying a rake than they were when they felt they got shorted on rakeback. Either eliminate the rake, or don’t do rakeback.
 
Total rake seems very high. $15/hand is a lot here in the US. It may not be in your area though. I’d rake less instead of a rake back system. Or do a high hand promotion each night to give some back.
 
Total rake seems very high. $15/hand is a lot here in the US. It may not be in your area though. I’d rake less instead of a rake back system. Or do a high hand promotion each night to give some back.
I don't play raked home games personally but $15 is actually not much for a $5/5 game. Here in NYC raked games often go up to a $50 cap per hand and people still play (don't ask me why lol)
 
Bart Hanson was talking about this the other day. While not exactly related to the OP specifically, longg story short, don't play raked home games if you are a for profit player unless you can get some sort of deal. And $15 cap can actually be slightly better than the current $8 drop in LA.
 
If you're in the USA do not rake a game.

I don't know how this falls into the definitions, but maybe a fixed amount per game going into a prize pool setup as a multi-game tournament (lets use 8 for example....a weekly game over two months). Then instead of the winners getting the pool, it goes into a 2 way split for bottom players of the overall event schedule. The money goes towards a buy in to a future game (so everybody's money stays in the house to be won at some point).
 
Your reasons to provide rake back are to keep money in the game and help losing players. Just an FYI, eliminating rake altogether would also accomplish these goals. However, if you "need" to take a rake, just lower the rake and then you don't need to worry about rake back at all.
 
Your reasons to provide rake back are to keep money in the game and help losing players. Just an FYI, eliminating rake altogether would also accomplish these goals. However, if you "need" to take a rake, just lower the rake and then you don't need to worry about rake back at all.
Get the idea but paying it back does give the losers the feeling of “free” money they wouldn’t realize just getting raked less. Runs the risk of them realizing how much is raked though.
Think I like the idea @Rhodeman77 had of paying out some high hand bonuses or something though. That way everyone feels like they have a shot and aren’t funding other people. Plus the high VPIP players will have a better shot to hit it anyway.
 
Thanks for all your comments. Great help.

Think I'll cap rake at $10 max.
Instead of rake sharing, I'll give loosing players (1) x free buyin ($300-$500).

I now agree rake sharing can ruin the game, especially when players start factoring rake profits into their overall bet strategies.

My game requires experienced dealers who average 12 hour sessions. They demand good pay.
With the other costs of food (catered) along with top shelf liquor and smokes, my game wouldn't work without rake or time charge.

I prefer rake, helps protect the numbers.

Thanks again for your comments.
 
I don't play raked home games personally but $15 is actually not much for a $5/5 game. Here in NYC raked games often go up to a $50 cap per hand and people still play (don't ask me why lol)
Sorry, just got to say they probably play even at nosebleed rake for the same reason someone spends $50 on a $.50 chip that’s not even live
 
Don't give players part of the rake, you're asking for trouble, lower the cap.

Invest in the game, better table, better chips, better food, and let the Dealers deal for tips, encourage tipping by tipping well.

put money into ice cream, candles, shufflers, gifts for players, cards, better lighting, security (cameras, guard) tons of ways to give back to players, cash in hand is going to create a problem. Giving credit can be okay, use the excess to cover you're losses on credit rather than giving it away, you never want to let a player leave without being able to pay them.

12 hours sessions, you will want to give them 20 min breaks every 1.5-2 hours. Jump in the box or have someone that can around
 
lower the cap
$10 is already in the low side for home games these days. Home games like this are more about the amenities. They don't carter to people that are looking to play for profit or play super seriously. So I often find that game proprietors are just looking to get the gamblers and losers that don't care about the money into the games. And free food, alcohol, etc is essential to this.

I did a small ($1/$1) raked game (max $3) many years ago. We did just enough to cover water, soda, and food. BYOB. We (my then girlfriend now wife) made a very small profit on each game after dealer tips (we were the primary dealers). Anybody else that dealt kept their tips. We did not allow anyone to play on credit. We purposely kept a very low profile, basically only invited people we knew, and kept stakes low to keep away the problems that come from running a larger game.

But this doesn't sound like that at all. Profit is a strong motivator for people that run games.
 
$10 is already in the low side for home games these days.

Yeah I think 10 is fine, I was agreeing / supporting with others in the thread to lower the cap.
 
Yeah I think 10 is fine, I was agreeing / supporting with others in the thread to lower the cap.
I was saying that finding a home game with a rake lower than $10 rare. It generally means the game isn't try to make a serious profit. Which is a choice you can make. Though you really don't see that very often. Games offering food, alcohol, massages, dealers, etc take a high rake. If they didn't, they wouldn't be offering these things.
 
I don't think legality lines up with morality, games with a rake don't bother me, provided they are taking care of the players.

I think typically games that focus a rake for personal gain tend to not last very long. Personally I think of the rake as a community fund that should be used to provide for the players at large. People running games put a lot of effort into it typically, and anyone on here would think of the extras, like washing the chips and or cards. Dealing with shuffler maintenance, etc .. Sure some of the rake should compensate for ones efforts, but I agree that the rake shouldn't be the focus of the game.
 
I in the group of no raked game, it just too much trouble and i just want to enjoy playing low stake poker.

I will always happily playing 10c/20c stake game over any raked game as long it fun and enjoyable
 
i wouldn't want to run a raked game but i wouldn't tell someone not to if they're comfortable with the risks.

that said giving 25% to the biggest loser is a strange way to run your business. the guys who keep games running consistently do everything they can to distract people from how much they're fleecing them - you're almost flashing it in their faces.

if you think the people who're playing can't afford to lose what they're losing then just don't invite them - if they can, though, and you want them to keep coming there're a lot more cost effective ways to keep them happy. ie: find out his favorite restaurant and order food from them next game instead of pizza or whatever you normally serve.
 
i wouldn't want to run a raked game but i wouldn't tell someone not to if they're comfortable with the risks.

that said giving 25% to the biggest loser is a strange way to run your business. the guys who keep games running consistently do everything they can to distract people from how much they're fleecing them - you're almost flashing it in their faces.

if you think the people who're playing can't afford to lose what they're losing then just don't invite them - if they can, though, and you want them to keep coming there're a lot more cost effective ways to keep them happy. ie: find out his favorite restaurant and order food from them next game instead of pizza or whatever you normally serve.
Thanks for suggestions.
 
Thanks for all your comments. Great help.

Think I'll cap rake at $10 max.
Instead of rake sharing, I'll give loosing players (1) x free buyin ($300-$500).

I now agree rake sharing can ruin the game, especially when players start factoring rake profits into their overall bet strategies.

My game requires experienced dealers who average 12 hour sessions. They demand good pay.
With the other costs of food (catered) along with top shelf liquor and smokes, my game wouldn't work without rake or time charge.

I prefer rake, helps protect the numbers.

Thanks again for your comments.
That sounds more like an underground card room than a home game.
 
There are 'Charity games' in my state, about 3 large ones, they all rake. I've been dealing / playing cards since I was about 15, I've ran games. It's very typical around here. Last night at the PLO game (underground, not mine) it was 5 handed with 2 housemen in the game, dude asked for a 'rake break' and the house man declined. The dude literally ran a guy off like an hour before, houseman wasn't in the wrong, it ended the game. I can find a game every night of the week, all raked games. I've had cops play in my games, and I've had them respond to a calls (on duty), knocking just to see what is going on, seen the game running, nothing happened. I've also seen dudes on TV (locally that I knew) getting arrested and shoved in the paddy wagon, I know ppl that have been given a citation. I know larger games that have been robbed.

I think that is a good distinction, home vs underground, most of the time here, the game is not ran out of someone's house either, well at least not any more.
 
This thread has got me wondering how many people here have actually been to games like this. It seems like not many have.
To me a home game is a social gathering among friends who like to play cards where one of the players hosts. Never played in a raked home game. And probably wouldn’t.

Now I have played in underground card games with a rake and don’t mind them. But they have always been in a rented facility where the guy running the game is there to make a profit on running the game.

Also been there when an underground game was raided by 30 cops in riot gear.
 
Raked game could mean anything. Most games have some money given to the host, it’s a matter of how much and how it’s taken. In a lot of cases this means $10 a person to cover food costs. 10% cap 15$ In the other hand is quite bold. Your friends either have to be very well off or very dumb.
 
I've played a 5/5 home game before where the host raked 25% up to $25 (LA)... Needless to say, I folded for an hour and left because that is just not worth it. Host had 3 tables going on as well, he must've been making a killing...

I wonder what would happen to the poker world if rake was just made legal.

That said, if you need money to cover your operating costs, just ask your players to chip in. If you want to make a profit, this probably isn't the place to ask, as I think most people here don't rake their games.
 

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